Master Your Next Move, with a New Introduction by Michael D. Watkins

Author:Michael D. Watkins [Michael D. Watkins]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press
Published: 2019-03-19T04:00:00+00:00

Accelerate expectations alignment. The company should make explicit the importance of structured discussions about expectations. These conversations should be a standard piece of the onboarding program, and there needs to be a clear process by which hiring managers and new leaders can negotiate expectations and resources. Some companies rely on the same systems they use for business planning. While helpful, these systems often need to be augmented with significant additional dialogue to ensure that alignment happens up, down, and sideways.

Aside from helping transitioning executives succeed in the three critical areas of culture, alliances, and expected outcomes, companies must also provide transition support in real time. Too much information early on can overwhelm, but waiting too long to impart critical data can create post-transition regret: “Why are you telling me this now, when I’ve already made mistakes?” In those first few days and months, onboarding executives will need a rolling supply of information from reliable resources who are willing to emain on standby for questions.

And finally, there must be a coherent relationship between the recruiting process and the onboarding process. Put another way, the best transition support systems can’t compensate for the sins of poor recruiting—and there are far too many organizations out there that focus on bringing “stars” rather than “role players” into the fold, failing to consider whether those people are actually the best fit for the organization. An executive might have the “right” knowledge and experience but not the leadership style or values to match the company’s culture. This certainly appears to have been at the root of David Jones’s problems at Energix.

Companies that want to integrate their recruiting and onboarding processes must move beyond the standard linear process of job specification, interviewing, and hiring (see figure 4-2). They’ll need to assess the risks and trade-offs of hiring internally versus externally given the business situation. If the company requires a complete turnaround, for example, it’s less risky to hire from the outside than it would be in the case of a realignment. Why? Because people in the organization are more likely to be open to, and perhaps even close to desperate for, outside perspectives.

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