Over two thousand years ago Aristotle noted that “Well begun is only half done,” and that seems an apt way to think about bringing new executives into an organization. The signed offer letter is the culmination of one part of the process, but on-boarding is the other and its often done badly or not at all. A wrong hire at the executive level is never good: It’s disruptive, time-consuming and expensive in multiple ways. A mistake is bad for business plans and needs, and if hiring mistakes are repeatedly made, they are also detrimental to a company’s “brand” in the market for talent. These situations are obviously also bad for a newly-hired executive, who likely left a prior organization to join yours.
While a rigorous hiring process consistently applied can greatly lessen the risks of hiring the wrong person, it’s not foolproof. Also, companies may have indeed hired the right person, but various errors of omission and commission in bringing them into the organization doom the marriage. In that instance, the first anniversary gift of paper, is a severance package.
Based on my 20 years of life sciences retained executive search experience over roughly 250 client engagements across the US, Europe and elsewhere, I believe that executives rarely fail in new situations because of shortcomings in functional competence. Instead, the culprit is usually a failure to build and manage relationships in a new situation. This can make early credibility-building wins harder, can camouflage organizational “landmines” and can obscure informal realities that often govern the rhythm of how things get done in a company.
When companies put an internal candidate into a role, the executive’s strengths, weaknesses and developmental needs are usually well known. Additionally, the executive in question knows the organization; its culture and while usually not everyone, its people. She/he has a built-in network they can call upon for advice to help them transition into a new position. Candidates hired from the outside don’t have that, though they usually bring other skills and experiences to a role that hiring executives need and value that weren’t available internally.
When executive appointments fall apart in the first year, the fault usually lies with both the person and the organization. Often new executives don’t fully appreciate the importance of formally and informally building a wide swath of relationships in their new company, and are also too slow to ask for help or coaching if they are struggling. Organizations in turn are often too passive in helping new executives accelerate their internal network-building. And hiring executives can also be too slow to help clear unreasonable internal obstacles for the new executive, and also to send clear messages of support to others internally who might not be fully invested in the new person’s success (maybe a peer wanted the job and didn’t get it, maybe other peers see the new person as a rival, or perhaps feel that the new person will get resources that they need). Internal competition is good in the executive ranks, but it shouldn’t be allowed to sabotage the overall goals of the organization.
In my experience, a few simple on-boarding processes, regularly applied, can minimize the chances a new executive will fail in their first year in a new role. Below are four suggestions each for organizations and executives in this regard:
For the Organization
- Require that references in the hiring process contain detailed observations of the executive’s developmental gaps/weaknesses, especially with respect to leadership and relationship-building behaviors. Most importantly, the hiring executive should pay attention to these and incorporate them into how the executive is managed, developed and coached.
- While the new executive obviously needs to get up to speed, gain traction and have a timely positive impact, the hiring executive cannot just assume that the auto-pilot has been switched on and nothing else will be needed. The hiring executive must actively and publicly invest in the new person’s success, and if needed move quickly to stamp-out destructive political or unhelpful behavior (by peers, others and the executive) if counter-productive developments are unfolding.
- The hiring executive must give ongoing, candid feedback to the new executive. The hiring executive should also remember that patience is a virtue in these situations. Coach actively and often, but resist the urge to jump to conclusions and make snap judgments about the wisdom of the recent hire.
- The hiring executive, alone or in conjunction with HR, should conduct a formal 360 degree internal reference process with the new executive periodically in the first year (e.g. at three and nine months). The executive should be interviewed as to their assessment of how things are going, where they feel they need help etc. and others with whom she/he interacts should be queried as well. The hiring executive should then deliver the 360 feedback to the executive and set plans if needed to act on the findings. It is critical that this process be done in the spirit of a joint investment by the organization and the executive for development and effective on-boarding, and not as a punitive “gotcha” process.
For the New Executive
- Be aware that your ability to build relationships, influence and manage conflicts with your peers as well as with other senior executives may determine whether you succeed in your new role. Of course, executives must manage their own organizations well too, but they sometimes neglect peer and other senior relationships at their ultimate peril.
- Have an honest and realistic view of your skills in the whole relationship arena. Are you generally fast or slow to build new relationships or do you even think it important to build them? If these areas aren’t your strengths, you need to work hard to get better at them, fast. Talk to people, study up on relationship building behaviors and even get a coach if needed. And remember, honest, well-intentioned feedback, even if you don’t agree with it, is a gift. Accept it as such and regularly seek it.
- Don’t be afraid to ask for help, from your boss, peers, your own organization or others.
- Be patient and honest with yourself if things aren’t going well. If this is the first time you’ve changed organizations in many years, realize that it may not be your best skill. Don’t despair and instead keep working the problem. If on the other hand you’ve seamlessly changed organizations multiple times, use past experience to diagnose the current situation and devise new paths for success.
Bringing new executives into an organization is a significant investment of time, money and emotion for all concerned, and the costs of failure are typically not unimportant. The suggestions above are simple and can be used by organizations of all sizes. Awareness and a genuine commitment to use them or something similar are all that’s required. Too often however, parties think the work is done once the new executive starts work. Uncertainty will always feature to a degree in the executive hiring process, but the thoughts here are a relatively simple way to tilt the odds of success strongly in your favor.
