Carole Teacher from Mott MacDonald presented a session at 'LearningNow: Induction strategies that work' on 25th September. Her session was about the challenges and solutions of bringing new senior managers on board.

1. Bringing New
Managers on Board
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Carole Teacher – Mott MacDonald Group Ltd

2. This Talk
• Who is Mott MacDonald?
• Induction training for new leaders and managers – why we
needed to think differently
• Challenges
• Connecting new leaders faster
• Working with other stakeholders – the managers manager and
role of local HR
• Lessons learned- summary sheet of hints and tips

3. Who is Mott MacDonald?
We work in
140countries
On some
16kprojects
1bn
turnover
14k
staff

4. Why we must engage with new
senior managers
High expectations (both
parties) to:
• Demonstrate results quickly
• Make a difference
• Influence
30-40% new hires (and
promotions) fail (DDI)
The “multiplier effect”.
A senior manager may affect
1000+ employees
10 10 10 10
20 20
40

5. Our challenge
Problem
• 120 new senior managers/year and
7% were leaving in the first year
• Recruits ranged from New Zealand
to California
• Decisions highly decentralised
• High risk of ethical and commercial
breaches
• Strong collegiate culture, resistant
to change and to outsiders (so
hard for new people to find a way
in)
• Average tenure of top grade -30
years (they started when the
company had 200 people)
• Light-touch management

6. Our solution
Senior
Induction
Virtual “meet
the Board
sessions
HR
involvement
Manager of
manager
involvement
“You don’t
know what
you don’t
know
“checklist
Solution
• Welcome webinar in first
month – run by me
• Series of webinars run by
the Board and corporate
heads, hosted by me and
me team
• Extensive “you don’t know
what you don’t know”
checklist
• HR manager support
• Manager’s manager
support
• Additional help if needed

7. Gaining buy-in
• Individual meetings with Board members and
corporate heads – who we wanted as contributors
• Good proposal based on evidence and sound
case (e.g aim to reduce risk and turnover)
• HR staff involved in design of their role
• Report to HR discussed and created especially to
enable them to take action

8. Lessons learned
• Involve HR manager earlier in the process – their help has
doubled participation rates
• One-to-one meetings with contributors was key to their buy-in
• It’s hard to shift senior managers from presenting to discussing
• Difficult to get feedback on the effectiveness of the tasks
carried out locally
• We underestimated the lack of skills at using any kind of on-line
meeting software
• Virtual conferencing takes far more discipline than face-to-face
• Despite doubts, delegates really appreciate the opportunity to
speak candidly with board members
• Board members enjoy the chance to connect