When You Lose Your Champion At Work

Note: This article is in response to a question I received. If you have questions you'd like for me to answer, send me your questions in a DM!

Moving up in your career involves a lot of self-growth, skill and experience acquisition, and candidly a little luck. You can certainly make your own luck, but sometimes things happens that are entirely outside of our control that either move us up, or move us farther from our goals.

One of the ways many of us are promoted along in our careers - especially if we stay at a company for a long period of time - is to build deep relationships with a handful of executives who are on the rise themselves. We call these leaders "champions" for our career growth.

These are the best leaders. They not only add value, they multiply value by building a team of growing leaders underneath them. Many times an executive will "champion" the promotion and growth of a trusted lieutenant or an aspiring leader in which they see great promise. They see something in you that they know will translate into a star executive, and they cultivate that.

So it can be an absolute gut-punch when that champion leaves the organization. This happens when they retire, move on to a new company, or have lost a political fight at their level of the company.

So what do you do if you're their star apprentice but they're no longer there to shepherd your career?

My Experience

I personally have experience with this situation. I was the executive who was removed. In my case, the person I championed actually wound up in a better situation in another culture.

I had a disagreement with the Board of Directors about the direction of the company, and was let go from an organization I helped build from the ground up.

I had a trusted lieutenant who had worked with me in a few other companies that I was grooming to take over product management & operations. He was a natural leader, but needed some more experience in management. He came from a different background and culture than the rest of the team. But I had seen tremendous growth within him and knew that it was a short distance between who he was and who he needed to become to take a leadership role.

After my abrupt departure, he was seen by everyone who was left as "my guy". He felt stares, heard comments, and experienced other uncomfortable cultural shifts once I was gone. It was about two months before he was gone as well.

Fortunately for him, the next role he took has led to a 10-year tenure at a world-class organization in which he has grown tremendously. He's become the star executive I knew he could be.

What To Do If This Happens To You

1. It's a New Game

The first thing to do is to recognize that the game has shifted. It's like you're playing chess and someone just knocked out your queen. All of a sudden you are in a much different tactical situation. You have to assess the board and understand what has changed.

When an executive departs, a vacuum of authority is left behind. Nature abhors a vacuum. And so do other executives and aspiring leaders. In most cases the majority of authority vacated by a departing executive is reconsolidated in a person who replaces them in the same role. But not always. Sometimes a role is carved up among remaining executives. Other times a modified role is left behind after a few changes to the reporting structure of the organization.

In any case, the board is different now, and any promises/plans that aren't in writing are likely null and void.

Action: Accept there's a new reality in your workplace.

2. Infinite Game Mindset

The next piece of advice is CRITICAL: You need to keep an infinite mindset about the situation. Chess is a good analogy for the moment, but not for the long-term. Because when we are talking about our careers, we aren't just talking about a moment in time; we're talking about years or decades of growth and skill acquisition.

Simon Sinek wrote a great book about this concept called The Infinite Game. You don't "win" work. You might win an argument at work and that would be a finite win. But you can't "win" your career or "win" your marriage. It's a game that continues for as long as you play the game. Other players come on and off the board, follow different rules than you do, have different tools at their disposal, etc.

Action: Shift your mindset to one of understanding that while this moment may not be favorable to you, there's always a way to turn a situation from a bad one to a better one.

3. Assess The Environment

With your champion gone, most likely any promises of career advancement they may have made are gone as well. As new executives fill the void left by the departing champion, they will undoubtedly have "their" people waiting in the wings to move up. And if your champion lost a political fight with a rival executive, you have to be concerned about being branded as "their person".

Who is replacing them? Would the incoming executive be a good fit as a mentor?

This is the time to assess whether any of the remaining leaders would want to champion your career growth as fervently as your previous champion.

If you're not feeling a strong connection with any of the remaining leadership, you might be left with some tough choices.

Action: Ask yourself if you feel connected to your growth in this organization anymore.

4. Build A Solid Personal Brand

The solution to most problems I have encountered in my executive career are the same handful of skills I teach over and over to aspiring leaders in order to move their careers forward. In this case, the best thing you can do for yourself is to build your personal brand.

Both inside and outside of our organization, we are seen by others as a 2D persona. We tend to think of other people as being somewhat static - like they're the same person they were the last time you encountered them.

Think about a colleague you haven't seen in several years. You probably picture them the way they looked back then. You probably also imagine their maturity, presence, skills and values are the same as well. This doesn't necessarily reflect their growth in that time that has passed.

Action: Present yourself to your entire network - both internally and externally - as a dynamic, aspiring executive. This certainly takes effort. Being a thought leader, boldly claiming a position that matches your values, taking on leadership roles in other organizations (such as non-profit organizations) helps to reframe how people see you.

Doing this will help you change that static 2D mental image have of you to something more dynamic and updated.

5. Consider Your Career Goals

What are you hoping to accomplish both in the short-term and long-term of your career? If you enjoy the environment in which you work, but have lost a champion, the decision will be whether the environment makes up for a lack of near-term career growth.

Action: Decide for yourself where you want to be in 3-5 years, and then work backwards to now to determine how to best get there.

6. Build a Solid Executive Network

Think about what the ideal situation for yourself would be. What would moving into an executive role in a new organization feel like? What kinds of companies would you enjoy working for? What companies do you feel like you'd be a good fit inside?

Do you know anyone at these companies? Can you build a first or second degree connection to the executives who would potentially champion you joining their organization in a role you'd love?

Who do you know that can make introductions for you to executives looking for your skills? What networking events can you attend? How can you raise your profile online (primarily LinkedIn) so that more people have an updated, 3D perspective of who you are as an aspiring executive?

Action: Build your Executive Network and expand the number of people who are aware of who you are, what you can do, and what you stand for.

Conclusion

Losing a champion executive can definitely be a setback in your career. It happens all the time. Navigating setbacks are part of navigating your career. Building a strong personal brand, a powerful network, and fundamental executive skills will undoubtedly move you forward in your career - sometimes faster, and sometimes slower, than you'd anticipate.

If you have questions about your executive career that I can help answer, send me a DM on Instagram or visit us on YouTube.