“Yet is every man his greatest enemy, and, as it were, his own executioner.”  Sir Thomas Browne. 

I find that the biggest challenge a top performer must face is themselves.  They often are, as Sir Thomas Browne points out, their own worst enemy.  They need to be managed appropriately and no time can be as crucial as during a transition into a new role or into a new organization.  The top performer can often work themselves out of a job.  The first 100 days in a new organization sets the stage for one’s future.  As the cliché goes, “first impressions are everything”.  While every situation has its unique nuances which must be taken into account, I have highlighted 6 main points which I walk through with all newly placed candidates to help them avoid the pitfalls of over achieving. 

 1 – Manage Yourself:  How would you describe your operating style?  What are you really aspiring to achieve in this new role?  How does your operating style fit with the corporate culture of your organization?  Generally senior executives will have to make some adjustments to their personal operating style once they start a new role.  Commonly the top performer will tackle the largest and most difficult problem first when assuming a new post.  Often this is a behemoth of an issue which has been plaguing the organization for years and requires a huge amount of effort and time to fix.  The top performer likes the challenge and yearns to be successful where their peer group has failed.  They will throw themselves into the most challenging issue they can find within the first few weeks on the job.  The problem is this issue may take 12 to 15 months to fix and when in a new role you can not wait a year to make an impact.  You must make an impact in the first 100 days. 

 The correct strategy is to first make a list with three columns.  In the first column list all the things that need to get done and then in the second column allocate the time it will realistically take to accomplish them. In the third column list the amount of visibility the item will have.  Visibility will range from internally within your team, to locally within your office to globally within your organization. There will be two or three goals which will have a large amount of visibility around them which can be accomplished in a short period of time.  The ultimate goal here is to have your name resonate through the organization with a success, from Tokyo to New York; it is time to make your mark. 

These smaller highly visible tasks should be completed first, as a new executive must send a clear message they are contributing to the organization and creating value for the company.  Set a standard early on of getting results and delivering impact.  Small wins such as making an intranet portal user friendly, or arranging for media coverage of a corporate event, or perhaps spearheading a CSR campaign which brings good PR for the firm, will all resonate globally, help build your credibility and can be accomplished relatively quickly. 

A clear list of goals and achievable milestones should be set as the new executive walks through their first 100 days, 6 months and 1 year of employment.  Particular attention should be paid to visibility and speed of contribution during the first few months.  Once credibility, reputation and key relationships have been established then executives may tackle the larger organizational issues in the company.  

2 – The Corporate Gift: Often top performers are loyal to their employers to the last day and don’t think about their new role until they have made the transition.  This is not always the best strategy.  Stay focused on the job of hand and be sure to meet all job responsibilities while at the same time allocate some time to plan for success moving forward. Be sure to prepare an early momentum win as you approach your transition.  Successful executives prepare months in advance before changing positions and companies.  They have a clear plan of how they will create value and come to the table ready to “hit the ground running”.  Strategize about what your biggest contribution will be in the first few weeks on the job.  It is critical you have a win in the first 100 days which is visible and recognized by the key stakeholders of the business.  Do not change jobs without it. 

 3 – Create a Learning Strategy: The challenging part of taking on a new position in a new company is sometimes you are unaware of what the real challenges are until you are at your desk and in the role.  After all, we have all heard the saying “you don’t know what you don’t know”.  The key here is to create a process which allows you to unearth critical information quickly.  It is hard to tell from the outside what will be required, therefore you must create a Learning Strategy.  Few new leaders take time to think about their learning, even less create a Learning Strategy. This is an easy area to gain a competitive advantage over your peer group.  There are 4 key areas a new executive can get information about a company, they are;

1. External Sources – Customers, Suppliers, Ex-Employees
2. Veteran Employees – People have been with the company for decades
3. Cross Functional Executives – People who work in the Middle Office of an organization such as IT Project Managers who are responsible for linking the Back Office with the Front Office, or other people who are responsible for cross-pollination in an organization.
4. Historical Data – How was the company founded?  What information is in the public domain about the company?

I once did a large recruitment project for Procter & Gamble and was amazed that very few people I interacted with had actually read “Rising Tide : Lessons from 165 Years of Brand Building at Procter & Gamble”.  Those who did definitely had a competitive advantage when communicating with the corner office. They could use previous product launch examples and key milestone successes of the company to drive home their points in conversation and were able to create influence in the boardroom more effectively. 

Create a learning plan and ensure you gather information from all four sources. Capture the information in a chart or excel sheet as this is a document you can build on throughout your career.  Interesting patterns will emerge and being able to quote data from different departments, previous published works or from the company’s retired guru will give you added credibility and respect from your team early on. 

4 – Understand Your Corporate Culture: Many executives think the vision of the company is written on some plaque in corporate head office or can be found on the webpage of the company.  This is rarely the case, while it is true you may find some mantra which sits proudly in cyber space or hangs majestically on a silver plaque in the board room, the real question is does it exist in the collective unconscious of the organization?  Has it been internalized by the group or is it simply corporate marketing fluff? To get to the root of a company’s vision one must have a good understanding of the following points;

1. The History of the Organization
2. The Aspirations of all Key Stakeholders
3. What are the Company’s visible versus invisible components
4. Current State of the Organization

The history of an organization is often an inspirational story of someone chasing their dream and making it reality.  I have rarely researched how a company has been founded and not been entertained and inspired.  Unfortunately most executives are juggling work, family and the rest of life’s challenges, they just don’t have time to research this.  I suggest you find the time, as you will not only find it enjoyable, but it will also give you an edge in the boardroom.

The aspirations of all key stakeholders can be difficult to ascertain and is usually only done through a series of informal meetings, coffees and casual conversations.  I recommend you take a personal interest in your leadership, their personal visions and career paths.  Time invested here can help you circumvent disasters later on.  Often epic conflicts can be predicted years in advance.  For example a common conflict is the one between the elderly Chairman and the younger CEO, where the Chairman is in the twilight of his career, is risk adverse and is contrasted by a power house CEO in his early 40’s who has a large risk profile and aspires to deliver explosive white knuckle growth for the company.  The Chairman wants to sweat the asset and collect his dividends; the CEO wants to re-invest in high growth strategies which will deplete retained earnings in the short term.  The CEO and the Chairman engage in a lethal wrestling match which can put everyone’s career at stake.  Investing the time to understand the life goals of your stake holders can save you from getting caught in the cross fire of executive battles. 

A company has tangible parts which we can touch and see such as IT systems, policies & procedures, client contracts, etc, and it has intangible parts which are invisible to the eye, such as its values, its paradigm of thought, its collective self image, its culture and other implicit factors. 

The diagram below shows how the various visible and invisible parts of an organization interact.  Most executives prepare to deal with only the tangible and leave the intangibles to take care of themselves.

Once one has an understanding of the history of an organization, the aspirations of its stakeholders, and its visible and invisible parts; the other critical piece of information is the current state of the organization.  An organization has different needs if it is in stages of development such as Start-Up, Strategic Change, Enduring Success, Divestment or Merger.  It is critical that one first assess the organization on a macro level and decide where in its life cycle it is.  One should try to mirror their aspirations with the life cycle stage of the company such as those executives in the twilight of their careers may prefer companies in the Enduring Success stage and those in early career may find the Start Up stage more exciting. 

5 – Building the Team: Every manager must build their team.  It is critical that one takes the time to get to know each of the current team members and assesses them accurately.  You would have already compiled some data on the team even before starting if you were following the Success in 100 Days program, when you created your Learning Strategy.  The table below is called the Four Faces of Competence and can be a helpful guide to assessing your team.  The Pareto Law also known as the 80 / 20 rule states that roughly 80% of the events stem from 20% of the causes, thus generally 20% of your team will be Star Performers and the other 80% will be a mix of Hard Workers, Diva’s and Non-Performers.

 6 – Clearly Articulate a Vision Statement and Goals: A clear direction should be set for the team with key milestones, both short term and long term, and a clear Point of Arrival (POA).  The POA is often over looked, this is the finishing line and the place where you can celebrate your win. Some CEO’s I work with say 25% of the job is deciding which direction to go, the other 75% is convincing everyone else to go the same way.  A leader must have a strong sense of direction, a vision of where they are heading in life.  This must be achieved on a personal level and only then can it be produced on a professional level. At the end of the day one can not transmit what one does not have.  Simply if you can not give yourself direction, you certainly will not be able to give direction to others.  There are entire books dedicated to the subject of clearly articulating a vision and a set of goals, as this is not the purpose of the article I will not go into great detail here.  I will say spending some time on this point is key to a successful On-Boarding experience.

While there are many more issues at hand and each unique company presents its own unique set of challenges, following the six points above can reduce the risk of a top performer being purged from their organization’s culture or out right fired in some instances.  Overall the benefit of having an unbiased third party as an advisor during your transition in a new role will be fruitful and will be a catalyst to your success.  A career coach or loyal Executive Search Consultant can help you create impact in your new role and sometimes can even let you see around corners. 

6 – Clearly Articulate a Vision Statement and Goals: A clear direction should be set for the team with key milestones, both short term and long term, and a clear Point of Arrival (POA).  The POA is often over looked, this is the finishing line and the place where you can celebrate your win. Some CEO’s I work with say 25% of the job is deciding which direction to go, the other 75% is convincing everyone else to go the same way.  A leader must have a strong sense of direction, a vision of where they are heading in life.  This must be achieved on a personal level and only then can it be produced on a professional level. At the end of the day one can not transmit what one does not have.  Simply if you can not give yourself direction, you certainly will not be able to give direction to others.  There are entire books dedicated to the subject of clearly articulating a vision and a set of goals, as this is not the purpose of the article I will not go into great detail here.  I will say spending some time on this point is key to a successful On-Boarding experience.

While there are many more issues at hand and each unique company presents its own unique set of challenges, following the six points above can reduce the risk of a top performer being purged from their organization’s culture or out right fired in some instances.  Overall the benefit of having an unbiased third party as an advisor during your transition in a new role will be fruitful and will be a catalyst to your success.  A career coach or loyal Executive Search Consultant can help you create impact in your new role and sometimes can even let you see around corners.