Stranger In A Strange Land

Stranger in a Strange Land Peg Bowers Leadership Specialist Mick Palestina Executive Coach

Objectives:
What it is
Business Case
Critical success factors
Framework/Approach
EARLY IMPACT OR ASSIMILATION COACHING

Introductions

Assimilation is about accelerating your ability to facilitate your transition and contribute in your new role. The president gets 100 days. You get 90 days. But it can take people 18 months. Assimilation

EARLY IMPACT OR ASSIMILATION COACHING – WHAT ARE THE STAGES OF ASSIMILATION?
IT’S NOT JUST THE FIRST 90 DAYS!!
Successful integration takes between 12 and 18 months.
1. Introduction 3. Adaptation 4. Integration 2. Clarification

Assimilation can take 18-24 months (not 90-100 days!) – Stages of Assimilation ASSIMILATION PHASES ASSIMILATION ACTIVITIES Introduction (Months 1 - 3) Convey Expectations Set Priorities Identify Early Wins Clarification (Months 4 – 6) Clarify Critical Goals Eliminate Self-doubt Broaden Exposure Adaptation (Months 7 – 12) Review Progress Test Commitment Cement Key Relationships Integration (Months 13 – 18) Acknowledge Early Success Develop Long-term Plan

EARLY IMPACT OR ASSIMILATION COACHING – WHAT It Is
A short-term and structured process of:
clarifying expectations,
establishing credibility,
creating an “early impact” strategy and game plan, and
Identifying key stakeholders and their individual needs.
A systematic process which allows the newly promoted or new hires to leverage their time and talent during the critical introductory period of employment.
.

EARLY IMPACT OR ASSIMILATION COACHING – WHEN IS IT UTILIZED? WHO IS A CANDIDATE?
New senior outside hire is brought into a critical position
Internal promotion of a high potential employee into a key role
After a restructuring – for a new team leader
For any leader/s who must drive significant change initiatives
During Start-up and Turn-around situations

ASSIMILATION and Early Impact COACHING – WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
Critical talent is in short supply and getting more difficult to source
Two thirds of senior level outside hires will fail in their new role
A large percentage of these failures will occur within the first
eighteen months of their tenure at the new firm
The break-even point for a new leader occurs at the six month mark
65 % of companies rate their on-boarding process as
average or poor
The cost of a failure in hiring is high – sometimes as high as five times the annual total compensation of the executive involved

Early Impact or Assimilation Coaching accelerates time to productivity and increase the likelihood of long-term success.
New leaders at the (VP level and above) recruited from outside often have difficulty integrating into the culture and establishing a strong foundation for success. Leaders tend to underperform for 2 years.
This is not uncommon. According to a recent study, the following types of newly recruited executives experience the highest failure rates within the first 18 months:
Senior- level executives (39%), sales executives (30%), marketing executives (25%), and operations executives (23%).
Major reasons for failure in the new job include:
82% fail to build partnerships and teamwork with subordinates and peers
58% are confused or unclear about what is expected of them
50% lack the required internal political savvy
47% are unable to achieve their two-three most important objectives
28% take too long to learn their jobs
25% lack a proper balance between work and personal lives

Important Distinction Profile of a Great Leader or Position Capability Profile of a Great Transition or Transition Capability =

People and Relationships First

Strive for Collective Wins First Achieve quick wins and results with your teams Not in spite of them!

Derailer Behavior

Blueprint for Support New Leader and Team Assimilation Meeting Organizational Development Consulting Services Transitional Coaching Services Direct Manager Support and Feedback Peers and Direct Reports

LHH New Leader Acceleration Coaching
The New Leader Acceleration approach provides the necessary strategy and structure to help new or recently promoted executives assess their personal development as it relates to the organization’s culture and expectations, and assists in developing measurable outcomes within the critical first six months.
The following stages provide the executive with a strategy and action plan to insure successful:
Reading the Culture
Building Alliances/ Influencing Others
Determining/Aligning Expectations
Self Assessment
Focusing on Early Impact Projects
Driving the Agenda
Sustaining Momentum

LHH New Leader Acceleration/Early Impact Coaching 1. Reading the Culture One of the first goals in successful on-boarding into a new company or into a new work group is to help the executive identify the cultural norms and styles of the organization, manager, peers and direct reports. This is a critical step in understanding the similarities and potential mismatching between the executive’s style and the company’s culture. This understanding provides a foundation for addressing key strengths and potential pitfalls in the executive’s new environment. 2. Building Alliances/ Influencing Others A new executive needs to establish meaningful and genuine connections with peers, board members, customers, community members and employees, to build trust and credibility quickly. However, moving too quickly to what one can deliver without building a positive alliance can alienate others, undermining essential cooperation and support. Even the best individual efforts also need sponsorship from the appropriate constituencies for visibility and access to resources and to help remove barriers. While the newly positioned executive will be leveraging their personal leadership strengths and experience, they need to build and leverage organizational or “political” capital simultaneously.

New Leader Acceleration/On-Boarding Coaching 3. Determining/Aligning Expectations Understanding what business results are expected, by whom, and in what priority is the next phase of successful on-boarding. Key to this step is establishing agreement among all parties on what success will look like and how it will be measured. 4. Self Assessment It is important for the executive to understand what has worked for him or her in the past, and the degree it may or may not work in this new role and environment. This awareness helps the leader identify areas where adjustments in his or her leadership style or behaviors are needed. We typically recommend one to three self-assessments if the individual has not already experienced them: MBTI, Personal Directions from the Management Research Group, company preferred assessment tools (e.g., those already used in the organization) as well as interviews with their managers, and each of their team members.

LHH New Leader Acceleration/On-Boarding Coaching 5. Focusing on Early Impact Projects It is with the best intentions that most new executives try to make a broad and significant impact quickly. However, this can result in a lack of focus on what is important today with little significant impact actually occurring. If the new executive tries to spend time on every possible project or initiative, the efforts will be significantly diluted. It is critical to identify and focus on the key projects that will deliver the most significant impact upon identified expectations in the most rapid and realistic timeframe. This is the final step in creating the action plan. 6. Driving the Agenda As an executive embarks on the selected initiatives, it is imperative to create a convincing leadership vision and communicate it to the executive’s team, peers, and other key constituencies. They need to develop a formal and informal communication channels to keep the initiatives visible and the messages clear. 7. Sustaining Momentum Balancing the diverse needs of fast paced positions is a challenge for most executives. Pacing themselves and still achieving impressive results is critical to keep the executive in top performance. Executives need to develop approaches to retaining the enthusiasm and energy they felt as they were initially hired or newly promoted. Retention of top performers after the initial surge of activity requires helping them identify new challenges and develop new skills to keep them learning, and creating personalized recognition and rewards for their accomplishments.

EARLY IMPACT OR ASSIMILATION COACHING – WHAT ARE THE GOALS?
To accelerate the learning curve for the new leader
To hasten the overall transition process by providing just-in-time counsel and ongoing support
To prevent mistakes and errors in judgment that might tarnish the new leader’s reputation or negatively impact the business
To craft a customized New Leader Integration Plan

EARLY IMPACT OR ASSIMILATION COACHING – WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS? WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE?
Enhanced productivity for the executive and his/her team
Retention of key talent within the team
Return on the hiring investment
Reduced turnover and the associated cost of churn
Positive business results are achieved

Key Take Aways

EARLY IMPACT OR ASSIMILATION COACHING – SOURCES
Harvard Management Update – Rapid Onboarding at Capital One
Executive Insights – Executive Integration: Beyond the First 90 Days
Mediatec Publishing – Making the Right Call: Executive Coaching or Transition Coaching?
Training and Development, April 2008 – Management Onboarding
The First 90 Days – Michael Watkins
Corporate Leadership Council
Harvard Business School Survey

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Stranger In A Strange Land

by Elese_Tonelli on Aug 21, 2009

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Stranger In A Strange Land — Presentation Transcript