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Executive Transition, Get Aligned, Job Search, Manage to Lead, People Matters

An Action Plan for Executive Transition Into a Lead Role

Executive Transition into a Lead Role

One of the hardest things for a senior executive to do is break into an existing system of operation. At first there is an exhilarating air of difference. Everything is new and there is so much to figure out and to absorb. The opportunity to have a major impact induces a seemingly endless rush of euphoric excitement.

All too soon the feelings devolve into isolation and loneliness along with the realization that no matter what good things happen, everyone watching will wonder why there was not more.

The following steps, based on personal experience entering as a senior leader in eight separate ventures and studying those who have done well in similar circumstances at many others, increase the odds of a successful entry.

Open channels with team members

The successful new leader meets offline, at least twice, with each member of their new team, one-on-one for a couple of hours, in order to begin to develop a relationship and build trust. Meet off of the work-site and in low-stakes venues such as a leisurely meal, a golf outing, or a long walk in the woods, with the objective to:

  • Cultivate the sense that it is okay for each to be vulnerable (as described by Lencione in Five Dysfunctions of a Team) in front of the other.
  • Get clear about why each thinks they are here.
  • Get clear on what they want to accomplish individually and together, at work and in life.

A successful leader develops a unique relationship with each top team member. Quality relationships take time to gel and are hard to start once work pressures raise the stakes. Consequently, one-on-one time together to open channels are best held even before the first day on the job and again at least annually with each direct report.

Engage in critical business activity

A new leader must learn what is going on, how things work, and who does what, all while earning the respect of each team member.  Correspondingly, each team member needs to establish their own sense of individual strength and prowess in the eyes of the new leader. Each needs to know that the new leader understands and appreciates them for who they are, what they have accomplished, and for what they are good at doing.

A successful new leader surveys the landscape to select a high-stakes activity to become integrally involved with, such as a key sale or a difficult delivery project or product development challenge, in order to both move the business forward and, at the same time, provide a foil for everyone to establish themselves.

The new leader makes a specific contribution to the firm’s success and starts to earn a reputation for leadership while collecting valuable input towards a well-grounded picture of the way things work currently and a starting outline of how things need to work in the future.

Determine roles, goals, and rewards

The new leader meets with whoever is in charge of key delivery engagements, sales initiatives, strategic initiatives, and support functions to get clear on what each is trying to do and on how it is going and on how each describes what the organization as a whole is trying to do and how it is going. This provides a way to learn what is going on, who is doing what, and to develop (or verify) the unifying message that describes what the organization does and how it does it. It also provides the foundation for determining key roles, goals, and rewards. From these steps the current state-of-play becomes clear and the new leader develops a view about how they would like things to be and what needs to be done by whom in order to achieve a specific future state at a specific point in time.

Form core leadership team

No one does much alone. The new leader needs to build a core team of two to six other strong players who seek to accomplish the same thing overall and who have immense desire, drive, capacity, and competence to help accomplish it. With complementary skills, compatible orientations, and an innate drive to work with each other to accomplish their joint goal, anything is possible. Core leadership team members may be from the next level down on the organization chart and not everyone in the top level may end up in the group. Core leaders can be anywhere in the organization and it takes time to find them and to bring them into the inner circle. 

Set up leadership community

Define and schedule individual and group meeting forums and agendas to create consistent platforms for addressing strategic, operational, policy, and performance matters with a broad leadership community of 15 to 30 top players. This group will spawn the next generation of leaders who will support future growth.

Set targets

Develop target financial, cash, resources, and labor utilization business models consistent with the organization’s mission, vision, strategy, and in-line with industry benchmarks and rational  relative to past performance and  market conditions. Identify key performance measures, set target values for each measure, and develop a plan to achieve them over time. Build dashboards to track progress and tie incentive compensation and recognition directly to achieving, and even more for exceeding, targeted results.

Tap into outsiders

The wise new leader systematically finds, cultivates, and opens channels with people who have been successful at what the firm is trying to do in order to secure their expert counsel, engages a personal effectiveness coach to give feedback on how they behave in order to improve effectiveness, and convenes a forum of leaders in similar circumstances to their own in order to regularly share experiences and lessons learned in a safe and supportive environment.

Open channels with board members

Board members and others in their authorizing environment (e.g., bankers, lawyers, accountants, and fund managers) are in position to have an extremely positive or negative impact on a leader’s success. It is critical, therefore, to open, cultivate, manage, and use channels to board members, key investors and other stakeholders. The best plan is to identify those who are critical to success and bring them into the active working set of key players. Draw on their strengths, treat them as team members and proactively engage them to contribute their great strengths to advance the whole.

Meet weekly one-on-one with each direct report

Set up a regularly scheduled weekly one-on-one session with each direct report to review their top 3-5 priorities in the coming week, how things progressed on last week’s priorities, and to review the dashboard of key items you both use to track performance. Keep a conversational, problem-solving mindset, and work to understand what they are dealing with and how it is going. Look for and take advantage of opportunities to come alongside to push up their thinking, clarify priorities, eliminate roadblocks, and encourage peak performance. The best leaders also turn the tables to allow the direct report to play the same role with them as they cover the same topics for themselves. So doing is also an opportunity for the new leader to model target behavior.

Communicate

Virtually every employee survey reveals the need for more communication. Leaders take this to mean that they need to communicate more about what is going on to their troops. While more communication from the top is almost always welcome, usually what is meant is that employees have things to say to management and management is not listening.

Set up an anonymous channel for employee communication to the top leader and actively promote its use. Communicate broadly to the staff in a series of All Hands Update Bulletins that report on key activities, insights, progress, and plans. Hold small informal cross-functional, cross-level lunches with the leader and one or two others from the management team to create and institutionalize a forum for connecting the top-of-the house with the front line.

Schedule reviews of top projects, sales efforts, functions to provide a forum for leaders to show what they do, cross-share information, and to provide critical guidance and direction in a safe and constructive forum.  Hold All Hands sessions where all employees gather in a room or attend electronically for the entire organization to participate in a shared experience in which management reviews goals, progress, and plans; rewards targeted behaviors to encourage others to follow suit; and gives a forum for emerging stars to be spotlighted in front of their peers.

Monitor progress and celebrate even the smallest forward steps toward achieving  your vision. You and your team will be successful one day at a time, building brick-by-brick, to achieve your goals.

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Job Search, People Matters

Master the High-Stakes Interview: Essential Strategies for Success

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Following these tips will increase the odds that a high-stakes job interview goes well:

Be Yourself

Be honest … be genuine … be sincere. It is not worth being someone other than yourself just to land the job because in the end it will not be possible for you to continue being the person who got the job.

Prepare

Know what the organization does and why it makes sense for them to have you work there as well as why it makes sense for you. Most job seekers concentrate more on why a prospective job is a good fit for them and miss the need and opportunity to make the case that they are a good fit for the job. It is up to you to make clear what you bring to the  position that will be valuable to the organization.

Research

Find out the name of the person you will interview with and learn as much as you can about who they are, what they do, their background, etc. Look for connection points such as schools attended, towns lived-in, sports teams followed, etc. to use as opening conversation fodder to develop chemistry between you and the interviewer.

Practice

Script your reply to the questions:

  • Who are you and what do you want to do in your career next and over the long haul?
  • Why should we hire you?”

Practice your responses in front of a mirror and rehearse with close family and friends to hear yourself say the words and become glib in their delivery. Ask for their honest reactions, feedback, and coaching to improve your delivery. Work on your enthusiasm and volume to project the positive, can-do image that most employers seek in new-hires. A minute or two before the interview say outloud: “I’m excited!” (instead of thinking: “I’m nervous”).

Diagnose

As you are talking, take a read on the interviewer and how they approache the world and what they expects from others based on words used, voice tone, and body language. Use what you take-in to your advantage by letting it guide how you interact in the moment. Doing this will put you at a great advantage as few others will have been trained to do anything similar.

Be Purposeful

Remember that you are always both interviewing and being interviewed at the same time. Ask questions to find out what you need to know to determine whether or not this is a place you really want to work. For example, use behavioral-anchored questions such as the following to find out how things work at this organization:

      • Think of a time when there was a disagreement between you and your boss or you and your co worker.
      • Tell me about it.
      • How did  you handle it?
      • How did you prepare?
      • What happened?
      • What did you learn from this?
      • What did you do differently next time as a result?

By pushing along these lines you can learn a great deal about how the place   works.

Manage

Do not do all the talking and do not let the interviewer do all the talking either. You may need to quiet down or you may need to assert yourself to get a word in edgewise. At 10-minute intervals helicopter up and ask yourself if things are going on track and to be sure that you are getting and giving what you need.  If you are, then keep going.  If you are not, then make a mid-course correction and proceed until it is time to check again.

Socialize

Be gracious.  Speak clearly, loudly, and with confidence. What you say does not matter nearly as much as how you sound saying it. You have 30 seconds to make a great first impression. Smile, give a firm handshake, look your interviewer in the eye, say their name, and find common ground (read at least the opening chapters of: How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie and How to Get Your Point Across in 30 Seconds by Milo O. Frank).

Wrap Up

As you leave, again be gracious. Express your genuine interest in the position, ask about next steps, offer to connect via LinkedIn. Write and send a note of appreciation in follow up within a day or so of the interview. Too close to the interview may make you look desperate. Reference specific details that most impressed you in the interview.

Make Notes

As soon as possible after the interview ends, take ten-minutes in a quiet spot and write down key points from the interview. Debrief yourself to determine:

  • What you learned from the experience.
  • What went well, what did not, what should you have done differently.
  • What will you do differently next time you are in a similar situation.

File and save the notes to  review prior to the next interview.

Good luck, do well, and post a comment on this note if these tips turn out to have been useful and / or if you have anything to add.

Job Search, People Matters

Note on Letters of Recommendation

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Students, parents, teachers, and those who write letters of recommendation for admission to a high school or college often underestimate how much of a difference the recommendation makes. Those who take recommendations seriously and who work to make them the best they can, find it a relatively easy way to get an edge on the competition.

This note is a compilation of tips related to recommendations. First are tips for the one writing a recommendation. Then  come tips for those who request recommendations to be written on their behalf. Also, it may help in reading this note to view this Sample Recommendation Letter. 

In addition to personal experience, these tips come from discussions with high school guidance counselors and people who are part of the admissions process at a number of private high schools, universities, and colleges including Harvard, Princeton, University of Massachusetts, and scholarship programs including the Rhodes scholarship.

From these sources it is clear that the standardized tests and grades top the list of factors considered important in judging an application. For example they note that:

  • SAT and ACT scores have proven to be the best predictor of how a student will perform in their first year of college
  • Grades, factored for the school attended and courses taken, are far and away the best predictor of how well a student will perform overall.

After grades and scores, the most important source of input is uniformly considered to be letters of recommendation.

While it would take a heroic effort to follow all of these tips, those who do will stand out as having a take-charge approach that correlates with success.

Tips on Writing a Recommendation

Be selective — Only accept the task to write a recommendation when you have the energy, time and interest to do a good job and when the applicant and the school are well matched. If you feel the applicant is not right for the school then tell that to the student.

It is easy, especially for teachers who write many recommendations, to slip into a format that is so generic that it fails to differentiate one applicant from another. If not committed to doing a first-rate job, it may be in everyone’s best interest to refer the applicant elsewhere.

Write to, not just about, the applicant — Whether or not you plan to send a copy to the applicant, it is best to imagine that he or she will see the final product. This raises the stakes and motivates you to provide some of the best and most important feedback the applicant might ever receive.

Know your subject — Spend some quality one-on-one time with the applicant just prior to writing the recommendation to get in touch with what is important to them. For example, go on a long walk and ask questions to make the applicant think on their feet and to talk to you about what they really feel. Draw them out. Do not say anything to impact their thinking.  Simply seek to understand. This guarantees an intimate connection that provides ample material with which to work.

Prepare — Read the applicant’s personal statements, review their resume and work samples, and contemplate time spent together. Before beginning to write, rough out a few of the key themes and major points you plan to make.

Establish credibility — It is important to establish your own credibility in three distinct ways.  Specifically, it must be clear that you:

  • Have intimate knowledge of the applicant.
  • Know the school’s values, objectives, and culture.
  • Are able to objectively evaluate the match for this applicant with this school.

A recommendation from a heavy-hitter will carry more weight but only if it is clear that he or she really knows and understands the applicant and the school.

The objective is to be seen as an extension of the admissions committee with the school’s interests at heart, and having applied considerable judgment to the case at hand. Below is an example:

“I have worked with over 1,000 students and young adults over the past thirty years having been a business executive, camp counselor, Sunday school teacher, soccer coach, and a classroom teacher. I have taught at American University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management, and guest lectured at The Stanford Business School, George Mason University Business School, and the Stonier School of Banking. I have also personally recruited and mentored scores of new employees as they enter the work-world from the nation’s top schools.”

Create a vision — Describe specifically what the applicant might become or accomplish to make them and their future come alive, particularly in a manner that is consistent with the school’s values and goals. For example, if you can see the applicant playing to a full house at Carnegie Hall or presiding as a judge in a tense courtroom some day, say so. Such imagery is a powerful way to drive home a point about just how special this applicant is.

People, especially young people entering the workforce, need to know that we have expectations, hopes and dreams for them to accomplish. If you share your recommendation with the applicant, the images you project about their future may just inspire and stay with them their entire lives.

Target growth — Mention what you know the candidate is working on getting better at in order to add balance and improve credibility by revealing an intimate and constructive connection with the applicant, not just a passing interest.

Promote strengths — Everybody shines at something.  In that spirit, rank the candidate in the top 3-5 of all people you have ever known in some dimension or capacity. This is the crown jewel of a good recommendation. You have established your credibility and breadth of perspective, made it clear that you know the student and are in touch with school values. It is time to think deeply and to identify precisely, compared to everyone you have ever known, what this applicant is really good at that is important to the school.

For example, consider how powerful it is to say:

“Among all the adolescents, teens and young adults I have worked with in twenty years of teaching, I rank Susan in the top five in terms of native intelligence, sensitivity to others, and social consciousness.”

Be specific — Throughout the recommendation, use specific and detailed examples that illustrate important points to bring them alive, and eliminate empty phrases. For example, rather than saying that the applicant is a strong individual performer make specific mention of what you personally know that gives evidence to the statement. The following excerpt is an example:

“Frank has participated principally in the sport of Tae Kwon Do and he is fond of hiking; both activities he has engaged in with formal groups outside of school. These activities are similar in that they are performed by individuals who happen to be a group but not a team. Frank has not developed a strong tie to a team or a club such as a football or soccer team or scouts.  He is more comfortable participating as an individual. I see this as an indication that Frank’s personality is that of an artist or craftsman who operates with great skill and accomplishment as an individual performer.”

Be concise — After more than a page, the reader might lose interest or feel like they have to work too hard to get the point. In addition to following these tips on business writing, you may need to tighten the focus. For example, if you ran the soup kitchen the student has volunteered at for the last five years, then focus on community involvement and not on academic or athletic accomplishments. If the applicant is a friend, focus primarily on character and coming of age.

Tips on Requesting a Recommendation

Be selective — It is best to select someone who knows the school and even better if it is someone with whom the school is familiar, such as an alumnus with a strong record of financial support. Talk through the reasons why this school is right for you.

It is vital that the writer agree wholeheartedly that the choice is a good one because their concern or support will show through in what they write. If there is any question along these lines then draw them out and take their input graciously. It could be among the best advice and counsel you ever receive. 

Become known — Target the person to write your recommendation far in advance so you can develop a close connection.  The better the person knows you, the better the recommendation can be.  If someone does not know you well, it is not possible for them to write a compelling recommendation. Select someone who will take time to get to know you by talking to you, reading what you write, and who will spend some time with you with no agenda other than to get to know you better.

If you target a classroom teacher, coach, or instructor (e.g., for dance or music), take the time to engage in interactions outside the normal venue. The extra dimension will make you more special to them and will let them get to see more of the whole you. You might invite them to dinner or for a walk a few weeks before the recommendation is due.

Aim high — Select someone who writes well and whose input will be regarded highly. For example, the long-time, well-respected head of a thriving high school academic department might be a better choice than a first-year teacher. On the other hand, keep in mind that the school will ignore input from heavy-hitters unless they know you well.

With enough lead-time you can target to become known to anyone you have access to, so aim high and be proactive. Your recommendations, collectively, need to reflect a whole person. If the application requires a guidance counselor, a teacher and a free choice, do not make the third one academic as well.

Top schools look for talent beyond just academic performance and test scores. They appreciate references that speak to other talents, interests, abilities and efforts that add dimension to their campus. If only three recommendations are required, it is okay to send a fourth if it adds perspective, but never send more than one extra. 

Secure commitment — Secure the commitment to write a recommendation long before the deadline. Set expectations about when you will provide materials and forms and when the recommendation is due. Given several months notice, there is plenty of time to work the required effort into even a hectic schedule.

Provide background — About three to four weeks prior to the due date, provide the person writing your recommendation with:

    • A signed cover letter asking for the recommendation with specific points that you would like them to make, including one or two detailed examples they might mention. Rest assured that it is fine to be perfectly clear about what you want covered to seed their thinking without compromising the integrity of the process because there is no obligation for them to use what you provide. 
    • A resume or an equivalent document that summarizes what you have done, and what you are proud of having accomplished, in chronological order (see Note on Resume Writing).  
    • Personal statements and essays from the application that the letter of recommendation will support. These help communicate what is important to you and prepares the writer to reinforce and be consistent with your points.
    • Work samples you are proud of having completed.
    • A photograph of yourself to bring you powerfully to mind when working on your recommendation.
    • Stamped, addressed envelopes, with properly and fully filled out forms to make the mechanics as easy as possible. In the lower left hand corner of the envelope record a date a few days in advance of when the recommendation must be mailed.

Package the above in a form that is consistent with who you are and deliver it. Thoughtful preparation signals that this matters a lot to you and that the assignment should be taken seriously. Go through the materials in person or on the phone, answer any questions and confirm that the commitment to complete the task on time is intact. Indicate that you will call a day or two in advance of the mail-date to be sure the recommendation is on track to get out on time.

Follow through — Arrange to confirm that the recommendation was sent in, perhaps by receiving a copy but only after it has been sent in and only if it does not compromise the content in any way. A few days later, check with the school to be sure that the application and all the recommendations were received.

Send a thankyou letter to the writer and when your application is accepted or rejected, send another note to let them know how things turned out.

Finally, keep the writer informed of your progress because you just might need them to write another recommendation someday!

Job Search, People Matters

Craft Your Resume with Pride: A Guide to Showcasing Confidence, Creativity, and Results

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The most important thing about your resume is that you be proud of how it presents you. If you are not proud of it, then how can you expect any one else to be impressed? Keep working on it until it presents you in just the way you want. Whenever you even think about your resume a smile should come to your face and when you give it to others your head should be held high!

It is usually possible to push up your presentation to make you appear more powerful, confident, and results oriented. These are traits employers seek.

Think about how much time is put into packaging products advertised on TV or in magazines. Spend the time it takes to package yourself in the same way. Think about what employers want to buy and then tell them your story in a way that compels them to be interested in you.

The experience section needs to project the value you delivered to the ones you worked for at the time and not just recount how you spent your time or added to your experience base. Specifically, each experience entry needs to answer the question: “What are you most proud of having accomplished in this period”. Prospective employers need to know:

      • What you produced.
      • What problems or challenges you overcame and in what particularly creative or ingenious ways.

Your resume must be visually appealing and easy to read. It must not be too dense or leave too much white space on the page and there can be no type-Os, spelling mistakes, or grammatical errors. It should also be only one page unless it absolutely has to be more.

Experiment with formats such as those used in this Example Resume and my own resume, PeterD Resume.  Note that a two-column table is used to get the format right. You might try the same.

Clearly state what you want to ideally do both next and in the long term; for what kind, size, and stage organization; and where either in an opening OBJECTIVE statement or in a cover note.

The idea is to introduce yourself in a context that makes it easy for the reader to understand why you are a fit for their organization. The answer may seem obvious to you but you will be ahead of the game if you put it in words that smoothly reveal the fit before ever meeting you.

Job Search, People Matters

Two ways to improve your resume

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Improve Your Resume

  • Make clear what you want to do.  Most resumes assume that the reader is to figure out something for the applicant to do and offer no specific idea what they actually want to do…this is asking more than most readers will ever bother doing.
  • Describe the results you produced, not what you spent your time doing. Most experience entries describe what time was spent doing not what results were produced or what was particularly clever about what was done.  The reader then thinks the applicant cares mostly about themselves and not about their employer.  Instead you want to convey the idea that if the reader were to hire you they would be a big winner because you would do clever things and produce valuable results.