Reflection on Youre in Charge Now What?

This book is aimed to help both newly appointed leaders and older leaders alike in various ways such as mentally, emotionally and physically preparing for the challenges that arise during a career change or leadership appointment. Neff & Citrin’s 8-point plan seems to be more of “How-To” guide that creates a roadmap to build excellence in leadership and stewardship. The objective of this paper will be not only to point out the step-by-step process and explanation of each of the eight points, but also to give my personal interpretation and examples of applicable situations that I have experienced.

            The authors covered all of the possible bases of what incoming leaders needs to know from a variety of levels and vantage points. I will be going into depth about how the 8 point plan can be applicable in real organizations by comparing it to my personal development: emotionally, physically and mentally. The authors detail a well-crafted agenda for the first 100 days. The authors give some great ways to deal with challenges that might arise and I believe that all leaders can learn something from this plan. I will also explain how a leader can apply these new skills to transform an organization and culture, thereby shaping the management team and others within the organization.

            The first of the eight points is to have a countdown for success, a plan to start this plan, and to be prepared before getting to this new position. Everyone is on a different countdown period to a new leadership position, for example, I am starting a new career and therefore a new position of leadership might be further into the future. This plan can help a leader prepare whether they are entering a organization in crisis or in a stable environment or even if they are jumping right into a new job from an already demanding.  The plan can be especially helpful if, like me, the leader has the luxury of some free time for additional preparation.

As the authors point out, all countdown periods share a common goal: to learn as much as possible about the new world I might be getting involved with beforehand.  The idea as I understand it is to enter into a leadership position informed and knowledgeable of various angles. This way I can figure out how best to explore and navigate my way through the initial tests from others in the organization. If I walked into a position prepared to lead a strategic process I would be more able to focus my attentions so that I can diagnose the challenges and opportunities of a new situation. The challenge in this step is to identify the key “players” and begin to forge alliances and build new relationships.  This can be facilitated by attempting to flush out biases within the members of the organization while simultaneously gathering valuable information from people who may have key insights into operations. Each leader would need to be thoughtful in the process in thinking of all these steps be taken in the context of their individual strengths, weakness and experience. In my experience it is imperative to consider the strength of the people or team I will be managing because they will soon make up my team.  Then it becomes important to hypothesize where the holes/weaknesses are likely to be. One of the commonly overlooked but extremely important factors to consider before beginning a new position is to prepare oneself emotionally for a major life transition.  Taking the necessary steps to get my family and support infrastructure ready to run without anything that might come up during this period of time.

            To optimize the planning step it is most important to learn the strategies, competitive positioning of others in the organization, and financials using public information and available internal documents if its possible to get a hold of them. It has always been easy for me to pinpoint those within the organization that can give me clarity.  Success can be initiated through meeting with these observers - employees, alumni, customers, suppliers, and analysts - to garner their insights.

            An important part of this step is to determine what "listening" questions I need to ask key managers or employees and in what time frame it is pertinent to ask them. In doing so I will build trust and accelerate the identification of key themes and issues within the organization. But as we know from leadership classes, the best way to be a great leader of others is to always assess our own knowledge, skill, or experience gaps in terms of specialized training or functional expertise. This can be facilitated by using the countdown period to lay the groundwork for establishing strong relationships with others within the organization and by being open and receptive.

            Within the author’s guidelines the first step is important to the process by aligning expectations and setting proper expectations for the future.  This is one of the most important things I can do as a new leader to get off to the right start. It is also one of the most easily overlooked and mishandled times when acquiring a new leadership role. These expectations will help shape my agenda, guide my thinking, and articulate my definition of success.

            If my perspectives don’t align with the ones of the organization, I will be setting off on a path marked by misunderstanding, tension, and all too often, failure. In the past I have set to change things instead of just observing and learning. Many leadership transitions are made more turbulent then necessary because of misconstrued or misaligned expectations. The authors could not stress enough how crucial aligning expectations is to getting off to the right start. Making sure everyone agrees on the important issues and priorities is literally the foundation to building the first hundred days pyramid and my success.

            The second step that the authors point out is that no one can do it alone. As a new leader I must shape and mold a management team. New leaders, whether promoted from the inside or recruited from the outside, inherit a legacy of an existing team - their ambitions and aspirations, their hidden agendas, possibly mistrust and questionable loyalty.  Their history of relations among them and between each of them and the rest of the organization can also affect a new leader. Being able to sorting out these dynamics early on is never easy, but it is essential. I have found that if I am not careful with private sidebar conversations and small meetings I can quickly start negative momentum, thoughts and actions that will be difficult to undo. I also have found it is important not to automatically rule out people who disagree with my views or even my direction. The authors point out that it is very important that as a leader if I push away or back to peers and other employees I may be closing the door of a creative thinker. I must have the willingness to challenge the status quo even if I come across as more of a devil’s advocate.  Doing so can be a valuable asset to the group, forcing it to question assumptions and circumvent conventional wisdom within the organization.

            Starting with a clean slate comes with its own set of difficulties, primarily that there will be a drawn-out transition before any traction is gained. Last, and most important, it ignores the opportunities created by establishing new expectations and instituting your new management style. The change in leadership and operating environment can cause people whose careers were previously unremarkable to bloom. After completing the book I returned to this point again and really reflected on the fact the every leader has his or her own approach to making judgments about their legacy teams. The most popular approach is to classify people into three categories: keepers, goners, and watchers. The watchers are people who could become major assets if they could address one or two deficiencies within a reasonable time. As important as making the tough people choices surely is, the decision about when and how to communicate these choices is equally important in the first hundred days of your leadership tenure, when all eyes are on you. Leadership changes present new managers with an opportunity to reexamine the status quo and obtain new insights into the old ways of doing business, and it’s natural to want to hit the ground running. But unless the company is in a crisis, most experienced manager’s caution against making personnel moves right off the bat. Establishing a strong team is the best first step a new leader can take toward executing a “golden” vision and implementing a strategic agenda. Simply stated by Guru Jim Collins, "First who, then what." Taking steps to do so in the first hundred days is an essential objective of getting off to the right start in a new leadership position. I have had firsthand experience with this very issue. It has always been comfortable to surround myself with people of similar backgrounds and so in the past I have done so.   I discovered that this is not allows the best way to operate because it made it difficult to obtain new and different viewpoints of specific situations and management opportunities. After reading this book I can see the error of my ways and can understand how focusing on building a team of people with similar values and passions with complementary skills would be more effective. And an effective team is the greatest source of leverage for implementing an agenda.

            I have had the opportunity to create a team, which is an extension of my personal leadership, a force that projects my vision, values, objectives, and requirements. I think it is my strongest ability to create a team in which everyone is playing to their greatest strength in such a way that the whole is far greater than the sum of the parts. By inspiriting the team each member can gain a sense of individuality and see how they contribute to the overall team dynamics. The composition of the team should match organizations challenges, enable each person to do their best, and also reflect the values and standards that you want to prevail throughout the enterprise.

            The next step is crafting a strategic agenda for the organization by finding the right balance between creating a compelling picture of where I plan to lead the organization and not becoming prematurely locked into a plan of action.  This is one of the most important ways to make the most of the first hundred days per the authors’ guidance. As they again point out one of the key talents of any leader is the ability to identify the truly critical issues and establish a short list of top priorities to keep people focused. It is important to make the complex simple. Having a well-grounded view of what the organization stands for, its reason for being, is the foundation on which to build a strategic agenda.

            As the authors point out I don't have to deliver a “fully baked” strategic plan on day one or even in the first hundred days. I think finding the right balance between creating a compelling picture of where I want the organization to go and not becoming prematurely locked into a plan. So from this I would craft a short-term agenda, I had always found that during leadership endeavors I have to under-promise to not pop any bubbles and/or over-deliver.  It is easy in a new organization for leadership to burn the candle at both ends and lose energy. These strategies of building strategic agenda in a joint effort with the team versus in a solo process are very useful.

            The next step is called the culture, and is important because it begins the initial transformation of the corporate culture. Lou Gerstner, CEO of IBM who said, “Culture isn’t just one aspect of the game – it is the game.” In the end, an organization is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value. Vision, strategy, marketing, and financial management can help set me on the right leadership path and carry forward the momentum for a while. As a new leader I will need to work to understand the culture of the organization, learn to diagnose when great change is required, and take the right steps to start making the transformations that are necessary. It is imperative to recognize that many new leaders fail because they cannot make headway against an intrinsic culture.  Pushing too hard in the wrong ways will result in the proverbial "body rejecting the organ." The way to start assessing a culture is to listen and observe. How do people really describe the place? Words are powerful clues - within most generalizations there lies an inner core of truth. Look for physical evidence - how people dress, how they communicate, how happy they look, and the kind of furniture and artwork that fills the offices. Next, identify how "things work around here." Hunt for the knowledge networks, key influencers, decision-making protocols, and unwritten and unspoken conventions that are the nervous system of any organization. Be sensitive to the fact that even having a change mandate from your board or boss may not be enough. Understand where other sources of power lie, and make sure you gain the support from that power source. With a truly obstinate culture, you may need to make structural and people changes, but do so with the bought-in support of the key power center and also establish a concerted program to address the cultural legacies of the organization.

            As a leader the author’s points out that I will have to diagnose the culture of the board or my boss, and tailor my communication and management styles accordingly. By looking to them to serve as a sounding board to bounce ideas off of, to help set board agendas, and in the early days even to help manage the board process while I am catching up to speed on the business. In the past I have found it very difficult to establish my credibility by having a sound strategic agenda.  This often isn’t enough to impress the current staff.  One of the ways to overcome this, suggested by the authors is to combat that process by being on top of the details of the business, listening and learning from my former bosses or board members, building a strong and committed management team, establishing a sound management process, and maintaining humility. I think for me the recent issues with a divorce and losing my job have given me an aspect of gratefulness for the little things, especially the support of peers and co-workers. But that is not enough.  The goal at this point is believe to establish an effective communication protocol with your boss or board, including formal information sharing such as monthly management letters, as well as an informal communication protocol, such as phone calls before each meeting and informal meetings or meals with your boss or individual directors.

            As I have already pointed out, communication is the key to implementing my agenda, as communication skills are one of the most important and strongest attributes of an effective leadership. Vision and strategy largely reside in a vacuum until they are applied. Many leaders agree that employees should be told as much as possible about the state of the business, both its problems and its opportunities. If everyone looks at the business with the same facts, they are much more likely to pull in the same direction – operate with the same perspective – which is essential in making the business a success. This is especially true for employees, but it also applies to shareholders, the board of directors, the customers, and the suppliers. I think if you know your audience the message and the conversation can be tailored to reaching them in a productive way. As I leader, I also must adjust my style to theirs, this way they care about what I care about.  This way, they are informed and equipped with explanations as to why things are happening. How well we as leaders communicate is determined not by how well we say things but by how well we are understood by others. I have found that as a teacher and educator I tell stories which helps to establish an emotional connection to my point. Effective communication is more than promulgating a message, it is a continuous give and take in which ideas are explored, assimilated, and adapted before being locked in.

            Finally the authors point out the top ten traps of a new leader. They got my attention right away by identifying ways to help a new leader, such as myself, avoid the most common pitfalls. These not only helped me to understand how to establish the right foundation in the first hundred days, but build on that initial momentum.

            Sydney Finkelstein (2003) completed the largest research project ever on leadership failure for his groundbreaking book, Why Smart Executives Fail. According to Finkelstein, true failure – “spectacular failure” – is the result of seven destructive behaviors that executives in failing companies exhibit. Many seemed to be right in line with what has already been discussed in the book. As a failed leader they see themselves and their companies as dominating their competitive environments, even if this view is out of step with reality. Another they identify so completely with the company that there is no clear boundary between their own self-image and interests and the company’s image and interests (Finkelstein, 2003).

            This final point was a homerun for me, because I can remember as a younger leader that I was not adept at setting realistic expectations and by failing at this was unrealistic about what could and should be done within an organization in a specific timeframe. Real pressures lead to this, such as the all-too-human need to impress the higher authority– the board or my boss- or the media, to demonstrate that I am the one in charge. So from this point I remember that if I set stretch goals, be careful not to allow them to turn into expectations, because then they become the baseline against which I, and the organization, will be measured. Serious problems arise when these targets are not rooted in the underlying realities of the market and the company’s position.

            Leaders who settle issues too quickly limit their opportunity to grasp the ramifications. When I began as new assistant principal the problems seemed to arise every hour on the hour. Putting out fires all over the building but relaxing and taking a slower and pace is calming in some situations.  By trusting my own judgment while soliciting input and feedback from others I have found this approach will maximize my chances of making the right decisions in the right time frame – neither rashly nor indecisively.

            Another serious pitfall I fell victim to in the early days of my career is thinking that I had all the answers. The reality is that know-it-alls typically don’t know what they don’t know. By not recognizing or admitting that you don’t have – and can’t possibly have- all the answers. As I have discussed before, surrounding myself with others, not shutting out new perspectives, as well as the possibility of getting the valuable information and input that may lead to new discoveries and answers. I can say at one time I may have been considered a know-it-all. This type of leadership also invariably leads to quickly alienating your colleagues and employees. I have operated as a lone wolf who refused to ask for help or involve others; I effectively cut myself off from valuable input and feedback. Which in turn made me invariably burnt out and only made my peers feel disenfranchised, alienated and impotent.  The lessons contained in this book will help me from committing these same mistakes and grow as a leader.

            Another pit fall the authors point out is that fact that many new leaders are promoted from within and they fail to let go of their past identity. Leaders who have been trained and have made their reputations by ascending the ranks of market-leading companies often cling to the traits of those institutions. Sometimes without realizing it, they simply talk about it too frequently. For example as a teacher in a couple of public school districts I found that the guidelines and standards of the districts where the number one measure of the school whether or not it was on par with the standardized state test. But when I moved back to Colorado, the state test was necessary, but not the end all too every curriculum decision being made around the school district. I did not recognize that and because of that alienated myself by looking as if I did not care what the community priorities were.  In so doing I disenfranchised my new organization or simply annoyed people, either way the result was undermining my ability to be effective in the first hundred days. Some leaders bring all the accoutrements of their prior office to their new one. The authors go on to warn that a sure way to blow out a new leadership position is to inflexibly apply the processes and jargon of an old job in a new organization. This is just another way of getting stuck in the past and at the same time getting stuck in your predecessor’s history and baggage. But even more important is how we as leaders take the experience of our prior jobs and tailor it to the unique circumstances, culture, language, and ways of doing business at our new one.  There was a difficult lesson in this particular failure for me, but it is one I most certainly won’t make again.

            In conclusion, I am still recovering from the many pit falls of leadership. I myself have done more jumping into holes then climbing to the tops of mountains. But maybe that is the point. A leader of men is not created, it is something that is built and continues to grow to adopted.  A “benevolent leader” is as focused on the success of those around him as on their own success. The authors’ research showed that 90 percent of extraordinary executives are benevolent leaders, compared with only four percent who put themselves first. In the first class I took at TTU one of the books ‘The Steward Leader’ by Rodin describes one of the greatest pitfalls of all is creating a work environment that stifles dissent, as do the authors here. A leader who smothers dissent cuts themselves off from the chance to see and correct problems as they arise. They create an environment of fear and control that turns off the most talented employees and eventually drives them out the door. I have been a part of this as an assistant principal twice, and not by my design but by the design of the principal. This is the most damaging way to direct others through intimidation and fear of repercussions.

            To make up for my past mistakes I have found that I am a leader that falls into the pitfall of ‘Succumbing to the Savior Syndrome’. As the authors point out nowadays leaders are under so much pressure that they often fall prey to feeling that they are carrying the weight of the business on their shoulders. If these responsibilities are not kept in context, a new leader can wander into the morass of the Savior Syndrome. A savior believes that he or she is the embodiment of the institution and is personally responsible for its success. At the extreme, the line between their identity and the identity of the business blurs. And in some cases they come to believe that they are above the rules – or even laws– that bind everyone else. While this affliction is not likely to occur in the first hundred days, one of its early causes – believing it’s all about you – can lead to ruinous results (pg.249).

            After all of this it is the most important to understand from the authors that is a step-by-step process and to take little bites and small victories. To build off of this momentum is the key for longevity and success as a leader in any organization at any time. Being willing to be flexible, understanding, compassionate and spirited to guide and encourage others are some of the skills that I can bring to an organization as a new leader and steward.

           

Reference:

Finkelstein, S. (2003). Why Smart Executives Fail and What You Can Learn From Their Mistakes. NY: Penguin Group.

Neff, T., Citrin, J. & Fredman, C. (2005). You're in charge, now what? : the 8 point plan. 1st ed., NY: Crown Business.