Opening Story:

I was talking with a client earlier this week about leadership. They were recognizing how different their job is now at this next level, even though they’re at the same company, just a couple doors down from their old office, working with many of the same people.

In all honesty, it requires so much more from people than they expect. Everyone loves the idea of being the boss. I mean, think about how many songs are out there about being the boss, from Rick Ross to The Lonely Island. But one mistake people make is only seeing the surface of it, the accolades, the power, the money, the big office.

What’s underneath that is work that 90% of people just don’t want to do. The difference is that you’re no longer just doing the same job at a higher level. You’re now leading others, managing conflicts, helping others become successful at the job you used to do, delegating, trusting others to handle their own workload, and so much more.

“With great power comes great responsibility.” We hear it constantly in superhero movies. And in all honesty, not everyone wants that responsibility and that’s okay.

The Performance Insight:

We have to recognize the level change that comes with being promoted into management or leadership roles. We often think it means just doing more of the job that got us the promotion in the first place. That’s not it, though.

The next level requires growth, change, improvement, new skills, trust, and much more. If you keep doing exactly what got you to that level, you’re going to struggle. You have to be willing and able to adjust and learn. This is where mentors can come in. Don’t be afraid to learn from people who have been there before you. Chances are, they have been in the exact spot you’re in now, and they may have some shortcuts to help you get through it. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Learn from others and do what works while also looking for opportunities to innovate. It’s a tricky balance, but it does work.

On top of that, we have to recognize how important leading people becomes as you move into higher positions. You can’t do it all yourself at this point. You have to be willing to learn how to develop others and trust them with important and sensitive work. This is where the job almost changes into becoming an educator or a teacher. You’re no longer just responsible for doing your job well; you’re responsible for helping other people become better at theirs.

This is also why I do workshops for businesses and organizations. People don’t always realize how important the human side of the work actually is. Don’t just keep doing what you did before. Learn the new skills this level requires, and allow others to take on the work you used to be amazing at.

The Science Behind It:

There’s a reason this transition can be harder than people expect. A promotion doesn’t just increase your responsibilities, it changes the type of work your brain has to do.

Early in our careers, success is often built around individual expertise. You become valuable because you can solve problems, execute, and produce results yourself. But as you move into leadership, your success becomes increasingly dependent on your ability to influence, communicate, delegate, make decisions, manage relationships, and develop other people.

This is sometimes referred to as the leadership transition, moving from being successful because of what you personally do to being successful because of what you enable others to do. That shift can be uncomfortable because the skills that made you successful before can actually become limitations if you rely on them too heavily. If you’re used to being the person who always has the answer, it can be difficult to step back and let someone else figure it out. If you’re used to controlling the details, delegation can feel like giving up control. If you’re used to measuring your value by your own output, developing someone else’s performance can feel less tangible.

But effective leadership requires a different form of competence. Research on leadership development consistently points toward skills like emotional intelligence, relationship management, communication, adaptability, and the ability to develop others as important components of effective leadership. The goal isn’t to stop being good at what got you there. It’s to expand your definition of what being good at your job now actually means.

Your job changes. Your skills have to change with it.

This Week’s Challenge

If you’ve recently moved into a leadership role, or you’re preparing for your next level, ask yourself:

“What am I still doing that I should be teaching, delegating, or developing someone else to do?”

Pick one task this week. Instead of automatically doing it yourself, identify someone you can begin developing to take ownership of it. Don’t just hand it off and walk away. Teach them. Give them context. Set expectations. Let them ask questions. Then give them enough room to actually own it.

The goal isn’t simply to get something off your plate. The goal is to build someone else’s capacity while creating your own capacity to lead.

The Premier Mindset Podcast:

3 Key Highlights From This Week’s Podcast | Episode 74 | Why Some Locker Rooms Collapse Despite Talent

1. The scoreboard usually isn’t where the collapse begins.

A team can be down three points at halftime and still have every reason to believe it can win. The talent is there. The adjustments are manageable. The game is within reach. But sometimes, you can feel that something is wrong. Three weeks earlier, players were talking constantly. Veterans were encouraging younger teammates. People challenged each other. The locker room created its own energy.

Now, nobody is talking. Players are staring at the floor. A captain has gone quiet. Teammates who used to hold each other accountable are avoiding difficult conversations. The scoreboard says you’re down three. The locker room says you’re down much more.

That’s because talented teams rarely collapse simply because they stop executing. More often, they begin to collapse because they stop trusting. Execution is usually the symptom. Trust is usually the disease. And by the time the performance finally starts showing it, the psychological breakdown may have been happening for weeks.

1. Culture doesn’t usually collapse all at once. It erodes one compromise at a time.

The first missed standard gets ignored. The difficult conversation gets postponed. Someone shows up late, and nobody says anything. A sarcastic comment gets laughed off. A teammate stops speaking up because it doesn’t feel worth the conflict.

None of these moments seems significant enough to threaten an entire season. But culture doesn’t measure individual moments. Culture measures patterns. That’s why one of the questions I challenge leaders to ask is: What behavior would have been unacceptable six weeks ago that now barely gets noticed?

That question can reveal cultural drift long before the standings do. Because the biggest threats to high performance rarely announce themselves. They whisper. One exception. One shortcut. One ignored conversation. One lowered expectation. Then another. And eventually, nobody remembers exactly when the standard started slipping.

1. Elite teams don’t eliminate conflict. They learn how to repair it.

Every great team has disagreements. Every championship team has difficult conversations. The difference isn’t whether conflict exists. The difference is whether people believe they can move through conflict without destroying the relationship. When people don’t feel safe enough to be honest, they start protecting themselves instead of protecting the team. They stop asking: “What does this group need from me?” And start asking: “How do I make sure I’m not the one who gets blamed?”

That’s when a talented team can begin to fracture from the inside. The healthiest locker rooms aren’t the ones with the fewest problems. They’re the ones that solve problems faster. That’s why this episode explores ideas like the 24-hour repair rule, connection before correction, and ownership before opinion, practical ways leaders can address tension without allowing it to become distance.

Because conflict is inevitable. Disconnection is optional. And sometimes, the difference between a talented team and an elite team isn’t who has more ability. It’s whether the people in the room trust each other enough to bring that ability together.

🎙️ Listen to the full episode for more on all of this.

If you’re a coach, athlete, leader, entrepreneur, or anyone responsible for getting a group of people to perform under pressure, this episode will give you a different way to look at team performance. The scoreboard tells you what happened. The psychology can tell you what’s coming.

Whats coming up:

🎙️Episode 75 of The Premier Mindset

Next week, I’m sitting down with The Stable Arena in Las Vegas, an innovative organization using EMDR and equine therapy in a unique way to help people. But this conversation goes far beyond the work itself.

We’ll also talk about the journey of building the expertise and experience necessary to eventually create a business of your own, the lessons, growth, challenges, and uncertainty that come with entrepreneurship. It’s a conversation about taking what you’ve learned throughout your career, continuing to grow, and eventually having the courage to build something of your own.

If you’re interested in mental health, entrepreneurship, leadership, or what it actually looks like to turn years of experience into something bigger, I think you’ll get a lot out of this episode.

🎓 A New Chapter at UNR

I’m also excited to share that I’ve recently stepped into a full-time faculty position at the University of Nevada, Reno, teaching in the School of Social Work. This semester, I’ll be teaching two graduate-level courses focused on group therapy in the Master’s program, along with two undergraduate courses focused on social work group practice.

Teaching has always been something I’ve enjoyed because it gives me the opportunity to take what I’ve learned through clinical work, performance psychology, athletics, and my own experiences and help develop the next generation of professionals. I’m especially excited about teaching groups because so much of what we do as humans happens in groups, how we communicate, build trust, handle conflict, influence one another, and ultimately help each other grow.

It’s a new chapter for me, and I’m excited to continue learning alongside my students while bringing what I learn back into the work I do with clients, leaders, and high performers. There’s a lot happening right now, and I’m excited to bring you along for the journey.

Closing Thoughts

Getting promoted doesn’t mean you’ve finally mastered the job. Sometimes it means you’ve finally reached the point where you have to learn a completely different job. That’s not a failure of your previous skills. It’s the natural progression of growth.

The best leaders aren’t necessarily the people who can do everything themselves. They’re the people who can build teams that are capable of doing more than any one person ever could. So if you’re stepping into leadership, don’t just ask yourself, “How do I become better at my job?”Start asking: “How do I become better at helping other people succeed?” Because at some point, high performance stops being about what you can accomplish alone.

It’s about what you can build in others.

I’ll see you next week,

Premier Minds. Premier Results.

— Trent Mahler, LCSW
Founder, Premier Performance LLC

​https://www.premierperformancereno.com/​

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