Coaching executives new to the company speeds integration, business results
When somebody new steps into a leadership position, expectations are high. Particularly if that person comes from outside the organization.
Past problems with a department or its performance, the launching of ambitious new strategic initiatives or a need to implement change may create pressures on a new leader to produce results quickly.
Unfortunately, introducing a new leader into an organization often results in something akin to an organ rejection. Over time most organizations acquire or construct high entry barriers. A new person frequently has little chance of becoming an insider or of gaining the credibility needed to be effective or to execute meaningful change.
What are these entry barriers? They have to do primarily with culture and relationships. These are the keys to getting things done in any organization. To be effective, a leader must understand and work within the existing culture, especially if she is trying to change that culture.
But culture in an organization evolves slowly over time and does not yield its secrets easily without some persistent effort on the part of the newcomer.
This means a new leader has to develop an ability to read a culture, identifying what is and is not acceptable, how decisions traditionally get made and how conflicts are resolved. Some organizations resolve conflicts publicly and noisily where others tend to sweep conflict under the rug.
A new leader who doesn’t figure these things out early will inevitably say and do things that offend the very people she needs as allies.
A leader, of course, must gain entry to a culture largely through relationships. Building and cementing good relationships with key stakeholders — the boss, peers, direct reports and staff — is what becoming an insider is all about.
Too often, however, an executive does not give a high priority to culture or relationship issues when entering a new leadership position. Leadership tends to be based on functional and technical skills and extensive experience instead of skills in building relationships and understanding culture.
She may believe she will have immediate credibility in the organization because of her previous positions and accomplishments. But acceptance in an organization is rarely that simple and new leaders frequently find themselves struggling to hold their ground and to achieve the objectives they were hired to meet.
There is an increase in demand among organizations to provide coaching assistance for new leaders. By helping them focus on building relationships and accurately understanding the culture, a coach can help them lower the barriers to effective leadership and success in the company.
New leader coaching should focus on a range of critical issues:
•preparing the leader for “on-boarding” with the organization;
•defining position objectives;
•planning for some early successes or wins to enhance credibility;
•building new relationships;
•immersion in the organization and its culture;
•helping the leader develop self-management strategies to handle stressful periods;
•shaping the leader’s role in creating the organization’s future; and
•evaluating and consolidating progress early on.
Case studies
Here are two examples of how the coaching process can help the organization realize the value of its investment in new leadership:
Communications company example: A senior HR executive was hired for a key position in a large communications company.
The position had been vacant for six months and the three previous people in the position failed. One of the entry barriers the executive faced was a culture in which the chief executive officer would not make a decision without the unanimous agreement of the executive team, a practice that often resulted in stalemate with personal and political issues preventing agreement.
Within this environment the new leader was expected to revamp the company’s compensation system.
Working with a coach, the executive was able to design a plan to interview each peer on the executive team to get to know them personally and gain insights on the culture. In the process the new exec was able to identify many of the team members’ “hot buttons” related to compensation issues.
Following this process the new exec scheduled a one-day facilitated off-site meeting with the team to develop and agree on a detailed compensation plan.
The off-site was a success. A plan was developed and approved by the team and the CEO. This new HR leader has now been in this position for three years and she is highly respected by her peers and the CEO.
Pharmaceutical example: A large pharmaceutical firm hired 20 physicians who had been in private practice for many years. They had never worked in an organization but were now being placed in key management positions in a multinational corporation, with no idea how to successfully function in this culture.
A team of coaches worked with the doctors, focusing on helping them to understand the norms, politics and expectations of organizational life and how to make an effective contribution. As a result, all 20 made successful transitions into the new environment. Four years later, all of them still work for the firm.
Employers make a significant investment when they recruit and hire new leaders into challenging positions and have much to lose if a new hire does not succeed. It is in an organization’s interests to do everything possible to help a new leader gain credibility and acceptance in the organization to accomplish the objectives that drove the hire in the first place.
Donna Van Alstine is senior vice-president of Canadian consulting with Right Management Consultants, an organizational consulting and career transition firm. She can be reached at [email protected] or www.right.com/ca.
Past problems with a department or its performance, the launching of ambitious new strategic initiatives or a need to implement change may create pressures on a new leader to produce results quickly.
Unfortunately, introducing a new leader into an organization often results in something akin to an organ rejection. Over time most organizations acquire or construct high entry barriers. A new person frequently has little chance of becoming an insider or of gaining the credibility needed to be effective or to execute meaningful change.
What are these entry barriers? They have to do primarily with culture and relationships. These are the keys to getting things done in any organization. To be effective, a leader must understand and work within the existing culture, especially if she is trying to change that culture.
But culture in an organization evolves slowly over time and does not yield its secrets easily without some persistent effort on the part of the newcomer.
This means a new leader has to develop an ability to read a culture, identifying what is and is not acceptable, how decisions traditionally get made and how conflicts are resolved. Some organizations resolve conflicts publicly and noisily where others tend to sweep conflict under the rug.
A new leader who doesn’t figure these things out early will inevitably say and do things that offend the very people she needs as allies.
A leader, of course, must gain entry to a culture largely through relationships. Building and cementing good relationships with key stakeholders — the boss, peers, direct reports and staff — is what becoming an insider is all about.
Too often, however, an executive does not give a high priority to culture or relationship issues when entering a new leadership position. Leadership tends to be based on functional and technical skills and extensive experience instead of skills in building relationships and understanding culture.
She may believe she will have immediate credibility in the organization because of her previous positions and accomplishments. But acceptance in an organization is rarely that simple and new leaders frequently find themselves struggling to hold their ground and to achieve the objectives they were hired to meet.
There is an increase in demand among organizations to provide coaching assistance for new leaders. By helping them focus on building relationships and accurately understanding the culture, a coach can help them lower the barriers to effective leadership and success in the company.
New leader coaching should focus on a range of critical issues:
•preparing the leader for “on-boarding” with the organization;
•defining position objectives;
•planning for some early successes or wins to enhance credibility;
•building new relationships;
•immersion in the organization and its culture;
•helping the leader develop self-management strategies to handle stressful periods;
•shaping the leader’s role in creating the organization’s future; and
•evaluating and consolidating progress early on.
Case studies
Here are two examples of how the coaching process can help the organization realize the value of its investment in new leadership:
Communications company example: A senior HR executive was hired for a key position in a large communications company.
The position had been vacant for six months and the three previous people in the position failed. One of the entry barriers the executive faced was a culture in which the chief executive officer would not make a decision without the unanimous agreement of the executive team, a practice that often resulted in stalemate with personal and political issues preventing agreement.
Within this environment the new leader was expected to revamp the company’s compensation system.
Working with a coach, the executive was able to design a plan to interview each peer on the executive team to get to know them personally and gain insights on the culture. In the process the new exec was able to identify many of the team members’ “hot buttons” related to compensation issues.
Following this process the new exec scheduled a one-day facilitated off-site meeting with the team to develop and agree on a detailed compensation plan.
The off-site was a success. A plan was developed and approved by the team and the CEO. This new HR leader has now been in this position for three years and she is highly respected by her peers and the CEO.
Pharmaceutical example: A large pharmaceutical firm hired 20 physicians who had been in private practice for many years. They had never worked in an organization but were now being placed in key management positions in a multinational corporation, with no idea how to successfully function in this culture.
A team of coaches worked with the doctors, focusing on helping them to understand the norms, politics and expectations of organizational life and how to make an effective contribution. As a result, all 20 made successful transitions into the new environment. Four years later, all of them still work for the firm.
Employers make a significant investment when they recruit and hire new leaders into challenging positions and have much to lose if a new hire does not succeed. It is in an organization’s interests to do everything possible to help a new leader gain credibility and acceptance in the organization to accomplish the objectives that drove the hire in the first place.
Donna Van Alstine is senior vice-president of Canadian consulting with Right Management Consultants, an organizational consulting and career transition firm. She can be reached at [email protected] or www.right.com/ca.
