L Niven Accelerated Transition

1. Your First 100 Days
Accelerated Transition
Luciana Niven
LDNiven Consulting

2. Transition Turf
When you hear the word transition –
What comes into your mind?
You have 5 minutes:
1. Write down the first 3 things/reactions/emotions that come
to mind (use coloured paper provided on the table)
2. Share them with your partner.
3. Each partner group should be ready to share 2 points
with the rest of the group at the end of 5 minutes

3. Three Questions to Guide Case
Study Discussion
1.What are the main reasons Margaret did not
immediately succeed in her new role?
2.What could she have done differently?
3.What should she learn from this experience?

4. Case Debrief: Margaret Holley
Main reasons why Margaret did not succeed in her new position:
 She kept doing what she knew best - she felt that made her
confident and in control.
Strengths in her past position were liabilities in new position
 Margaret failed to realise she needed to change her operational
style from:
Being A Strong Performer to one where she had to take on a cross-
functional team role in addition to a project management role
 By not letting go of the past she missed an important opportunity
for her career development

5. Case Debrief: Margaret Holley
Done Differently?
What could Margaret have done differently?
 She should have focused on mentally promoting herself
(not grandstanding or self serving)
 Margaret failed to let go of the past and embrace the imperatives of
the new position. She did not prepare herself mentally for her new
position
 Her attention to detail was a strength previously – now it hindered her
ability to see the Vision and bigger picture she needed to make a
success of this position

6. Lesson:
• Individuals are promoted - and/or -
offered new positions at a higher level but
they often fail to promote themselves by
undertaking the needed change in
perspective

7. Impeding Beliefs!
What goes on in our Brain?
We tend to reason like this:
I was promoted/offered this position because
of my skills and accomplishments. So that
must be what they expect me to do here.

8. Metacognitive Beliefs!
What should go on in our Brain ?
We need to reason like this:
 What are my learning priorities for this
position?
 How do I source them?
What is a realistic prioritisation for
achieving them?
 Who can help me achieve them?

9. Lesson:
• Prepare a Learning Plan that fits your new
role
• Pace your learning to meet new
challenges and goals

10. Transition Turf
Facts About Transitions
• Strengthen Diagnostic Skills
Transitions Demand:
• Growth (personal and organizational)
• Adaptation
and Transitions
• Test personal stamina

11. Fundamental Propositions for Meeting
the Challenges of Transition
1.) Root causes of transition failure lie in
the interactions between the situation and the individual
2.) Adopting systematic measures HELP you lessen the likelihood
of very limited or negative success
3. Your goal in a transition is to:
Build momentum by creating virtuous cycles
Build credibility
(avoid getting caught in vicious cycles Damage your credibility)

12. Fundamental Propositions for Meeting
the Challenges of Transition Cont.
4.) Transitions important for your own leadership development.
They should be nurtured and managed.
5.) Frameworks for engaging in a transition
help individuals and organisations be more successful
measurable bottom line impacts

13. Remember to:
• Shift your mind set into your new job

14. Assessing Intrinsic Interests in Business and Workplace
Problems
Managing of financial Equity and fairness Employee morale H/out
Risk
7 9 7
---------- -------------- -----------
Cost Consciousness Budgeting Design of appraisal and
Approval systems
8 8
----------- --------------- 4
------------
Product positioning Relationships with clients/customers Organisational customer focus
6 10 10
------------ ---------------- ------------
Product or service quality Relationships with partners/distributers/ Continuous
Suppliers Improvement
10
------------- 10 9
---------------- ------------
Project Management Relationships among R&D, Cross-functional
Systems marketing and operations Cooperation
7 8 8
-------------- ------------- -------------

15. Preferences for Problems and Functions in the W/place
H/out
Technical Political Cultural TOTAL
Human Resources 9 9
Finance 7+ 8 15
Marketing 6 10 16
Operations 8 8 18
Research and 10 + 7 10 27
Development
TOTAL 46 0 37

16. Analysing New Position from a Transition
Perspective
1. Do transitions have characteristics?
2. What are the different types of transitions?
3. Transitions: How could we label or give
them different names?
4. What are their different characteristics?
5. What type of challenges do transitions
present?
6. What type of opportunities do transitions
present?

17. 7 Traps of Vicious Cycles
1. Riding off in ALL Directions
2. Brittleness
3. Undefended Boundaries
4. Isolation
5. Biased Judgement
6. Work Avoidance
7. Going Over the Top

18. Thank you