Looking Outside for Executives

by John G. Agno

Published on this site: February 27th, 2006 - See more articles from this month

Filling senior vacancies by looking outside for the best candidates can help to spark new ideas but grafting in new leaders has its risks.

Leaders in new positions often fail for a few common reasons: due to unclear or outsized expectations, a failure to build partnerships with key stakeholders, a failure to learn the company, industry or the job itself fast enough, a failure to determine the process for gaining commitments from direct reports and a failure to recognize and manage the impact of change on people.

Yet, if companies don't seek fresh blood periodically, they can become dangerously insular, warns David Ulrich, professor at the University of Michigan business school. "At fast-growing or fast-changing businesses," he adds, "you may find that existing managers can't scale up or transform what they do."

Looking outside is a natural choice for certain staff positions, such as general counsel or chief financial officer, where those skills transfer well to new settings. Picking an outsider to launch a new strategic push helps in setting provocative new agendas and commits the company to living with some turmoil when middle management pushes back. Turning to a newcomer to lead an area where homegrown managers have repeatedly stumbled also makes sense.

Onboarding coaching helps the executive more quickly adapt to the employer's culture, create rapport with his or her immediate team and find productive ways to achieve necessary goals.

Despite years of experience making complicated, far-reaching decisions, top-level managers can use some guidance when they find themselves in new situations where little, if anything, is familiar. Because as many as 40 percent of new leaders fail in their new roles to meet an organization's expectations, purchasing executive insurance in the form of "onboarding" or assimilation coaching helps a company ensure that an important investment pays off. Onboarding involves an intense, protracted period of coaching that's designed to help a new employee-often a senior-level executive or manager-not only adjust to a new environment, but establish a set of priorities.

Onboarding coaching of the newly recruited or promoted executive can turnaround this high rate of failure.

John G. Agno, certified executive & business coach Signature, Inc., PO Box 2086, Ann Arbor, MI 48106 Telephone: 734.426.2000 (US Eastern Time Zone)
Email: mailto:[email protected] The most critical knowledge is self-knowledge. http://www.MentoringandCoaching.com