First time leader? Mind the gap!

Made it! Successful, capable, highly regarded individual contributors (or team leaders) get promoted and take on a challenge that looks like the next rung on the ladder but quickly find relationship dynamics are now bent out of shape, ambiguity is a persistent shadow, jeopardy lurks at every turn, and best of all, there is no playbook. No wonder so many texts citeMcKinsey research and tell us that 40% of new executives fail within the first 18 months.

In preparation for a recent mentor project with first time leaders, I began to build a programme outline and was reminded how many words are written on the subject ranging from the directive ‘do this one thing...’ style to the hypnotic listings style, the biggest of which offered ‘51 proven tips’ for guaranteed success!

Overwhelmed with soundbites, I turned my thoughts to my own experiences, good and bad (and some worse!), and what I would prioritise if I were to be in such a position again. This is not ‘painting by numbers’ – each situation and environment will have its own realities, maturity, and culture - but allow me to suggest 5topics which I see as worthy foundation stones for those first 100 days.

Know your deliverables: what are we here to do?

Know your numbers:   understand what numbers drive the team and where those numbers come from. The data will be the early warning system for levers that need adjusting. Know the trends at a market, company, product, and individual level and be ready to talk to the causes of change and the actions they provoke.

Know your audience:  chances are your audience has widened to include senior peers, customers, leadership teams, and investors. Familiarise yourself with their differing motivations and understand how to align the priorities and language of your messaging to keep them on side.

know the key dates;    there will be standing obligations and date driven forums you will want to influence. Pay attention to the expectations foreach along with the process and time considerations for preparation. As a VP you may well be dependent on other people for inputs and the steps need to be managed with rigor to give you time to manage expectations and prepare to fully contribute to the leadership agenda.

Team assessment: right person, right seat

Everyone aspires to have the ‘A team’ but first decide what distinguishes an achiever from an under performer and the underlying competency matrix that describes the difference. Failure to make it clear what is expected and, in particular, deal with poor performance, will see A players disengage and both energy and focus diverted from performance improvement.

Within 30 days – less if you have historic performance data - identify who stays, who goes, and who is on a performance plan. Engage HR to avoid mistakes that cost time and money. This may sound harsh but you have been asked to step up and now have to think and act in the best interests of the wider business.

Identify disfunction: what stops us being better?

Whether the opportunity for advancement was the result of prior poor performance or not, the organisation you inherit will have an established culture and practices that became the norm.

There isa short window to inspect the processes and ways of working, to ask ‘dumb’ questions, and find root causes of good and bad performance. After the window closes no-one will see you as ‘new to the role’ – you are now accountable.

Uncover improvement opportunities in the machine (processes, procedures, reporting, forums) and work with the team to enable demonstrable changes in performance.

Plan for better: engage and enrol the team

Set an expectation for when you will have a plan in place that has your name on it.You may see limited scope to move away from what you inherited but it is important to define what success will look like for you and your new team and engage the leadership with your perspective.

Deliver clear and believable aspirations for the shorter term so the team can engage and work with you to build better. If the team has the talent and maturity, this plan should be appropriately co-authored to drive personal commitment.    

Decide your operating model: (re)start the engine

Don’t assume you already know how to do this. The book ‘What got you here, won’t get you there.’ (Marshall Goldsmith) very clearly argues the methods, models, and behaviours that got you this far need to adapt and change up to meet the new challenge.

Quickly understand the relevant performance levers and KPIs and establish expectations for meetings, reports, and review cadence. It should be made clear how your operating model makes the job of the team easier and drives team performance.

The way forward also needs to make sense to your peers in other teams and departments.Trust needs to be built (or rebuilt) in the new role, and the operating model needs to be able to elegantly confirm stakeholders are aligned and core processes are functioning well.

It can be tempting to believe the function worked well before and cannot be improved.That would be a mistake! There are always improvements to be made and if that statement is not true then it won’t be long before the need for a VicePresident role will come under scrutiny.

Marginnotes.

It is very easy to mis-read the demands of a VP role. The realities can be influenced by leadership dynamics, underlying business performance, and the funding model which can significantly impact expectations.

Invest heavily in discovery and make difficult decisions early. Michael D. Watkins writes in The First90 Days, “Doing too much, too soon, can set off alarm bells and alienate people you need on your side”, but engaging the team and acting with clarity will build trust and foundations for repeatable success.

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