Top 3 Mistakes organisations make when supporting leaders in transition
Almost half of newly promoted, lateral or hired leaders may fail to make an impact in the new role because of this…
I saw a pattern emerge after having worked with over 50 corporate clients supporting the new leaders whether it’s a lateral move, newly hired or promoted.
I saw that every new role has two components,
Competency Priority
Competency Journey
The competency priority is the top essential skills required to deliver in the new role.
The competency journey is how we bridge the gap in skills between the earlier role and the new role.
I've often asked the newly promoted leaders or new leaders, if they are aware of the competency priority or competency journey and more often than not, the answer is they have no clue.
HR and L & D might have a good idea of the competency priority, but there is no map or clear outline for the competency journey.
There's the usual onboarding and handover and after that, the leaders are expected to deliver in their new role.
It’s no surprise that 27 to 46% of newly promoted or newly hired leaders fail to make an impact in the new role.
Here are the top three mistakes that organisations make while supporting the new leaders:
#1 Underestimating the Contextual Learning Curve
In a McKinsey Report, 83% of leaders who were transitioning said they felt unprepared for the new role.
Every role has its own learning curve.
The scope of the new role is generally bigger and broader than what the new leader has experienced in the prior role.
This makes the transition demanding.
Imagine an individual contributor being promoted to lead a team. There will be a learning curve in that area of leading people ie a contextual learning curve which can only happen when they are actively in the role.
Imagine a strategy leader being moved to manage operations, this requires a very different skill set.
Often, the organisation underestimates the demands and the challenges related to these shifts.
We have to shift from a one size fits all approach to crafting a competency journey for every level of leadership.
Every leader should start with a clear assessment of the current strengths and gaps and identify what are the new skills, behaviours and mindset that they may require to flourish in the new role.
#2 Provide No or Little Support To Navigate The Ecosystem
Even if leaders are ready to transition into the new role on the strategic or a business aspect of their roles, they are often less prepared for the personal and relationship part of the new role or leadership.
In a survey done by McKinsey, leaders ranked organisational politics as the main challenge.
No wonder that 68% of leaders failed due to politics, culture and people related issues.
Organisations often expect the new leader to figure it out because relationship management is not a measurable outcome.
And while many organisations do have a buddy system or a mentor assigned to the new leaders, that is not enough, especially for a heavy matrixed organisation.
New leaders should be provided with a coach.
A coach who can deepen their self awareness and help them navigate the organisational and cultural challenges in the new role or even in a new organisation (more so if they are both new to the role and new to the organisation. That’s a double whammy!)
Providing an external lens is very helpful for the leaders’ journey.
#3 No Clear Expectation Setting
Many organisations approach new leaders with a hands off approach.
The organisation relies on the new leaders to self-manage.
In the absence of clear expectations, the leaders start to get buried in day to day operations and miss the big picture.
They can get distracted with projects or initiatives that may not deliver the impact that the stakeholders are looking for in the short term.
Clear competency priorities should be provided for the new leader as well as the measure of success in terms of results and relationships.
Having a clear roadmap enables the leader to make the shift and bridge the gap.
Having a clear roadmap makes them focus on the right things.
Having a clear roadmap will allow them to make an impact in the first 90 days.
What if every leader got a clear roadmap that helped them go through their transition successfully.
Which also helps them define the gaps upfront and bridge them.
With a clear roadmap, they can make an impact, and that impact can be measured by the key stakeholders.
These are the key pillars of the success journey:
#criticalquarter #first100days #executivetransition
