| | New Leader Acceleration
Companies take a great leap of faith when bringing in new leadership. They want their costly recruiting efforts to pay off, of course, but more importantly they want to see the individual succeed and make significant contributions to the business strategy. Companies spend on average $150,000 to hire a new executive; and yet, data shows that 50% of these new hires will fail in the first 18 months. And, executive tenure is on the decline - a recent study by Spencer Stuart found that the average tenure of CEO’s is now less than four years; for CIO’s and CFO’s, it is barely three years. A 2007 Monster.com survey found that 25% of all Fortune 500 managers change jobs every year. In light of this, new hires must not only bring talent to an organization, but they must also hit the ground running.
Although hiring any new employee is risky business, there are steps companies can take to ease their transition. Most companies have caught on to the fact that an assimilation process is important to the success of new leaders. This means not only background on the individual’s specific job, but also details about the company’s history, politics, culture, key internal and external stakeholders, and other factors. New leaders left to their own for these “ancillary” topics often feel overwhelmed, dissatisfied, and ineffective, and will often fail in their new role.
For the assimilation process itself, there are now many good references on the topic, to include The New Leader’s 100-Day Action Plan: How to Take Charge, Build Your Team, and Get Immediate Results; Assimilating New Leaders: The Key to Executive Retention, and our personal favorite, The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels. With these resources in hand, companies have become more adept at assimilating new leaders, and have begun to turn to what we see as the next phase in the evolution of this process.
One Step Farther
Once a company has developed a solid process to ensure that a new leader will “stick,” the key question then becomes not “Will this leader succeed?” but “How soon will this leader succeed?” The amount of time it takes for a new leader to become successful and profitable for the company is an important consideration. This especially applies to senior leaders and executives, where the success and effectiveness of subordinates also relies in part on the leader’s own capabilities. Successful companies are now looking for ways to accelerate the assimilation process and to help leaders more quickly understand the complexities of the new position, and to develop mitigation strategies to work around typical assimilation barriers and/or risks. In particular, we have found several tools and techniques that can accelerate the process:
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Stakeholder Feedback. Identify a small group (6 to 8) of key stakeholders who hold relevant knowledge that is critical to that person’s success in the organization. Conduct third-party interviews with each stakeholder, to gather “best advice” and other feedback that might not otherwise be available – especially as related to politics, culture, personalities, and other more subtle factors. These interviews can even be done before the new leader joins the company.
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Facilitated Discussions. Some companies are now holding regular, facilitated discussions during a new leader’s assimilation, in order to get critical data “on the table” and to promote open discussion. The leader can also use these sessions to promote an open and collaborative environment, and to project their leadership presence.
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Executive Coaching. When new leaders join an organization, they typically do not have a trusted advisor within the firm that they can rely on for advice and counsel. In those early months, they know that “all eyes are on them” and that just a few missteps can take months to undo. At some companies, this void has been filled by an executive coach. This can be even more effective if the coach is already working with other executives at the firm, and can give the leader critical insight to company culture and politics. But also note that many savvy executives now bring their own coach with them to a new job, and will expect to use them in their own assimilation process.
Summary
We have seen these techniques measurably accelerate the assimilation of new leaders. And as a side benefit, others in the organization often view this new leader as inquisitive, proactive, confident, and open to learning about the new leadership challenge. The investment companies make in accelerating assimilation from the start can also reduce loss in the future. Hiring a new leader who will be responsible for the health of your company is an enormous undertaking. We strongly suggest implementing a strategy for accelerated their assimilation. With it, new leaders will hit the ground running—even faster than before.
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