Why Do New Leaders Fail?

Turnover for chief executives has doubled since statistics began to be complied in 1999, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas. In 2004, 663 chief executives left, and then in 2005, the number doubled to 1332. CEOs are now lasting only 7.6 years in office, down from 9.5 in 1995, according to Booz Allen. And an Havard Business Review article reports that two out of every five new CEOs fail in the first 18 months on the job.


Here are the major reasons for new leaders' failure*:


There is no process to assismilate executives into the firm.................22%

The new leaders don't have the required internal political savvy.......25%

They are unclear about what their bosses expect..............................33%

They fail to build relationships with staff and peers............................52%

They fail to establish a cultural fit…........................................75%

*from the Wall Street Journal, Nov 2006

Culture is what gets you everytime.

A wise Ford executive once was quoted as saying, "Culture eats strategy for breakfast", so you can only imagine what it does to new leaders coming into complex organizations with high expectations from shareholders, board members and employees.

"Because most organizations usually do not include any type of culture data in their leadership onboarding programs, (that is, if they have a leadership onboarding program) the new leaders start out with a significant disadvantage. True, they can talk to their bosses or peers, but this information can be biased at best, and wrong, at worst.

New leaders are prone to making common mistakes while attempting to communicate “big ideas” or determining how conflict is resolved. This not only slows their integration into the company, but taints how they are viewed by others. They will be accused of “not getting it” or “not being the right fit” for the job. This can result in lost time to productivity, team dysfunction, and general opposition to whatever changes they are attempting to implement.

Smart organizations capture that information, summarize it and present it to their new leaders in a way that is understandable and doable. They can immediately “get” how to behave in meetings, the most effective communication methods and where the power centers are in the
organization.

With this critical information, new leaders are equipped to more quickly produce the results for which they were hired. They are also more likely to express satisfaction in their work and their relationships if they have fully absorbed this cultural information. This translates to their performing at a higher level and increases their likelihood of staying with the organization, while not regretting their decision to join it."

-Excerpt from Leadership Culture: Impact on Strategy, November 2007

To get this whole whitepaper on the impact of culture on strategy, email us at info@connectthedotsconsulting.com and we will add you to our email distribution.

Onboarding: A Tool to Becoming a Business Partner

At a recent conference the presenter told the audience (made up of VPs and Directors of Talent Management) that "we need to improve our practioners of Talent Management and be solid business people" This has been a common theme for HR conferences and articles--made more timely by the Fast Company 2005 cover story-- Why We Hate HR. Many articles and studies support this by describing the lack of business knowledge and savvy in HR functions in companies of all sizes.

During the Q and A of the conference presentation, someone actually asked, "How do you/we develop our Talent Management teams to have and demonstrate Business Acumen?"

I was shocked and embarrassed for this person. It is bad enough that the Talent Management function does not possess these skills, it is worse that they do not even know HOW to possess or develop these basic skills. This is even more bothersome considering that the Talent Management group is responsible for creating and implementing strategies to support the business people in the organization!

Partnering with hiring managers and new leaders, as well as newly promoted leaders, is an excellent opportunity for talent management professionals to show value. By coaching both the hiring manager and new leader on: establishing objectives, building knowledge about the organization and role, building relationships that will support objectives, providing cultural context and direction, and gathering and sharing feedback, the talent management partner can get the new leader up to speed more quickly and help him/her avoid derailment. The talent management partner can also provide the hiring manager with valuable insight and coaching on how to help his/her new team member be successful. To be a successful onboarding partner the talent management partner needs to be an expert on the organnization, how it works, as well as the market place it is in.

Hopefully, leaders in Talent Management will wake-up soon and realize that to be successful (in the eyes and minds of the business leaders they support) they need to dive in and truly understand and enjoy the business they are a part of. This is the only way they will gain respect and have a place at the desired table!

Onboarding Advice in the New York Times

If you found yourself on the "Career Couch" of the New York Times on Sunday, as I did, you would have gotten some sound advice as to how smart people start new jobs. Eilene Zimmerman, in her article titled, "How Wise NewComers Find Their Way" sights several career and staffing experts while giving the reader specific and straight-forward examples of what to do when you are new on the job.

I liked the Q & A format of what sometimes seem to be obvious things to which to pay attention when starting a job, but the author notes common mistakes that get people off track within their first months.

Zimmerman focuses on the key themes of --

• Building knowledge about the organization and how it works



• And forming the relationships that support your role

These two components are indeed critical for a new hire's success, but I would add it is missing one additional piece: feedback.

Organizations are not usually that good at delivering feedback to a new hire that is both timely and constructive. Often, perceptions are created by mistakes that the new person makes because he doesn't know yet what is acceptable or expected in his new culture. His manager may or may not even know about these perceptions, and by the time she does, the damage is done. The new hire becomes ineffective, or disconnected and may be thinking about whether his decision to join the organization was the right one.

The responsibility of onboarding a new hire should not be completely left to the individual. Yes, the new folks need to take active roles and manage their onboarding, but it is also the responsibility of the organization to put in place a consistent process with support from the hiring managers and HR partners for at least a 90-day period.

So, if I may add to Zimmerman's advice--if you are new, and are not getting feedback about how you are fitting in and meeting expectations, ask for it. Better yet, ask for an onboarding process that helps you build knowledge, create relationships and get the feedback you need to make you successful. Read NY Times article

Onboarding Conference

For immediate release

Connect the Dots will present at Onboarding Conference--January 2008

Connect the Dots Consulting will present a pre-conference workshop, a keynote presentation, and an exhibition booth at Onboarding Talent: Proven Strategies for Onboarding and Retaining Talent from America's Best Employers Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. The conference will be held at the Omni Hotel at the CNN Center from January 28th through 31st.

The keynote will be a joint presentation with Connect the Dots' client, TJX Companies, on the impact of their leadership onboarding process on their business.

Connect the Dots presenting:

Onboarding 101: Building the Bridge from Recruitment to Engagement

Executive Onboarding: What Your New Leaders Need But Don't Know to Ask For

Other presentations include:

• The Gold Standard for Onboarding
• Onboarding Technology
• Retaining Talent Through Onboarding
• ROI of Onboarding
• Benchmarking Onboarding Programs

Organizations that will be represented:

• TJX Companies
• Ann Taylor
• FedEx Kinkos
• Starbuck's Coffee Company
• Jet Blue Airways
• Sun MicroSystems
• General Mills
• Blue Cross Blue Shield
• The Coca-Cola Company
• The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company
• Texas Roadhouse
• Hewlett-Packard

For more information and registration go to www.iqpc.com/us/onboarding or call 1-800-882-8684.

Hope to see you there!

New Leadership ROI

The Cost of New Leadership

Time and money.

The two things that we can never have too much of and are constantly trying to save, make, maximize, or conserve. Organizations are no different than individuals when it comes to wanting the most out of their time and money.

And much of both is tied up in the process of finding and keeping great leadership talent.
Unfortunately, the state of corporate America’s leadership looks pretty bleak.

Here are some startling facts:
· McKinsey and Co. found that 40% of corporate officers in 77 companies said they can’t pursue business opportunities because they lack the right leaders.
· The Corporate Leadership Council reported that more than 50% of newly hired leaders were fired in the first three years.
· Harvard Business School reported a 40-60% failure rate of executives.
· In a Conference Board report, only 36% of employees rated their companies’ leadership as good or excellent, down 50% from 5 years ago.
· A 2005 Corporate Executive Board Recruiting Roundtable survey found that 89% of new executive hires across enterprises indicated they did not have the optimum level of knowledge and skills to do their job.
· Consultant Bradford Smart estimated that the cost of senior executive turnover was 40 times the base salary. A similar study by Sibson and Company found that executive and manager replacement costs have reduced earnings and stock prices by an average of 38%.

What is New Leader ROI?

When an organization has spent thousands of dollars and dozens of hours in finding, recruiting and hiring the right person for one of their leadership positions, expectations for that new leader are very high. The expected Return on Investment (ROI) for that new hire is great, and the time to deliver it is often short.

Michael Watkins, author of The First 90 Days, defines new leader ROI as the point in time, at which the value created for the organization by the new leader exceeds the value consumed by that leader. This is also known as the “breakeven point”.

In a typical situation, the break even point occurs at just over the sixth month of a new leader’s tenure*. The new leader must not only learn the organization and its culture, but forge strong relationships and deliver the appropriate results given the amount of time on the job. This is often referred to as “speed to performance” and the emphasis is usually on “speed”.

*The First 90 Days,
Michael Watkins


Is New Leader ROI Measurable?

Some companies report that their return on new leader investment is something that they “know when they see it”. But is what does it look like? And how can you measure it’s existence, and. for that matter, what it’s impact?

Best-in-Class organizations are measuring these indicators as they transition new leaders:

1. Is the new leader accomplishing his/her onboarding objectives?
2. Are there “early wins” for the new leader and his/her team?
3. What is the feedback about how the new leader is “fitting in” to the organization?

It’s not just losing on an individual.....

Organizations that fail to pay attention to those first few months of a new leader in a new role are at risk. A recent study by Deloitte Research reports that “40 to 50 percent of senior new employees fail to achieve their desired results in new jobs. When a new recruits fail, organizations lose their investment in the individual. They also lose performance from the employees surrounding new recruits due to lost time, disrupted efforts, and damaged morale.”

—“Connecting People to What Matters”, Deloitte Research, June 2007, page 7

Relationships and Retention

In most cases, increasing retention rates of newly hired or newly promoted leaders is a key indicator of success for an organization. Forging key relationships has proven to be a key factor in leader ship retention. The same Deloitte report cites an example from BMW which appoints mentors “to help new hires adapt efficiently to BMW’s culture and to foster connections they need to perform.” The report goes on to say, “not surprisingly, newcomers who quickly form relationships with co-workers tend to be high performers and more satisfied with their jobs.”

The bottom line is this: Organizations have much to lose if their new leaders are not integrated successfully. The cost of a systemic and consistent new leader onboarding process is quickly paid back with the significant Return on Investment delivered to the company by an effective new leader.

To get more info about new leadership onboarding go to www.connectthedotsconsulting.com