Talk it through with Aurelius
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Aurelius · Work & Leadership
Knowledge + Guidance

You've just been promoted and want to lead well

You got the job. Nobody is failing, nothing is on fire, and that is exactly why this is the moment. The habits you set in the first ninety days are the ones you will still have in year three. Most new leaders wait for a problem to teach them. You do not have to.

◆ How this problem reads on the two dials
GuidanceKnowledge
Coaching
More to learn
1:1 with AureliusWith others (a Pod)
Some one-to-one
Practise with peers
Mostly things to learn, worked through with the coach — and it's better with a few people beside you.
How the two dials adapt to you →
What’s really going on

You have been promoted, and you want to do this well rather than merely survive it. Good. Three things. What made you excellent as an individual is not what makes you excellent now — you were paid to produce, and you are now paid to decide and to develop, so the instinct to do the work yourself is the instinct to fight. Name what you will stop doing, in writing, this week. Second, your team is reading you closely and you are not yet aware of it: what you praise, what you let slide, and what you do when you are tired all teach faster than anything you announce. Choose three behaviours you want to be known for and act them where people can see. Third, ask for the feedback now, while nothing is wrong — a leader who only asks after a failure gets told what is safe. What will you stop doing yourself?

🔒 What you’ll build togetherUnlock by starting
A moveWrite the list of work you will STOP doing personally, and tell your team what is on it.
A moveName the three behaviours you want to be known for. Do one of them visibly this week.
A moveAsk each person: what should I keep doing, and what should I stop? Ask before anything goes wrong.
A moveDecide one thing publicly this week, and say out loud why you chose it. People learn your reasoning by hearing it.
A moveBook a standing hour to think. It is the first thing that disappears and the last thing you can do without.
PractiseThe Stop-Doing List · a Pod of 4 · 30 min

What changes unlock by starting

  • You lead by deciding and developing rather than by out-producing everyone.
  • Your team can predict what you will reward, so they stop guessing.
  • You hear the honest version early, because you asked before there was a problem.
  • You still have thinking time in month three, not just a full calendar.

Related problems

One object, two jobs: a public answer to a real problem, and — the moment you start the chat — Aurelius’s live plan for your version of it.