In high school, I played basketball. Our varsity team had won State two years, back to back. Then the head coach moved away. A new coach was hired. From the way he related to us, it felt like he saw himself as Gene Hackman’s character in Hoosiers. He was going to be the tough coach that whips his group of losers into shape.

Except we were already champions.

Within a few short months, he managed to whip us into a place of such low morale that the entire starting five threatened to quit. I actually did. We didn’t even place at Regionals. He killed the team. He killed his credibility. For reasons unknown, the school retained him. He was never able to rebuild the team.

How he entered his leadership role set the course for failure or success.

New leaders make various kinds of entrances into their role. Experience, personality, confidence, maturity, history (or lack thereof) with the team or organization all play a part in this. In a previous article, I identified the typical mistakes that new leaders make and how to avoid them.

Fortunately, the model for an effective entrance is very straightforward. It also benefits from being broadly applicable. In other words, this is the right approach for stepping into a healthy organization or a distressed one. It is the right approach when promoted into the executive role or hired from outside.

It’s just the right approach. Following these steps will help you quickly gain credibility and the loyalty of those you lead. It will mitigate the potential disruption that comes with a leadership change. It will help you avoid many of the minefields that some new leaders seem determined to wander through.

The Model for Effective Executive Entrance

Inventory Strengths: Review What Has Worked and is Working Well

This first step is to take an inventory of what the team or organization does or has done well. This gives you both useful information and good will. There are a number of ways to go about this.

The first I’ll call the Garrison Keillor Method. Keillor hosted the radio show “Prairie Home Companion” for 42 years. While he liked to make fun of small town Minnesota life, he was always very careful to identify strengths or points of pride that his audience would identify with.  When he traveled, it was a standard part of his opening monologue to review aspects of local history and culture that his audience took pride in.

It’s a brilliant way to endear people to you and warm up your act. By both researching past successes and elements of organizational pride and salting those findings into your conversations, you’ll accomplish two goals: First, you’ll reassure people that you respect the same things they respect and value. By doing this, you’ll reduce the normal anxiety many people feel around change. Second, you’ll gather useful information of what this group of people does well. This allows you to build on existing strengths rather than attempt to start from scratch.

Another way to do this (it’s worth using both approaches) is a question that comes from Appreciative Inquiry. People enjoy answering these questions. It also is a simple but powerfully effective way to shift people into a very positive mindset. I use a series of questions that move something like this:

• When were times that we’ve really been at our best as a team or organization?
• What was it about us (our qualities, habits, behaviors, skills, etc) that made being at our best possible?
• What do you value most about this organization? This team? This project? Your role?
• What do you think the core values or characteristics of the organization are? What makes you unique and different from others doing similar work?
• If you had three wishes for the organization, what would they be?

This can be done with individuals or with a group. The process is powerful because it is so non-threatening. But it digs deeply into what is really important for people. It starts at a place of strength and positive remembrances. It allows people to project forward from this place of “We have succeeded” to “We do succeed” to “We will succeed.”

Even though it is never directly asked, it also unearths challenges or fears through the question of the “three wishes.” So, if a change is needed, even difficult change, you do get to what that might need to be. But you are arriving from a place where people feel far more optimistic about this. So you’ve reduced concerns that are common when new leaders start.

Identify Interests: Review Desires and Goals for the Future

If you follow the process above, you’ll have already started gathering this information. I’ve written a lot on the critical importance of identifying interests, in particular when it comes to resolving conflicts. Interests are nothing more than very core desires, hopes or concerns that someone has.

If you report to anyone, you’ll want to know what it is that they want. (Here’s a link to questions that you should ask owners or board members right at the beginning.) Sometimes, they know exactly what they want. In my experience, though, many owners or boards haven’t really thought it through to the level of detail that gives you meaningful direction.

So you need to ask for it.

Reviewing desires and interests is critically important when it comes to engaging the motivation of your workforce. You’ll get the best out of people when they feel what most drives or motivates them personally.

In fact, I’d recommend having a one-on-one conversation with at least each member of your direct reports, but also as many levels down as you can. In this conversation, you should ask people specifically:

• What are one or two things that we do great that we should protect?
• What are one or two areas that we should grow in or change?

There is some skill in asking these questions. Many people will offer a specific idea or position: “I think we should pursue XYZ contract.” Or “I think we should change the ABC policy.” It helps to explore this and ask, “What makes that important to you?” or “What do you think the consequences of not doing that will be?”

This helps you understand what is really important to people – which makes it easier for you to effectively lead them and tie into their motivations.

Low Hanging Fruit: Identify Quick Wins

I’m referring to really low hanging fruit. The wins don’t have to be large. If there are annoyances or inconveniences that everyone has been living with that you can easily address – address them. If there is a simple opportunity you can take advantage of – do it. If there is an easy PR win you can achieve (that focuses on the organization, not yourself), make it happen.

Important point: While it is natural for you to be in the spotlight – ideally these wins are not about you gaining more spotlight. Not to say that that you shouldn’t win a contract, build a key relationship or solve a problem. But your personal success is best demonstrated through your team’s success.

Sometimes these quick wins are much simpler than you think. In fact, there may be small wins happening all around you that no one is recognizing. It’s not uncommon to find that a particular department or team has quietly been doing fantastic work that has gone unacknowledged. Just highlighting this, and blowing their trumpet for them, will mean much more than you think.

Vision: Create an Organizing, Longer Term Focus

While it is often fine to come into your position with a vision for the future, it may be a delicate time to announce anything that seems like major changes. That is, unless, you know these changes are wanted within the organization.

Usually, you won’t know that unless you’ve done the work above. And even if you know that, you’ll want to make sure that you’ve built sufficient credibility to be able to accomplish the work that needs to be done.

There is rarely a good reason why you can’t accomplish the steps above within the first month or two. Definitely within the first quarter.  A good goal is to try to accomplish as much of this before your “honeymoon period” ends. Which can be faster than you might hope.

One of the most important and distinguishing skills of a leader is the ability to create a vision for the future that inspires others. This doesn’t need to be your ten-year vision of world-conquest. In fact, it often makes more sense to have a vision that may only be in the nine to 15- month range. But it should be big enough to be meaningful to everyone. It also provides a focus for everyone. It gives you a tool to nurture alignment throughout the organization.

Start Smart

Looking back, the new basketball coach missed all of these opportunities. As a result, the associate coaches stepped back and took more passive roles. The team itself went into revolt. He spent more time trying to rebuild what wasn’t originally broke than building on what was already there.

This model takes a little bit of effort. Sometimes, it may seem that it requires vulnerability. It definitely benefits from humility.

In practice, most of this model can be integrated within the course of normal business. In fact, in many cases, you’ll find that people will actually prefer that you take this time.

Start out by charting your course, building a relationship with the crew and keeping your hand on the helm. You’ll spend far less time in the doldrums, lost, bailing water and managing mutinies later on.

Take good care,

Christian

P.S. Would you like rapid, measurable growth in your leadership effectiveness and impact? Would you like to quickly build alignment in your team? My clients typically report tangible, noticeable results within 3 months. Curious? Contact me at christian@vantageconsulting.org or 907 522-7200.