Can't Afford Not to Do Leadership Onboarding

The talking heads on CNN and Fox News are telling us to "Hang on, it's going to get worse." The economy, that is, by way of tightened credit markets, crumbling financial institutions, big lay-offs and shaky consumer confidence. It is the typical reaction to hunker down, not spend any money and "wait and see" what happens next.

That might work for individuals and families, but not organizations who have to figure out how to keep and grow their competitive edge. Strong leadership is needed now more then ever and organizations are still paying big bucks to get it.

So, if your organization has sunk several thousand dollars into recruiting, interviewing, assessing and relocating a key leader, why would you leave their onboarding up to chance? Wouldn't you think that a small additional investment of time and money to insure that he or she "sticks" and does what he or she was brought in to do would be worth it?

We are continually surprised that operational and human resources leaders will agree that a leadership onboarding process "makes sense" or is "nice to have" but not a necessity. We beg to differ. Statistics in study after study prove that failure rate of newly hired or promoted leaders is in the 40 to 60% range.

The platform is on fire! Look down!