Tip of the month, Inside Track, October 2010
How to successfully move up in the world
Michael Watkins ’90 Day Plan’ book is the key text for people moving up a level to new jobs. Admittedly it is rather US focused and aimed at the outsider stepping into a big corporation CEO role. It has its obligatory ten point plan, including some obvious things (use the first 90 days to listen and to learn, to build your agenda, to secure relationships etc) and some less obvious points (recognise this time as a time of personal learning and development, be conscious about the requirements of the new job and how they differ from what has made you successful in previous jobs).
My small contribution to this debate is something I call an ‘expectations exercise’. With several clients now stepping into new big jobs, I have talked confidentially to 10-12 people in (and near to) their organisations to see what they expect of the new boss – what preconceptions there are about their appointment, what the substantive business/organisational agenda is, and what kind of leadership style they need to bring to the job? This has always given an incredibly rich seam of data and gives the new leader a leg up as they step into the new job. It’s no substitute for the new leaders doing their own talking, but the interviewees welcome the opportunity to air their hopes and fears openly. And it does gives the leaders an early sense of what they are stepping into, a better ability to calibrate their early messages, and at least a hypothesis about the business agenda they face.
