Home > Talent Insights Blog > Talent Management > Unique Organizational “Work Worlds”

Unique Organizational “Work Worlds”

Author: Garrick Throckmorton

The common story told throughout organizations of all sizes, across all industries is that an impressive Individual Contributor is hired who dives into learning the organization, and they do not disappoint. They knock their annual goals out of the park and assimilate to the culture with relative ease. Then . . . the organization makes a mistake. It mistakes high performance as an Individual Contributor as the key ingredient for success as a Manager and extends a promotion opportunity.

The Unique Work Worlds of Leaders, Managers, and Individual Contributors

The Individual Contributor is hungry, excited, and motivated, so they accept the promotion offer instantly. After all, they knew it was only a matter of time before it was “their chance.” However, what happens next is common and preventable. The high performer begins to struggle as they encounter an entirely new “work world” when compared to the Roles, Practices, and behavioral demands of being an Individual Contributor. They did not receive the type of prior assignments to best prepare them for being a Manager, they are not receiving ongoing coaching to support their transition, and their individual development plans is gathering dust as they are simply overwhelmed.

Can you think of someone in your career journey to whom this has occurred? If not, you may be able to envision the same phenomenon as it occurs with high-performing Managers who get promoted to Leadership positions!

Behind this common story is research (Kaiser & Craig, 2011) that clearly states the “work worlds” that exist for Leaders, Managers/Supervisors, and Individual Contributors are unique and distinct. The good news is that TalentTelligent is on a mission to reduce this circumstance from impacting your employees by creating talent tools to fuel development where an employee “sits” today. Take a moment to explore our interactive brochure to see how these levels impact our solutions at TalentTelligent.

TalentTelligent Interactive Brochure
Launch the TalentTelligent Interactive Brochure

Schedule a Consultation

Schedule a Consultation Directly with our Team to learn about how our 360 Survey can be used in your organization.