Jun 9

When Doing More Isn’t the Answer: The Player to Player-Manager Transition

This month we look at the transitional demands from being a highly effective “doer” to becoming a “doer + leader”. This is the challenge of moving from a so-called player to player-manager—a move that’s incredibly common in real estate service providers, but rarely goes smoothly. This affects operators who have nailed their technical expertise, won client trust, and consistently brought in fees/income. So they have been promoted. They’re still doing deals and still in client meetings. But now they’re also expected to lead others, bring consistency across their team, develop junior colleagues, and do all of this without dropping the ball. This can be a hugely beneficial leap, but can also bring on overworking, frustration and confusion about what “success” is. In this edition, we share the core changes that emerging leaders need to make in their approach to work for a successful progression.  


1) From Personal Output to Collective Delivery 

One of the biggest changes new leaders need to make is learning to measure their value by the performance of the team, not just their own output. This isn’t natural for everyone—especially those promoted for their technical expertise, but moving from individual contributor to team enabler is key. 

From… Being judged on their own output, To… Being judged on the team’s output 

From... Measuring success by task completion, To... Measuring success by task completion and team progress 

From... Wanting to be the best individual contributor, To... Wanting to grow the best team 

From... Managing tasks, To... Managing tasks and leading people 

From... Working in their comfort zone, To... Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable in leadership tension 

When doers don’t make this change they tend to over-deliver individually, without scaling that success through others. 

2) From Reactive Execution to Strategic Oversight 

It’s common for player-managers to react to events, circumstances and their inbox, constantly firefighting, instead of planning ahead and being intentional with their time. Acting like a senior doer precludes thinking like a leader. Developing the ability to step back and prioritise strategic activity is essential.  

From… Being reactive to tasks and requests, To… Planning ahead and prioritising strategically 

From... Prioritising immediate deadlines, To... Balancing delivery with long-term team performance 

From... Saying “yes” to show commitment, To... Learning to say “not now” to protect team bandwidth 

From... Internalising pressure, To... Sharing responsibility and being transparent 

From... Doing everything themselves, To... Delegating effectively and trusting others to deliver 

Leadership requires bandwidth, so the “busyness” badge of honour doesn’t suffice. Learning to protect time for leadership activity is a requirement that comes with the job.  

3) Communication is not Optional. It becomes a Responsibility. 

As leadership responsibility grows, so does the need for clear, visible, and proactive communication. What worked for doers as an independent operator, doesn’t necessarily work well when coordinating others. There is a need to manage information and expectations, internally and with clients. 

From… Focusing on speed and independence, To… Focusing on communication and collaboration

From... Assuming others “know what to do”, To... Actively clarifying expectations and standards 

From... Protecting client relationships personally, To... Empowering others to manage and grow relationships, and allowing them into existing relationships 

From... Keeping or hoarding knowledge or sharing only when asked, To... Proactively sharing intel and building team capability 

From... Being admired for technical skill / “big hitter” status, To... Earning respect for leadership integrity 

New leaders often underestimate just how much their communication style needs to evolve. In practice, a reactive or “hands off” approach leads to lost opportunities and team disengagement.  

4) From Rescuing People to Developing Them  

Many new leaders default to “doing for” instead of “developing others to do.” Time pressure, frustration of having to explain things which seem obvious and being overly focused on individual work in progress all contribute to this. It feels quicker and safer to solve problems by oneself. But unless effective delegation (aka elevating others) is learnt and applied, capacity becomes quickly limited and team capability declines. 

From… Fixing problems themselves, To... Supporting others to solve their own problems

From... Focusing on “doing it right”, To... Helping others learn to do it right 

From... Stepping in when things go off track, To... Creating accountability 

From... Avoiding conflict, To...Tackling issues early to maintain performance 

From... Avoiding feedback, To... Giving timely and constructive feedback  

From... Relying solely on technical expertise, To... Balancing expertise with coordination and leadership 

The shift required here is from being the answer, to helping others find it. Without this, emerging leaders become a significant bottleneck.  

How to Support the Transition 

If any of these patterns sound familiar, it’s because they are a common challenge and a natural growing pain of career progression. They are not a sign of poor performance. Neither does it mean that someone isn’t suited to leadership. It merely reflects someone straddling two different roles, yet to learn or apply how those roles best co-exist for them. 

Recognising the changes required from doer to doer + leader is the first step. The next step is making that transition possible by developing the toolkit emerging leaders need to make their transition.  

We see a number of key areas that have immediate, tangible impact when doers are adding leading to their role. These outline how emerging leaders can self-develop and how senior leadership can actively and effectively support this transition. If this is of interest to you, watch out for July’s article where we will share these key areas and examples of how to put them into practice.   

PROMIND Coaching provides a series of coaching programmes that deliver practical toolkits to equip and empower real estate professionals. You can find out more on this page.
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