Seven Rules For Succeeding As A Brand-New Leader

Michael D. Watkins 11.04.09, 5:05 PM ET

The actions you take during your first few months in a new role have a major influence on whether you ultimately succeed or fail. Transitions are pivotal times, in part because they are when everyone expects change to occur. They're also times of great vulnerability, when new leaders lack established working relationships and detailed knowledge of their new roles. If you fail to build momentum during your transition, you will face an uphill battle from then on.

What does it take to make a successful transition into a new role? My research has led me to compile seven rules that can help any newly appointed leader take charge more effectively:

Rule 1: Leverage your time before entry.

Your transition begins during the selection process when you're being picked for the job, not when you formally enter the organization. If you fail to use the time before your move effectively, you'll undermine your ability to get on top of the job right from the start. It's a priceless period for absorbing information about your new organization and beginning to plan. Wise new leaders therefore use the time between the decision to take a new position and the formal start date to jump-start the transition process.

Rule 2: Organize to learn.

Taking on a new role can feel like sailing into a dense fog. You can see only a short distance and must exercise great caution as you strive to get your bearings. Because expectations for you are high and your time is precious, you must be an active learner. This means organizing to learn as efficiently as possible everything you need to learn about your new role. Plan early on to focus on three distinct types of learning: technical, political and cultural. Technical learning means understanding products, markets, customers, strategy and operations. Political learning means assessing how decisions are made, understanding who is most influential and identifying key sources of power. Cultural learning means understanding your new organization's norms and values, its accepted ways of working and all the habits that make its character unique.

Rule 3: Secure early wins.

By the end of your first few months on the job, you will have to have made substantial progress energizing people and focusing them on solving the business's most pressing problems. It is crucial that people see momentum building from the start. Tangible improvements motivate employees, encouraging them to try for still more and better. So plan to secure early wins by identifying significant problems that can be tackled in relatively little time. Their solutions must yield identifiable operational and financial improvements in performance.

Rule 4: Lay the foundation for success.

Early wins will help you get off to a good start, but they won't suffice for continued success. You must also lay a foundation for the deeper changes that can bring sustained improvement in your organization's performance. Your efforts during the first six months to lay that foundation must focus on building the team, transforming key structures and processes and developing all the skills you yourself will need to achieve your goals.

Rule 5: Construct a personal vision.

To get people to buy in and go the extra mile, you need to conceive a personal vision for your organization and make it a shared vision. You do this through cycles of observation, imaginative visualization and clarification. The new leaders best able to formulate a vision of what they want to accomplish are those who observe most carefully how their new organizations work. Thoughtful observation of the situation at hand, and hard-headed assessment of potential threats and opportunities, enables you to imagine--and communicate--what might be.

Rule 6: Build alliances.

You can only transform an organization if powerful people and groups find that helping you do so is in their own interest. New leaders can learn and plan, but they can achieve little on their own. Armed with knowledge of the political landscape, reach out and consolidate potential sources of support. Strive to convince those who can be convinced. Early in the transition, many people will be neither dedicated supporters nor implacable opponents. They will be indifferent or undecided--and, hence, persuadable.

Rule 7: Manage yourself

Finally, knowing and managing yourself is as important as knowing and managing the organization. The physical demands of a transition are high as you log endless hours traveling and attending meetings and face ever more work. The emotional demands are also great as you try to cope with not only challenges at work but also disruptions in the usual rhythms of life at home. You must therefore prepare for the emotional burden of transition by developing ways to maintain your equanimity. The key is to build the right networks for advice and counsel that can help you to exercise clear-headed judgment, stay focused and maintain emotional evenness.

It's up to you.

Success in putting these seven rules into practice won't guarantee a smooth transition. Even the best-laid plans can go awry. But care in planning and carrying out a transition can substantially improve your chance of success--and your chance to get opportunities to make further transitions in the future.

Michael D. Watkins is the author of Your Next Move: The Leader's Guide to Navigating Major Career Transitions. He is co-founder of Genesis Advisors, a leadership development firm in Newton, Mass., that specializes in transition acceleration programs and coaching. His previous books include The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels and The First 90 Days in Government: Critical Success Strategies for New Public Managers at All Levels.

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