If they’ re already on your team, maybe they started answering phones as an intake specialist. Maybe they were a case manager, a marketing coordinator, or an office manager. Whatever their title, they consistently demonstrated the same qualities: they took ownership, solved problems before anyone asked, and naturally became someone others relied on. Over time, they earned the trust of both leadership and their teammates— not because of a title, but because of how they showed up every day. When you have someone like that, promoting them can be one of the best leadership decisions you make. They already understand your culture, your people, and your clients. They’ ve experienced the day-to-day realities of the roles they’ re now leading, which often gives them a level of empathy and perspective that’ s difficult to replicate with an outside hire.
But while that transition can be incredibly rewarding, it also comes with challenges that aren’ t always obvious at first.
Whenever you promote someone into leadership, relationships change. If you’ ve built a healthy culture and you’ re promoting someone who has genuinely earned the respect of the team, that transition is usually manageable. There may be an adjustment period, but people rally around them because they trust them.
If that transition is met with resentment, resistance, or people trying to undermine the new leader, it often points to something deeper. Maybe there’ s a cultural issue that needs to be addressed. Maybe the person wasn’ t actually the right fit for the role. Either way, promotion doesn’ t create those problems— it exposes them.
Even in the healthiest organizations, though, stepping into an operations leadership role is one of the biggest transitions someone can make in their career. I know because I’ ve lived it. I didn’ t join PILMMA as COO. I came on board after leaving a career in education, starting in marketing as a copywriter and social media coordinator. As the company grew, my role grew alongside it. I moved into marketing leadership, then operations, and eventually into the COO role.
People sometimes assume that because you’ ve been with the company for years, a transition like this feels natural.
In some ways, it is. You already know the people, the business, and the culture. But in other ways, it can feel surprisingly isolating.
One day you’ re brainstorming ideas with your teammates, grabbing lunch together, and working through challenges side by side. The next, you’ re responsible for coaching those same people, having difficult conversations, evaluating performance, and making decisions that impact their careers.
Those relationships don’ t disappear, but they do change. They have to.
When I stepped into greater leadership at PILMMA, I immediately knew that I absolutely couldn’ t process leadership challenges with the same people I was leading. If I was wrestling with a difficult decision, feeling uncertain about how to approach a personnel issue, or trying to navigate competing priorities, my team wasn’ t the appropriate place to work through those things.
The challenge is that those questions don’ t disappear just because you’ ve been promoted. If anything, they multiply.
Of course, not every operator is promoted from within. Hiring someone from the outside comes with its own set of challenges. That person is walking into an organization where they’ re expected to improve systems while simultaneously earning the trust of a team that may be skeptical of change. They don’ t yet have the relationships or institutional knowledge that someone promoted internally has, so they’ re learning the business while trying to lead it. Neither path is inherently easier— they simply come with different growing pains.
Regardless of the operator’ s origin, they’ re wrestling with quite a lot. Most people think becoming an operator is about learning budgets, KPIs, project management, or process improvement. Those things
“ WHEN MARKETING LAUNCHES A SUCCESS- FUL CAMPAIGN, EVERYONE SEES IT. WHEN AN ATTORNEY WINS A MAJOR CASE, EVERYONE CELEBRATES IT. BUT WHEN OPERATIONS IS DOING ITS JOB WELL, THINGS SIMPLY... WORK.” matter, and they’ re all teachable— assuming you have someone to teach them.( Please don’ t hire someone with no operational experience and expect them to somehow teach themselves.) The more nuanced— and honestly, much harder— part is learning how to lead.
How do you hold someone accountable while maintaining trust? How do you partner with a visionary who naturally thinks three steps ahead while making sure today’ s priorities actually get executed? How do you make decisions when there isn’ t a perfect answer? How do you navigate conflict without taking it home with you?
Leadership books are valuable. Conferences are valuable. Podcasts are valuable. But there are some challenges you don’ t solve by consuming more information. You solve them by talking to someone who’ s sat in the same seat.
Operations is also one of the least visible jobs in an organization. When marketing launches a successful campaign, everyone sees it. When an attorney wins a major case, everyone celebrates it. But when operations is doing its job well, things simply... work.
When operations is working well, payroll runs on time. Clients have a seamless experience. Projects move forward. Meetings happen when they’ re supposed to. Team members know what’ s expected of them. Most people never stop to think about the hundreds of decisions, conversations, systems, and course corrections that made all of that possible.
Most people don’ t notice the hundreds of decisions, conversations, systems, and adjustments that made all of that possible. That’ s one of the beautiful things about operations, but it
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