Leaders change jobs and the stats tell us that high performers in the post baby-boomer generations do so more frequently. The WSJ, HBR and the many consulting organizations that report such things agree that somewhere around half succeed and the other half are gone within the first 18 months. This issue of for Leaders of Leaders provides perspective for both the new kid on the block, the boss, and the in-tact team the new kid is joining.
For a professional Formula 1 driver getting ready to go real fast includes some long walks, up-close and personal with the track surface and environment. Getting ready to go real fast includes understanding that no matter how good you are, you can’t win by yourself.
Humility trumps hubris. Show experience and demonstrate smarts with curiosity communicated through the depth and quality of questions. Good questions do not have binary answers. A good education and top tier experience opened the door. Once inside, no one wants to hear about it. Show by actions, don’t tell. What matters is the ways in which that knowledge and history is used to the benefit of individuals, the team and the business.
Respect builds relationships which expedite results. There is an overriding story that defines the business. Search for consistency, alignment. There are anecdotal stories that further define the culture and people. Yes, I know it is naïve, but presume that people have done their best within the context of the knowledge, resources, and reality in which they operate. Get to know them and the context. Build understanding that makes defining and executing the right changes easier. Take a service approach and dive-in to understand what people – boss, peers and subordinates want, need and expect.
If home isn’t happy, no one is happy. New job, new company, ambitious high achiever expectations from above, sideways and below is a formula for an unhappy home. Add relocation across the country to a community where you are a stranger and the equation has high risk of simply not balancing. Even if the family knows the drill and has done it before, it is still not easy for most. Take care of your family.
Success is a shared responsibility
Those who track and analyze such things say that the cost to replace an executive from recruiting to high performance is two to three times the cost of having that person on the payroll for a year. Given that fact and the 50% first 18 month failure rate, the new leader’s success is co-owned.
The boss, team leader, CEO, Managing Partner or whoever the person reports to has reputation on the line. The team also shares ownership in the new kid’s success. She fails and team has failed. The team the new leader leads can also expedite success or not. What you can do:
Clear expectations – The new kid has created a 90 – 100 day plan as a demonstration of business acumen, sense of the organizational pulse, strategy and goals and a grasp of opportunity and actions to be taken. Clear expectations emerge – at least between exec and boss. With the full executive team in the room ask each member what they expect of their new colleague and what they will do to help him/her succeed.
Orchestrate an early win – I was a young leader recruited to a new job, new company, new state, new industry. With two-thousand employees, this heavy manufacturing operation had very contentious relationships with multiple unions, poor dynamics between levels of management and other challenges. For several years the union and supervision had been pushing for a significant improvement that required construction and had a $3mm price tag and no tangible ROI. The street cred I got from making this happen was all visible. The fact that I did not pull $3mm out of a hat the first 3 months on the job just to please 3 union Presidents was all behind the scenes and done by a boss who knew my success in this tough environment required quick credibility.
Coach and mentor – People who have risen to executive team level are generally ambitious, self-starters with solid self-confidence. That said, however, a new leader in a new company is a stranger in a strange land. Suggestions above minimize the time span of that situation. Playing the role of coach/mentor with the new leader is more powerful than directing and controlling, presuming that there is clarity and alignment regarding expectations.
