Balance Points from the Team

You’re Hired! Now What?

01.23.18

Starting a new position in a new company ranks pretty high on the scales of both anticipation and anxiety. If you’re in that place of transition right now, congratulations! Whether this is your dream job or the next step in getting to that point, you have every reason to be excited. But, in my years as an executive coach, I can say with certainty that this is not going to be a plug and play situation.   

In addition to performing the specific functions of the leadership role to which you’re been hired, success will depend just as much on your ability to read the culture and organizational challenges, to modify your leadership focus, style and approach to fit the unique circumstances. Over the next several weeks this blog series will explore some insights I’ve picked up along the way that can help you do just that.

There was a time when people stayed with one company for most of their career, working their way up and retiring with a pension and perhaps a parting gift. Those days are long gone and the idea of a transient workforce goes all the way up to the C level. In Fortune 500 companies alone, about 500,000 leaders take on new roles each year and, overall, leaders begin new jobs every two to four years (SHRM Foundation’s Effective Practice” Onboarding New Employees: Maximizing Success”).

This high turnover rate is expensive, reduces internal morale and can erode public confidence in a company. So what’s the cause of this short cycle? I first asked this question back in 2010 after noticing an increasing number of people coming to me for coaching nine to eighteen months into their tenure. These individuals had a great track record, started well and then began underperforming, which led to a sense of frustration for both the leader and the organization. The boss is trying to figure out what happened to the rock star hire who looked so good initially. The new leader, on the other hand, is thinking, “I was really successful in this position. What has changed?”. The answer is, “Everything.”

Assimilation Coaching

When high functioning leaders are hired or promoted, it’s assumed that they will know how to get the job done. The job itself may be familiar, but the surroundings in which the job is done are completely different. From navigating office politics to building new peer groups to defining boundaries, everything is new. And being an outsider or in a new role is both uncomfortable and distracting.

I spearheaded a project with two CEOs who also recognized these challenges. We wondered if we could create a pathway to success by starting assimilation coaching on a new leader’s first day. After a lot of research, I designed a process and piloted it with leaders in the CEOs’ organizations. The result? Productivity didn’t dip, job satisfaction remained high among the “test” leaders and they stayed in their positions for a longer period of time. In fact, since that time, those two CEOs have each sponsored another 20 successful assimilation coaching projects.

What’s The Process

If Day One in your new position has come and gone, there is obviously still time to start a formalized assimilation coaching process. If you’re curious about the process, this blog series is a fantastic way for you to take what I’ve learned and see how it can set you up for success. For those of you who would like to skip ahead, I highly recommend reading The First 90 Days by Dr. Michael Watkins. I look forward to sharing my next blog with you, where we’ll look at how to successfully move forward…by stepping back.

 

Click here to learn more about Gary Halverson.

2 thoughts on “You’re Hired! Now What?

  1. Hi, Gary. I’ve recently changed companies in June, after only being at the previuos company a little over two years. I can say, the transition from managing your own company for 20-years, this transition has been extremely challenging. I’m looking forward to your next blog.

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