3 key relationships to prioritise in a leadership transition

A stakeholder strategy that won’t make your new hire’s head spin

Image: collaborative team by alphaspirit, www.canva.com

Success as a leader begins and ends with other people. That’s obvious, right? Maybe, but when an executive transitions to a new role, building relationships can sometimes take a back seat. Other aspects, such as meeting financial targets, solving strategic issues or navigating operational demands take over.

And even when prioritised, the importance of understanding which relationships to focus on first, and when to engage other stakeholders should not be underestimated.

A new senior hire is wise to direct their gaze upwards for direction and approval from the top. They also need to focus downwards on the people who will be pivotal to delivering outcomes - their team of direct reports.

Similarly, looking left and right at those on the periphery is advisable. There are peers, dotted line reports, clients or community groups who may appear less important at first, but who turn out to be mission critical.

In a survey of 1,195 C-level executives, McKinsey & Company 2015 reported that almost half felt they had failed to align people with their objectives during their transition to a new role. Unsurprisingly, only 27 per cent of survey respondents answered that they had received effective support during their transition.

Connecting a new executive with key people in these three stakeholder groups plays an essential role in their success.

Aligning with the leaders above

It’s important to help the transitioning executive to understand which senior leaders in the organisation are most influential when it comes to achieving their goals. Whether it’s with the CEO, board directors or their hiring manager, building alignment around expectations, working styles and communication preferences, helps to facilitate productive relationships from the beginning.

Setting the direction early and outlining success measures is critical too. As the Cheshire Cat famously responds in ‘Alice in Wonderland’, when asked which way to go:

“Cat: That depends a great deal on where you want to get to.

Alice: I don’t much care where.

Cat: Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.”

With myriad competing priorities and without clear guidance, it’s impossible for a leader in transition to meet expectations. This is particularly true for unstated ones. Support your executives to look below the water line and surface all expectations, especially the non-negotiables.

Bonding with the team below

With few exceptions, successful outcomes as a leader are achieved by leveraging the collective efforts of a high performing team.

‘Google re:Work’ researched the dynamics of team effectiveness and high-performance, and highlighted the following factors in order of importance: psychological safety; dependability; structure and clarity; meaning and impact.

Trust is central to the first of these, psychological safety. Management educator and author Stephen Covey describes it as “the glue of life.” Yet, it’s a painful truth that trust is hard to build and easy to destroy.

What’s more, transition is a particularly stressful period. Leaders need time for self-reflection to identify potential derailing behaviours. A tendency under pressure to micro-manage, avoid conflict, or catastrophise can easily undo efforts to create a culture of confidence and trust.

Looking inwards and managing self, whilst prioritising strong team relationships reaps rewards. The McKinsey 2015 report found, “When identifying which activities were most important to the transition’s outcome, 86 per cent of respondents cite mobilising teams to function as a high-performing group, second only to creating a shared vision.”

Identifying other key influencers

The importance of periphery players in an executive’s new networks will differ, so it’s essential that they map and prioritise them. What is their degree of influence on the individual leader’s goals and key performance measures? How urgent is their involvement?

Triaging in this way allows your new leader to make best use of their time, by investing first in relationships with stakeholders based on their critical ability to impact outcomes.

Stakeholder impact analysis provides understanding around the consequences of decisions made about when and how to build relationships with peers, or other organisations.

It is really important not to forget the significance of peer relationships when doing this analysis. Peers are often connectors who provide insight into important cultural or political dynamics. They may also be sources of referrals into clients which is hugely significant for a new starter with client or financial targets.

What can you do to help?

For a new executive to get off to a strong start, they must align with more senior leaders. Equally, building trust early and developing good relationships with their own team is a priority. And finally, they need to analyse the wider stakeholder landscape.  Connecting in a timely manner with key players and especially getting to know peers, will create a network that’s vital to their success.

See yourself as a conduit for this stakeholder strategy and consider options such as transition coaching for your new executive.

For more information on how Lucent Transition Days can help with your executive onboarding, email or arrange a call with us and sign up for our newsletter for more successful executive transition insights.