Just Landed a New Leadership Role?

You want to make a POSITIVE impact in THE FIRST 30 DAYS!

STEPPING INTO A NEW LEADERSHIP ROLE

Recently I was surprised to get a call from an acquaintance who was a mid-level manager, I met at a former client. He had been appointed to a new senior management role at a large Telco. It is a role that he has aspired to for some time. The purpose of his call (excluding the normal New Year pleasantries) was quite straightforward.

His questions for me was this:

WHERE DO I BEGIN?

It’s a common fear. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the new CEO, or a team lead further down the ladder. Of course, as part of the recruitment and interview process, you would have heard the views of your prospective boss, or in the case of a CEO role, your future Board. And no doubt would have provided you with their opinions of what is right, what is wrong, and what needs to be done tout de suite (in the event that you get the job).

So now you have the job, the pressure is on. Fellow employees, both direct and non-direct reports will want to see what you are going to bring to the role. The hierarchy above you will want to see you hit the ground running with business plans, change, and progress and reporting. They’ll expect to see the problems that they see, actioned. Those subordinate to you will be watching for different reasons. “How is this going to affect my role?” they will be thinking.

With all that expectation, it would be tempting to start doing stuff, changing things, with ‘Little effort’ and in some cases, taking a couple of high profile scalps – either in the form of under-performing products, services, divisions or people.

Tip number one – Hold your horses! 

I know from experience that you actually have plenty of time to deal with those issues, even though it doesn’t feel like you do. But you have to back yourself, analyse, and form your own opinions before you start acting. Your first task is to get to grips with what you have inherited. Take the time to structure your own views. What’s good? What’s not?

Let’s go back to the interview processes. Your new bosses have their views of what’s working well and what’s not. But remember, they appointed you to this role because you’re good at what you do.  So do it. But first ….

ONE ON ONE – BEST WAY TO GET TO KNOW YOUR TEAM AND PEOPLE

Spend your first few days ‘getting to know the lay of the land’. Have ‘one on one’ discussions first with the people who are now your direct reports and then perhaps a couple in the hierarchy above you. Find out what they think about the state of the business or division. Ask simple questions like:

• What are we doing well?
• What are we doing poorly?
• Who are our best people?
• Do we have any people who are struggling?
• Who is our most challenging customer?
• Are we at risk of losing any important customers?

Remember you are only trying to get a feel for the state of the business. Because you are asking simple questions and listening for answers you are also starting to build a rapport with your new team. You have to be totally engagedand genuinely interested in what your people have to say.

Although it doesn’t look like it at the time, you are starting to develop a view of your team members. You will see genuine people doing their best and they might be a bit cautious about sharing their views, but when they do it will be insightful and accurate.

Then you’ll get the “ass-kissers”. The type who want to impress the new boss. They stand out early, and given the opportunity give you their opinion on everything, and most of it worthless. You will also stumble across a few duds. The people who don’t know, or haven’t thought about, the answers to your simple questions. So they bluff their way through, telling you what they think you want to hear.

You are now starting to get a feel for the business.

VENTURE BEYOND YOUR DIRECT REPORTS

Once you’ve spent some time with your immediate team leads, the next stop is to set up some casual chats with their team members. The people who report to the people who report to you. This can be done in a number of ways, but keep it low key and casual.

If possible wander through the open plan and chat to people at their workstations. This can be tougher these days where more employees are working from home and / or rotating physical office days. So try to make a conscience effort to be in the office as much as possible in your first few weeks and introduce yourself and find out who they are and what they do.

Refer to the family photos that may be on the desk or sans any photos, find a point of interest from any personal items on their desk – a footie ball, a top, coffee mug – You get the gist. And be genuine about your interest in them and their families. After you leave their desk, they will tell a number of their colleagues that you’re ok. Before you leave, ask them some simple questions. Remember these people are closer to the customer than you or your team of direct reports. So ask them about the simple things that the business doesn’t do well. Are there things that they see every day that you might not see from where you sit? If they have a direct relationship with customers, ask them what your customers think of your business, and where the problems might be.

The thing about dumb questions. You only get to ask them during your first 90 days. After that you are expected to know the answers.

Another way is to set up a few group discussions with people. Be sure not to have any more than eight people in any group. Research has shown that as the group goes over eight people, participants become withdrawn and are less likely to say what they really think.

So keep it to small teams in a relaxed meeting room environment. And remember a few doughnuts or muffins go a long way. Don’t sit at the head of the table. Ask as many simple questions as you can think of, while you take consistent notes.

The thing about dumb questions. You only get to ask them during your first 90 days. After that you are expected to know the answers. And even if you think you know the answers, keep asking. Doing so shows that you’re interested in the challenges that your people have. And who knows, you might even learn something.

ESCAPE THE OFFICE

Repeat the exercise with customers, if you can. Get out and talk to as many as possible. Contrary to your expectations, it can be extremely constructive. Customers relish the fact and are generally flattered when they are asked to provide an opinion on your people, products and services. And you can generate fantastic and helpful feedback. Sure, there are some negative people who can’t let an old problem go. But unfortunately you can’t please all of the people all of the time.

WHO ELSE CAN YOU TALK TO?

While you are in information capture mode, you should try to talk to people from as many different vantage points as possible. I.e. people who perhaps deliver your products, suppliers etc. You can maybe learn a few things about what was happening in the market that the business wasn’t previously aware of.

Of course, as you go through these various discussions with your team members, their teams, your customers and your suppliers you are learning a lot about the business you’ve just become responsible for. You will learn much more in four weeks being a wandering clueless Joe or Jane, than any other way that I know. So by now you will have possibly swept aside almost everything you were told in your interview. You have now built yourself your own personal knowledge base. Make sure your notes are good, as you wade through the process. Those notes will become invaluable to you, as you refer to them over and over again in the approaching months.

WHAT IS LEFT NOW?

Your simple questions are enabling you to build up your own analysis of the business. What are we good at?

• What are we good at?
• Where are we weak?
• Where are the opportunities?
• What are the threats?
• Who are our good people?
• Who’s struggling?

Now you have an action plan with a well thought out list of what your priorities will be during the remainder of your first 90 days.

Make sure you communicate your findings to your key people, and in doing so give them the opportunity to aid or challenge you. It will become critical for them to understand what you are trying to achieve, so as they can support you rather than slow you down.

In some cases, you might get some criticism for not making enough visible progress in the first 30 days. There will always be people especially in the hierarchy above you, looking for instant action. These individuals are usually either uninterested or ill-informed, and only trying to push their own agenda.

Get the first 30 days right, and the next 60 days will fly by. In your first 90 days you will achieve more, and do so faster and more accurately. And all because you took the time to ask simple questions and listen to the people who can help you help them be more successful.