I Was Great at My Job. So, Why Am I Struggling as a Leader?

 You were the go-to person.

You knew your job.
You got results.
You were reliable, consistent, and trusted.

So they promoted you.

And now… it feels different.

Decisions are harder.
People are complicated.
Your old strengths don’t seem to carry the same weight.

You’re working harder, but it doesn’t feel like you’re leading better.

If that sounds familiar, you’re not broken.

You’ve just crossed a line most people aren’t prepared for.

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The Promotion Gap

Here’s the truth:

Being great at your job is not the same as being great at leading people.

As an individual contributor, your success came from:

• Doing the work
• Solving problems directly
• Being efficient and accurate
• Controlling your own performance

As a leader, your success now depends on:

• Influencing others
• Developing people
• Communicating clearly
• Making decisions with incomplete information
• Letting go of control

That’s a completely different skill set.

Most organizations promote based on performance, not leadership readiness.

Watch this quick video on the Trust Matrix and how it applies to promotion: https://youtu.be/YvCE64hQkdE?si=vfCxdWUeptTAt4AU

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How the Army Prepares Leaders

In the Army, leadership is not assumed: It’s trained.

Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers go through Professional Military Education (PME) at every stage of their career. They don’t just get promoted and “figure it out.”

They are taught how to lead before they are expected to lead at the next level.

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Officer Basic Course (BOLC): Learning to Lead Yourself and a Small Team

At the Officer Basic Course, new leaders learn:

• Basic leadership principles
• How to lead small teams
• Communication and accountability
• Tactical decision-making
• How to operate under pressure

It’s focused on the fundamentals.

How do you show up?
How do you lead a handful of people effectively?
How do you build trust early?

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JVD at CCC; Fort Leonard Wood, MO 2014

Captain’s Career Course (CCC): Leading Organizations

Now the stakes increase.

At the Captain’s Career Course, leaders shift from leading small teams to leading larger organizations.

They learn:

• Planning and operations
• Managing multiple moving parts
• Leading through others (not doing everything themselves)
  
• Integrating teams and resources
• Decision-making in more complex environments

This is where many civilian leaders struggle—because this is where you stop being the “doer” and start being the “leader of doers.”

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CGSC Phase 2; Fargo, ND 2025

Command and General Staff College (CGSC):
Thinking at the Next Level

At CGSC, the focus changes again.

Now leaders are operating at the organizational and strategic level.

They study:

• Organizational leadership
• Systems thinking
• Operational planning
• Decision-making under uncertainty
• Leading through complexity and change

At this level, it’s less about what to do and more about:

How do you think?
How do you frame problems?
How do you lead in ambiguity?

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What This Means for You

Here’s the key takeaway:

The Army doesn’t expect leaders to figure it out alone.

They train them—deliberately, repeatedly, and at every level.

But in many civilian organizations?

You get promoted on Friday and are expected to lead on Monday.

No training.
No transition.
No roadmap.

And then people wonder why new leaders struggle.

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You’re Not Failing; You’re Untrained

If you’re struggling as a leader, it’s not because you were a bad choice.

It’s because:

• The skills changed
• The expectations changed
  
• The environment changed

But the preparation didn’t.

Leadership is a skill set.
And like any skill, it can be learned.

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Final Thought

You were great at your job.

That’s why you’re here.

Now it’s time to become great at leadership.

That requires new tools.
New habits.
New thinking.

In the same way the Army invests in developing its leaders, you need to invest in yourself.

Because leadership is not a promotion.
It’s a profession.

Teach it. Coach it. Lead.
JVD

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About the Author

Mr. VanDusen is a leadership instructor for the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and was named the Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) Instructor of the Year in 2023 for his work developing and teaching leaders at the organizational level.
See pics here: https://www.usar.army.mil/News/Images/igphoto/2003107865/

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Ready to Build Better Leaders?

If your team is full of high performers who were promoted but never trained to lead, I can help.

Schedule your leadership training at:
👉 www.johnvandusen.com

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Credits

Concepts in this post are informed by U.S. Army Professional Military Education (PME) systems, including BOLC, CCC, and CGSC.

This post was drafted with the assistance of AI (ChatGPT) and edited by Mr. VanDusen.

Single-Loop vs. Double-Loop Learning

Every leader wants to improve.

Photo by Angely Acevedo on Unsplash

The question is—how?

Most people make adjustments when something goes wrong.
They tweak a process, fix a mistake, and move on.

That’s good.
But great leaders go one step further.

They don’t just fix the problem.
They question the thinking that caused it.

That’s the difference between single-loop learning and double-loop learning.

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Photo by Barthelemy de Mazenod on Unsplash

Single-Loop Learning: Fix the Problem

Single-loop learning is the most common type of learning.

It asks: “What went wrong, and how do we fix it?”

You adjust your actions, but you don’t question the system behind them.

In Education:

A lesson didn’t go well, so you adjust the activity or pacing next time.

In Coaching:

The team lost, so you change the play or adjust practice.

In Business:
Sales dropped, so you increase marketing or lower prices.

All of these are useful. But they stay at the surface.

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Double-Loop Learning: Fix the Thinking

Double-loop learning goes deeper.

It asks: “Why are we doing it this way in the first place?”

Instead of just adjusting actions, you challenge:

• Assumptions
• Systems
• Beliefs
• Habits

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

In Education:
Instead of just changing the lesson, you ask:
“Is the way I’m teaching this concept even effective for my students?”

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In Coaching:
Instead of just changing a play, you ask:
“Does our overall system fit our players?”

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In Business:
Instead of increasing marketing, you ask:
“Are we solving the right problem for our customers?”

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Why This Matters

Single-loop learning improves performance. Double-loop learning transforms it.

If you only use single-loop learning:

• You get better at the same system
• You fix problems temporarily
• You stay efficient—but possibly ineffective

If you use double-loop learning:

• You challenge outdated thinking
• You improve systems
• You adapt faster
• You create long-term success

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Final Thought

Good leaders fix problems. Great leaders fix the thinking behind the problems. If you want better results, don’t just adjust your actions. Adjust your assumptions.

Teach. Coach. Lead.
JVD

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Ready to Take This to Your Team?

If you want your team to think deeper, communicate better, and lead more effectively, I offer leadership training focused on practical tools like this.

Schedule your leadership training at:
👉 www.johnvandusen.com

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Credits

Concepts in this post are based on the work of Chris Argyris and Donald Schön on organizational learning.

This post was drafted with the assistance of AI (ChatGPT) and edited by Mr. VanDusen.

Student Leadership in Action: Emotional Intelligence at THE CURE

 On Saturday, March 14th, I had the opportunity to lead an Emotional Intelligence workshop for the
Student Leadership Alliance at THE CURE in Iron Mountain.

I was invited by the program director, Katie Cherney, to work with the Student Leadership Alliance.

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The Environment Matters

Before we ever talked about emotions, intelligence, or leadership, Katie had prepared snacks! It's a lot easier to get teens out of bed on a Saturday morning if food is involved.

The Cure is a very low-stress, high-trust environment complete with comfortable couches and chairs. It is known for, and during my time there, it remained a psychologically safe environment.

That matters more than people think. Because people, regardless of age, won't engage deeply unless they feel safe enough to think, share, and reflect honestly.

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Breaking Down Emotional Intelligence

We started with two key components of emotional intelligence:

1. Personal Competence

This is about understanding yourself.

We focused on:

• Identifying emotions

• Expanding emotional vocabulary using an emotion wheel

• Recognizing what we’re actually feeling—not just saying “I’m mad” or “I’m fine.”

• Learning how to manage those emotions once identified

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2. Social Competence

This is about understanding others.

We worked on:

• Recognizing emotions in other people
• Reading situations more accurately
• Adjusting how we respond based on relationships

Leadership is interaction with people and meeting them where they are.

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From Theory to Practice

After the classroom portion, we shifted gears into a practical exercise. Students were divided into three groups and given a fictional case study:

A young family had been hit by a drunk driver. The father had been seriously injured, the mother and children less so, but still with emotional trauma.

Each group approached the situation from a different professional lens:

Group 1: Law Enforcement

How do police officers use emotional intelligence when responding to a traumatic scene?
How will they handle the family and the drunk driver with dignity, respect, and fairness?

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Group 2: Educators

How do teachers support the two children impacted by the crash when they return to school?
What emotional gaps can they help to fill? Which ones should they avoid?

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Group 3: Social Workers

How do you support a family dealing with:

• Injury

• Emotional trauma

• Financial stress

• Disruption to daily life

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What Happened Next

Each group applied social competencies to their role:

• Empathy

• Awareness

• Communication

• Relationship management

They weren’t just talking about emotional intelligence. They were using it in a realistic scenario that wasn't "real" but had enough realistic elements that they could all empathize with one or more of the people involved.

When each group was able to share their thoughts, you were able to see that they were thinking deeper, considering people, not just problems, and were using the tools that had just been placed in their toolbox earlier that morning.

From a teacher's point of view: It was awesome to see these young leaders engage with the material, each other, and the complex ideas that came from small and large group discussions.

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Why This Matters

We talk a lot about leadership. But leadership without emotional intelligence is incomplete.

You can have great ideas, well-thought-out plans, clear direction, focus, mission, vision, etc. But if you can’t identify your own emotions, manage those emotions, understand people, and build trust, you and your team will never reach your full potential.

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The Takeaway

The biggest win wasn’t the content; it was their engagement with each other in leader-to-leader conversations and how they spoke about using what they learned in their next leadership interaction.

Multiple students came up afterward and said:

• They enjoyed it

• They learned something

• It made them think differently

That’s the goal. Not just information- Transformation.

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Final Thought

Leadership starts with self-awareness and grows through how we treat others.
These students took a real-world situation and applied emotional intelligence in meaningful ways.
That’s leadership...and that’s the future.

Teach. Coach. Lead.
JVD

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Ready to Bring This to Your Organization?

If you’re looking to build stronger leaders, better communication, higher emotional intelligence, and more connected teams: Schedule your leadership event at www.johnvandusen.com

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Credits

This post was drafted with the assistance of AI (ChatGPT) and edited by Mr. VanDusen.