Human Dynamics Pathways

Sometimes moving companies makes progression easier because a new organisation assesses you for the role you're moving into.

Your current organisation may still be assessing you through the role you've already been doing.

Three things can get in the way:

𝟭. 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲.
You may have grown and taken on more responsibility, but internally you can still be known as the person who does X really well.

𝘈𝘴𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘳:
What would you need to see from me to view me as ready for the next level?

𝟮. 𝗬𝗼𝘂'𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲.
If you fix the problems, hold the knowledge and keep everything moving, promoting you creates another problem: who replaces you?

𝘈𝘴𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧:
If I moved roles tomorrow, what would fall over?

That shows you where the organisation may still be too dependent on you.

𝟯. 𝗔𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗱𝗼 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁.
Your current employer has your history too, which can work for or against you.

𝘈𝘴𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧:
Am I actually being told I am not ready, or am I waiting for someone to notice that I am?

If you are being told you are not ready:
What do you still need to develop?

If you are waiting to be noticed:
How visible is your readiness?

One is a capability gap.
The other is a recognition gap.
They need different conversations.

Do not rely on good work speaking for itself.

Ask what the next level requires.
Find out where people still depend on you.
Make your readiness visible before the opportunity appears.

Save this if you are trying to work out whether you need a new role, or just a different conversation where you are.

Most of us move between boss and leader more than we realise.
The difference isn't whether you give direction or empower people.
It's knowing what the person and situation need from you.

BOSS
Gives the answer.
Steps in because it’s faster.
Uses authority because they can.
Corrects the way it was done.

LEADER
Knows when the person needs the answer, and when they need to think it through.
Checks whether stepping in will solve the problem or keep the dependency going.
Uses the amount of authority the situation actually needs.
Checks whether the outcome is wrong, or simply different from how they would have done it.

Good leadership is knowing when to:
Direct
Develop
Get out of the way

Sometimes the team needs Boss mode:
✓ A clear decision
✓ A firm standard
✓ Fast direction
✓ Someone to take responsibility

Other times they need Leader mode:
✓ Space to think
✓ Room to decide
✓ Help building judgement
✓ Less interference

A useful check:
What does this person need from me right now: direction, development or room to decide?

Save this for the next time you’re deciding whether to step in or step back.

One of the biggest mistakes I made as a leader was believing I understood what other people's behaviour meant.

I didn’t.

Here are the three assumptions I had to stop making:

1. Their behaviour meant what mine would mean.
I used myself as the reference point. If I knew why I would behave that way, I assumed I knew why they were doing it too.

The risk is that you respond to your interpretation instead of what’s actually happening.

A useful check:
“What else could this behaviour mean?”

2. Silence meant agreement.
Sometimes it does. Sometimes it means uncertainty, caution, confusion, deference or reluctance to speak.

The risk is that you move ahead assuming alignment when there may still be something important unsaid.

A useful check:
“What hasn’t been said yet?”

3. Resistance meant they didn’t want to cooperate.
Sometimes resistance is information. They may see a risk you don’t, disagree with the approach, need more context, or be protecting something you haven’t considered.

The risk is that you push harder when the better move is to understand what the resistance is telling you.

A useful check:
“What might be driving the resistance?”

One lesson that changed the way I lead:
Don’t automatically believe the meaning you’ve given to what you see or hear. Check it first.

Before reacting, separate three things:
• What you observed
• What you heard
• What you assumed it meant

A lot of misunderstandings happen when we treat the third one as fact.

Save this for the next time someone’s reaction doesn’t make sense to you.

You’ve handed over the work but they keep checking in, sometimes as an FYI, sometimes for your nod that it’s okay.

Before you assume they lack confidence or initiative, check what might be driving it.

1. 𝘜𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺
They genuinely don’t know what they can decide without you.

2. 𝘍𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨
The consequence of a wrong call feels bigger than the benefit of acting independently.

3. 𝘗𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴
They’ve made decisions before and been overridden or corrected, so now they check first.

4. 𝘓𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦
They may know they’re allowed to decide, but don’t yet trust their own judgement.

5. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘢𝘺
The work has been delegated, but authority hasn’t really gone with it.
The behaviour looks the same. The reason behind it might not be.

So when someone keeps checking decisions with you, the useful question is: what are they still unsure they’re allowed to decide?

Save this if delegation keeps leaving you more involved than you expected.

Hook
Stop accepting “all good” as an answer.

Subhook
What have they decided not to say?

I’ve never believed a useful 1:1 has to mean an hour of talking through everything someone is working on.

One of the simplest ways I’ve used them is to separate the update from the conversation.

I’d ask the team member to send a short agenda before the meeting with:
• priorities, in order
• expected challenges
• any support or decision they need from me

That means I can read what’s happening before we meet.

If something needs discussion, we talk about it.

If we’re aligned, there’s no reason to spend 30 minutes reciting updates we both already know.

That leaves more room for the part a written update often won’t show you.

𝟭. 𝗖𝗮𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆
“How sustainable does your workload feel at the moment?”

A list of completed tasks won’t necessarily tell you someone is stretched too far.

𝟮. 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴
“What are you trying to work through at the moment that you’d like another brain on?”

That gives you a chance to help with judgement and decisions, rather than taking the work back.

𝟯. 𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
“Is there anything happening with a person or team that’s making your work harder than it needs to be?”

Some of the things affecting performance won’t appear on a project update at all.

For some leaders I’ve worked with, this also meant weekly 1:1s could become fortnightly, as long as there was one clear rule:

If something in the written update needs attention, flag it immediately. Don’t wait for the next meeting.

The status update tells you what’s happening.

The 1:1 tells you where your leadership is needed.

Save this if your 1:1s have slowly turned into reporting meetings.