Congrats – You’ve been promoted! Oftentimes, when you accept a new role at your current company, you will find yourself caught between your old duties and your new duties. As in any new role, there is likely a defined transition period - typically between 2-3 weeks. But what happens when your old team comes to you on day 2 of your new role and asks you to take care of something for them? It’s important to understand when and how to say no to your old team.
After you’ve accepted your new role and have had the opportunity to confirm your transition period, it should be your responsibility to work with your old and new boss as well as your team members to facilitate a smooth transition. I recommend making a list of all duties that you are currently performing. It’s important to understand what duties you will need to pass on and who needs to be trained on those duties. You will also want to make sure that you have a working process document for each of your duties. This will make it much easier to leave your tasks behind as you move to your new role.
If there is any training required, make sure to schedule the training as early as possible to leave enough time for questions prior to your move. It also tends to be more effective to schedule the training, rather than relying on an impromptu meeting. That way, both you and the trainee will be in the right frame of mind rather than feeling interrupted or distracted.
Before or during your transition period, it’s important to have a conversation with your new boss to understand the expectations of you in your new role. You will want to know if your new boss is comfortable with you continuing to support your old team as needed, or if they expect you to be 100% committed to your new role from day 1. You will also want to discuss communication expectations. It’s important that your old team understands that, if you are able to continue to support them, you may not be able to reply as quickly as before.
If you’ve executed your transition period successfully, there should be no carry-over from your old role on day 1 of your new role. If there is carry-over, you will need to find a respectful and effective way to communicate with your old team. You obviously don’t want to burn bridges with your old team since you are still working for the same company and will likely need to work together in the future. Understand what the question is and the root cause of why the question has come to the surface (i.e. training wasn’t sufficient, complete notes not provided, etc.) and try to eliminate the issue going forward.
If your old team is coming to you with something that they should be able to address without getting you involved, redirect them to the individual on your old team that should be responsible for that task. It may be beneficial, prior to leaving your old team, to provide them with a list of your old duties and who will be handling them going forward. That way you can resend that list when/if ever you run into this situation.
Finding the balance between your old and new duties may be challenging at first but as soon as the wrinkles are ironed out, you should find yourself successfully flourishing in your new role. Again, congrats on your promotion!
Callie Zipple is SHRM's Field Services Director in the Central division. She is based in Kenosha, Wisconsin, supporting the states of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
Callie joined SHRM in 2017 after having served in various volunteer roles including: the College Relations Director and Social Media Director for the Wisconsin SHRM State Council, as well as on the Young Professional Advisory Council, with a focus on social media for National SHRM. While in college, she served as the SHRM Student Chapter President for her college's student chapter.
Prior to joining SHRM, Callie worked in the HR profession for 7+ years with experience in third-party staffing, manufacturing, travel management, technology and sports data industries. She has served in various roles, including recruitment, HR operations, and compensation and benefits. Her most recent roles have focused primarily on HR generalist and manager duties.
Callie holds a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration with a focus on Human Resources and Leadership from St. Norbert College in DePere, WI. She also studied abroad at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia during her time at St. Norbert.
Callie has received the Certified Professional in Human Resources (SHRM-CP) designation from the Society for Human Resource Management.
- 0
- 9400 views
Add new comment