| The
anxiety to prove yourself...fast!
- Starting
a top job in a new company is very high visibility stuff!
- High
visibility creates pressure to make a mark quickly.
- Being
a "new kid on the block" adds to this pressure
enormously.
- Unfamiliar
territory is disorientating.
- A
move to a new company after several years in the same firm
can be a severe shock to the system (your system, that is).
- A
state of shock and disorientation can add more anxiety.
- The
greater the anxiety the more urgent the need to prove yourself.
- Anxiety
does not often make for clear thinking or sound decisions.
- Outsiders
(you) can be experienced as foreign objects in a person's
body
- The
impulse to reject outsiders may take the form of a wait-and-see
attitude or suspicion.
- Your
anxiety to be accepted may lead you to see the mildest reticence
among your new colleagues as rejection.
- You
may label cool colleagues as enemies.
- The
more enemies you feel you have the harder you will try to
prove yourself by acting unilaterally.
- Unilateral
action will make real enemies for you!
- At
this stage you may be on the slippery slope out the door!
The loss
of your support group
- The
longer you are with one company, the more you take your
colleagues for granted.
- You
may forget how much your credibility is "in the eyes
of your supportive beholders"...until you leave them
behind.
- It
comes as a shock to realize you need to build a new support
network.
- You
are "between a rock and a hard place" here...do
you make your mark first, then build relationships or take
the time to build your network and make your mark later?
- The
difficulty is that, coming in at a high level, you will
be respected and feared before you are liked.
- Becoming
liked quickly is only possible for those joining an organization
nearer the bottom where it is easier to be just "one
of the boys".
- You
may say you don't need to be liked, but be careful you don't
overreact to the coolness of others - seeing them as enemies
will make matters worse for you
- You
will find it easier to build support among those who are
not threatened by you - usually this means those who have
the same or more power than you have or who do not care
about power at all - the latter may not be much use to you
however.
- With
those who have less power, offer suppor in a way that makes
them feel you see their work as important - this way you
will create allies of them.
Expecting
you to walk on water
- You
may be oversold into the company by your new boss to justify
bringing in an outsider over the heads of insiders.
- You
will be reluctant to dampen your new boss's enthusiasm so
soon.
- So
you may be loath to play down these high expectations.
- The
greater the gap between your boss's expectations and what
you feel you can do, the greater your anxiety.
- The
stronger the sales pitch your boss had to make to your new
colleagues, the greater will be their expectations...and
skepticism.
- The
more unrealistic the initial expectations, the more likely
you are to dissappoint.
- Knowing
this, you may take precipitous action, thereby hastening
your downfall.
Resentment
of insiders
- Some
insiders will welcome your arrival but be unsure of their
role.
- You
may interpret their discomfort as resistance to you.
- Other
insiders may be simply neutral.
- You
may see their lack of enthusiasm as resentment.
- Still
other insiders may be more skeptical.
- You
may see getting rid of them as your only alternative.
- Some
subordinates may try to be helpful by making suggestions.
- You
may see this "help" as a challenge to your authority.
- In
your zeal to be accepted quickly as a leader, you may offer
several ideas for doing things differently.
- The
downside of this approach is that it may exaggerate the
sense of your being an outsider..a know-it-all one at that.
- Your
management style may have been right for your old culture,
but a disaster in the new one.
Tips for
effective onboarding
- Clarify
organizational culture differences in advance.
- Bring
potential transition issues into the open...early.
- Take
care over how you will be positioned to your new colleagues.
- Ensure
that time is available for developing key relationships.
- Avoid
a business in crisis unless you are sure you can fix it
quickly.
- Negotiate
longer term objectives.
- Conduct
team building sessions with your new subordinates.
- Build
alliances with powerful peers...what can you do for them?
- Be
aware of your own potential emotional reactions to high
visibility transition pressure.
Beware
the "new broom" trap -
the temptation to sweep out all of your inherited subordinates
just because they are not as welcoming as you would like them
to be.
When
you move up to the top job, getting the balance right between
acting promptly and being too hasty is not easy.
The
challenge is to avoid letting your emotions drive you in your
new job and to work through people to devise widely shared
solutions. |
