Whose Voices Are In My Head?

Leadership Hints – 5 Action Items for Leaders Transitioning into New Roles:

1. Understand what you are taking on. Is the espoused situation really the de facto situation? Is this a turn around, a realignment, a sustaining position, or a startup? The situation will shape the mood and behavior of your constituents. This may work in your favor, or will present as a key challenge.
2. Get a grip on the culture. This means the organizational culture, professional culture, and geographical culture. e.g. How one section of the organization works may be quite different from one location to another.
3. Who holds the power and influence in your group, and your organization? Explore this and create a self action plan that promotes strategic relationship development. While looking vertically at those around you, remember to consider horizontal relationships within the organization, and internal customers as well as external customers.
4. Find yourself an informal mentor within the organization. They can help you recognize the landmines that may block your intended pathway. You should have a sense of who this might be after the first few months, if not before; someone where you have quickly developed a trusting relationship, someone who is connected and respected throughout the organization.
5. Get really clear on what the expectations are of you. Meet with your superior on a frequent basis to ensure clarity. Expectations can shift – stay on top of it!

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FeedForward… The Breakfast of Champions!

Your thoughts and feelings on what it is we can start, stop, or continue to focus on in future newsletters that would be of particular value to you… as we all try to successfully navigate leadership challenges in these white-water economic times. Please take 30 seconds to share your thoughts, feelings, and wants for future editions.

“Congratulations, You’re Promoted… Now What?”

Any transition to a new role, while exciting and an acknowledgement of what the organization thinks of you, is a time of anxiety for every newly transitioning leader.

Did You Know…?

Did you know that the estimated cost of hiring a new leader is said to be approximately 24 times the leader’s base compensation?

• In a survey of CEOs, the majority reported that selecting the right people is considered near the top of their list of being one of their biggest challenges.
• Research indicates that only 25% of those hired or promoted turn out to be high achievers – indicating a strong probability of 75% of these hires failing!
• Another research initiative involving CEOs worldwide indicated a hiring failure rate of up to 50% with the cost of hiring mistakes equating to almost 15 times an employee’s annual compensation.
• One organization estimated that the cost in lost revenue, rework, and concessions was at least $220,000 in the hiring of a Project Manager.
• The same organization, when asked to consider the costs of hiring the Project Manager, estimated the total of direct and indirect costs to be at least $550,000. The damage worked out to be roughly 8 times the Project Manager’s annual salary.
• The top 100 branded companies’ longevity of new chief marketers lasts 23 months on average.
• Other research indicated that some of the world’s leading companies stand to lose more than 30% of their top employees.
• Yet another study found that 22% of staff turnover occurs in the first 45 days of employment, and the cost of losing an employee in the first year is estimated to be at least 3 times their gross annual compensation.
• Recent findings also indicate that 46% of new hires leave within their first 18 months of employment.
• Executive compensation has increased dramatically over the past 15 years, but so has forced CEO turnover.
• Related findings suggest that for the CEOs of the largest US corporations, a one percentage point increase in exogenous turnover risk is associated with $40,000 to $90,000 more in terms of total compensation.

The bottom line… take the necessary steps to assure the success of newly hired or promoted leaders, and protect this critical investment! Help the new leader recognize the common traps in his/her leadership transition that could lead to derailment, support him/her to learn to efficiently and effectively speed up the the transition process, build momentum by planning for short and long-term successes, build strong working relationships with his/her team, boss, and other key constituents, and quickly align strategy, structure, processes, skills, and culture, to meet and achieve strategic advantage.

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Stress & Performance… The Leader’s Achilles Heel!

Stress has a tremendous influence on performance levels, particularly during times when a leader is under the magnifying glass. Studies have demonstrated that the effect of stress alters the ability to learn, to remain agile, and to make effective decisions. Can your organization afford to falter in its role to more effectively support transitioning leaders? Is there an opportunity to step back from the status quo and examine the question ‘How could we transition our new role leaders better, and ensure their and our organization’s success’?

Our recent RWBA research on this subject makes the following recommendations:

• Identify communication gaps and improve communication of support and development programs.
• Appoint an “ambassador of programs” who can effectively inform, steer, co-design, and co-manage a transitioning individual’s action plan.
• Gain commitment of senior leaders to provide face-to-face time with newly promoted leaders, ensuring relationship building, clarity of expectations, and constructive feedback sessions.
• Provide senior leadership networking opportunities.
• Encourage formal and/or informal mentorship.
• Ensure strategic alignment to the overall succession strategy of your organization.
• Utilize psychometric assessments in the early stages to increase leader’s self awareness.
• Design or contract for an accelerated leadership transitioning program that can be self-directed and facilitated by an internal or external coach.
• Implement usage of a senior leadership 360° assessment for a transitioning leader at an 18 month interval, with an abbreviated version of the assessment redone at 24 months.

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What Do You Think & Feel?… an RWBA Laser Poll

Recent RWBA research uncovered the following top 10 concerns of new role transitioning senior leaders…

Drinking Water From A Firehose – When Does It End?

Transitioning into a new role takes some time… at what point does that feeling of being “new at this” wear off? For a leader who steps into a highly complex role in a large organization, while certainly getting more comfortable at 18 months, look for transitions of 24 to 36 months. Most leaders that we interview in senior roles agree that it takes two business cycles to truly feel like it is “in the bones”.

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Executive Group Coaching

Special Offer: FREE Coaching for Transitioning Leaders

Schedule in your Outlook calendar to join in on the FREE Introductory Exclusive Coaching Group Call, Friday, February 25th, 9:00 PST (noon EST) facilitated by an RWBA Master Executive Coach and learn about…

…successfully accelerating your leadership transition whether newly hired or promoted. Discover how to tap into the combined energy, experience and wisdom of others with an affinity of interest in taking their careers and lives to more meaningful, successful and fulfilling levels. Find out answers to the following questions and many more:

• What is an RWBA Exclusive Leadership Transition Coaching Group®?
• Who might the other members of my RWBA Exclusive Leadership Transition Coaching Group® be?
• What is the process used in my RWBA Exclusive Leadership Transition Coaching Group®?
• What would we focus on in my RWBA Exclusive Leadership Transition Coaching Group®?
• What types of professionals would my RWBA Exclusive Leadership Transition Coaching Group® involve?
• What would be the ROI for me, and what is the investment?

To ensure your participation in the group, please forward you name and email address to groupcoaching@rwbenwick.com

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Featured Video: Leadership Transitioning: The First 90 Days

Michael Watkins on accelerating on-boarding and leadership transitions

Accelerated Leadership Transition Coaching Support

Given that over 50% of senior players leave their positions within 2 years of being hired, do you want to assure your organization’s investment in, and the success of, newly hired leaders, newly promoted leaders or hi-potentials, or an employee reporting to a new boss?

Take a quick moment to view our Leadership Accceleration document.

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