Walking the Tightropes of Leadership: How to Stay Balanced in a New Role

New leadership roles are a tightrope walk - but you’re often walking more than one.

Walking a tightrope is all about maintaining balance to avoid falling. As an executive in a new role, balance isn’t just important - it’s the whole game.

Here are some common tightropes of new leadership roles:

• Learning vs. action (and inaction for that matter)

• Past vs. future (and deciding what matters)

• In-groups vs. out-groups (and how to bridge them)

• Speed vs. timing (and ensuring alignment)

• Expectations vs. on-the-ground reality (if you’re lucky enough to see it clearly)

This list could go on, but the key takeaway is that new leadership roles are filled with constant balancing acts.

The real challenge? Identifying these tensions so you can manage them effectively.

The more aware you are of the tightropes you're walking, the better you can maintain balance.

If you're stepping into a high-stakes role, take time to inventory the tensions at play:

• What’s pushing or pulling you in different directions?

• What's forcing an intentional balancing act?

Once you have your list, look at how these tensions connect, assess their importance, and start mapping out how to manage them.

Documenting your balancing acts won’t just highlight the complexity of your role - it will reduce ambiguity and help you navigate it with clarity.