TheLeadershipNotebook

Your First 90 Days....

 

“Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.”

~John Wooden

 

In last week’s post, I shared the news that I’ve accepted the position of President of Toledo St. Ursula Academy and Junior Academy. My start date is October 1st. I’m excited to jump right into my new role and hit the ground running.

But as a leadership development coach who has worked with many leaders during their transition into new roles, I have to remind myself to practice what I preach. What do I mean?

According to research and best practices on leadership effectiveness, the first days in a new position are critical because small differences in a new leader’s actions can have a huge impact on long-term results.

Whether you’re a hire from the outside, as I am, or an existing employee who has been at an organization for a while, it’s important that the new leader take the time up front to quickly diagnose a your situation, understand its challenges and opportunities, establish priorities and manage the key relationships that will help you succeed.

 

So my real start date was the minute I accepted my new position.

 

There are two resources I have utilized with my coaching clients who are entering new roles. The first, Michael Watkins’ The First 90 Days, provides an excellent roadmap for a new leader. The second, The New Leader’s 100 Day Action Plan by Brandt et. al. offers a similar blueprint that includes practical tools to help you implement your plan.

 

Here’s a very brief summary of the concepts that Watkins shares in The First 90 Days. He outlines 10 key transition challenges that will help you navigate your road ahead. They are:

 

 

1. Promote Yourself — get yourself mentally ready to step into your new role. Shift your mindset and perspective and embrace your new position.
2. Accelerate Your Learning — figure out what you need to learn and identify up front your best available sources of insight and information and learn what you need to learn in the shortest amount of time.
3. Match Strategy to Situation—not every situation is the same. This transition challenge requires you to assess just what you are facing. The book outlines four different business situations that will allow you to match the appropriate focus and response to needs of the organization.
4. Secure Early Wins—in this step, the new leader tailors early initiatives to build personal credibility, establish key relationships, and identify and harvest low-hanging fruit-the highest –potential opportunities for short term improvements in organizational performance.
5. Negotiate Success—proactively work to understand with your new boss just what success looks like. You will have greater clarity and a sense of focus for your efforts.
6. Achieve Alignment—this step requires a focus on analyzing the architecture of your organization. Assess alignment among strategy, structure, systems and skills. You will likely not be able to do this immediately but it should be included in your 90 Day plan.
7. Build Your Team—begin by assessing your team, looking for congruence with strengths and needs of the organization. Then work to build team trust and cohesion. You will also need to put in place goals, incentives and performance measures that will propel your team in the desired direction.
8. Create Coalitions—consolidate existing sources of support while developing relationships with those whose resources or connections you need to succeed.
9. Keep Your Balance-- build your support systems and keep your personal disciplines. Starting new is challenging and stressful. It’s important to remember to keep this important balance.
10. Expedite Everyone —if there are other new leaders in your organization, share these steps with them. Share your plan as well.

 

Regardless of the tools or resources you use, if you are anticipating a promotion or a move to a new assignment, planning your first three months in your role is a must. I’ve completed a first draft of my 90 Day Plan and have already accomplished some of my action steps.

 

What do you think? What has worked for you when you transition into a new position? I’d love to hear about strategies you have used in your first days and months in your new job.

 

To your success,

 

Mary

The Avengers and The Critical Role of Followers

 

“It is the men behind who make the man ahead."

~Merle Crowell

My daughter Emily, soon to be a law school graduate, is an extra in The Avengers movie that premieres today. That’s her, in the back left. I can pick her out.

 

 

Her experience as a cast member in the movie was certainly a memorable one. But it involved long, grueling nights last summer (midnight to 7 am) to shoot the same scenes over and over and over again. And many of her hours were devoted to scenes that will never see the light of day.

But without Emily and scores of other followers like camera people, costume designers and technical crafts people, superheroes like The Avengers would never get to shine so bright. These followers are cooperative team players, persistent and determined, committed to the excellence of their project.

Building and developing leadership skills is the focus of books, coaching sessions and even many of these Leadership Notebook blog posts. But we must remember the wise words of the great philosopher Aristotle: “He who’s never learned to obey can’t be a good commander."

What do you think? What is the value of a good follower in your organization?

To your success,

Mary

The Brave New World of “Teaming”

 

“…successful teaming begins with an embrace of the unknown

and a commitment to learning that drives employees to absorb,

and sometimes create, new knowledge while executing.”

 

~Amy C. Edmondson

Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management

Harvard Business School

 

 

What is “teaming”? In her recent HBR article titled, Teamwork On the Fly, Professor Amy Edmondson describes her research and experience with a new form of team, a new way to get work accomplished in our fast paced, global business environment. 

 

Flexible teamwork, or “teaming,” gathers experts from wide ranging divisions and disciplines into temporary groups to tackle projects or problems and accelerate reaction to new opportunities. Imagine a team where:

 

• Multiple functions/disciplines work together
• Relationships are temporary
• People are geographically dispersed
• Each project uses new and evolving individual skill sets
• Work can be uncertain and chaotic

 

Sounds like fun. But building a solid base of soft skills is critical to  successful “teaming.“

 

You may think this type of team arrangement would never apply to your circumstances.…but think again. In recent months, I’ve had several of my coaching clients and one family member participate in this type of team format.

 

A Case in Point

Yesterday, IBM launched PureSystems which IBM describes as  “a new, simpler era of computing.” I’m not a techie but it’s a big deal and as the company shared during its launch event, “it’s the result of $2 billion in R&D and acquisitions over the past four years.”

 

My daughter Sarah, an “IBMer” and a member of the marketing launch team, has lived and breathed the project since she joined the company last year. It was top secret and she could not share what she was working on but I do know that her team could be described with the “teaming” characteristics described above.

 

In another case, one of my coaching clients, a CPA formerly with a Big4 firm and now with General Motors, was tapped to lead a project with team members who span the globe and possess variety of skills and disciplines. He had not previously met any of his team members.

 

You don’t have to work for mega companies like IBM or GM to experience this teaming concept. This type of flexible team work is happening at large and small firms alike.

 

Required Skill Sets

 

Technical skills are expected of course. But to achieve and excel in this new form of team environment, soft skills in emotional intelligence (EQ) are imperative. And the good news is that these skills can be learned and developed.

 

Witnessing teaming in action through my clients and daughter and reading Edmondson’s descriptions of successful teams, I believe the following are key EQ skills that can make all the difference:

 

• Flexibility: Not surprising, your ability to adapt your emotions, thoughts and behaviors to unfamiliar, unpredictable and dynamic circumstances or ideas is critical to survival in this type of team environment. Change is here to stay and being adaptable and flexible in team circumstances has never been more important.

 

• Problem Solving: How do you find solutions to problems in situations where emotions are involved? Deadlines are a way of life and especially in teaming circumstances, complete information is just not available.

 

• Interpersonal Relationships: Developing and maintaining great relationships is a skill set that is easier when teams are based on longstanding, mutual experiences and geographic proximity. But in teaming, relationships must build quickly without the benefit of trust building as a foundation.  

 

• Empathy: Differences in cultural norms, values and perspectives are natural in a teaming situation. Empathy built on listening to others opinions and ideas is critical to successful decision making and project completion.

 

• Assertiveness: In a teaming situation, team members must speak up and offer their perspective and ideas. They must be able to communicate honestly and directly, raise issues and acknowledge when errors are made.

 

• Stress Management: This form of team is not for the faint of heart. Being able to cope with stressful, rapidly changing circumstances, different personalities and functional skill sets  is a requirement of leaders at all levels. And I would argue, even more so in a teaming situation.

 

 

As Edmondson says in her article, “teaming” is here to stay. This form of flexible team is challenging for sure, yet as Edmondson describes in her article, there are great rewards for both the individual and the organization.

 

Are you ready for this brave new world?

 

To your success,

 

Mary