The new executive was in the first 100 days on the job, and he was failing.
Why?
He was invisible to his people.
He took over and they barely saw him. He didn’t walk around and get to know his team.
He didn’t know where their offices were. His office door was open, but he was never there when his managers stopped by. He made a cursory showing at a few official events, but he did not speak with anyone who worked for him. He was too busy chatting with the other senior executives and the CEO.
On the surface, becoming a great leader appears relatively simple.
After all, we’ve all been told anyone can be a leader, that everyone is, in fact, a leader and that true leadership has nothing to do with authoritative title. Simple, right?
Wrong!
Four out of ten newly promoted managers and executives fail within 18 months of starting new jobs, according to research by Manchester, Inc, a leadership development firm in the US. "Failing" includes being terminated for performance, performing significantly below expectations or voluntarily resigning from the new position.
Leaders often fail for a few common reasons:
• due to unclear or outsized expectations,
• a failure to build partnerships with key stakeholders,
• a failure to learn the company, industry or the job itself fast enough,
• a failure to determine the process for gaining commitments from direct reports and
• a failure to recognise and manage the impact of change on people.
Executive ‘onboarding’ coaching of the newly hired or promoted manager can turnaround this high rate of failure.
An onboarding coach helps the executive more quickly adapt to the employer's culture, create rapport with his or her immediate team and find productive ways to achieve necessary goals.
Despite years of experience making complicated, far-reaching decisions, top-level managers can use some guidance when they find themselves in new situations where little, if anything, is familiar. Because as many as 40 percent of new leaders fail in their new roles to meet an organisation's expectations, purchasing executive insurance in the form of "onboarding" or assimilation coaching helps a company ensure that an important investment pays off.
Onboarding involves an intense, protracted period of coaching that's designed to help a new employee - often a senior-level executive or manager - not only adjust to a new environment, but establish a set of priorities.
The Wall Street Journal reported that assimilation coaches are helping newly hired executives to manage the transition from the first day? It's a result of the job market, with more organisations making senior leadership changes and bringing in talent from the outside. So these people have to be effective as quickly as possible.
Many executives fear that their subordinates will learn how inadequate they feel in their new jobs. Some are looking for help managing in today's faster, cheaper, better global economy.
Although hiding vulnerabilities is hardly new, this concern has been exacerbated by a new fear of either becoming obsolete or technology-driven toast in a world of business transformation. "I've never seen businesspeople have to fake it more," says B. Joseph White, past business school dean & interim president at the University of Michigan and president of the University of Illinois.
Today, newly promoted or recruited executives don't have to fake it when they have access to an executive or business coach. Executive development and the creation of productive new relationships start by achieving clarity. Clarity begins when the executive is directly connected to a coach.
As a leader in a new job, it's up to you to manage your early days well, navigate a different business culture and win support for your game plan.
