The Executive Transition Playbook

by Hilary Potts

  Your Transition Communication Plan should set out how you plan to be visible throughout your transition and beyond. Your communications are frequently less about what you want to say, and more about what people need to hear. People want to know how your approach will affect their work. They want to know what information they will receive, what’s important, and what they should be doing. Creating a Transition Communication Plan will give you an approach to open and then improve the channels of communication.

  Create Your Transition Communication Plan

  A Transition Communication Plan is part of the Executive Transition Playbook. It creates a structure for your formal and informal discussions and lays out the “who, what, when, where, and how.” It sets out a strategy for how you connect with the organization. Because it is your plan, be sure to “own” it. Sometimes, you can work with the organization’s Corporate Communications department regarding the writing and distributing of your communications. Even if communications support is available, you should take the lead on the communications’ style, form, content, and distribution. Your audiences will be able to tell whether the messages are in your voice. Your communications — and the relationships built through them — are too important to leave to the standard corporate processes.

  Communications should be both formal and informal. You need to be in charge of both types of communication, and the style of both should match. How you act, what you say, and your style of talking with others all help people see and understand your personal brand. If you work with Corporate Communications, ask them to help you convey messages in such a way that the messages actually sound like you, in your “voice.” When your formal and informal communications match, it helps you build authenticity.

  Your communication plan should include: a communications strategy, a set of communications principles, tools for communicating, and plans and timelines for both broad and detailed communications. Incorporate formal as well as informal communications into the plan. Informal ones are more likely to make you visible where and when needed. All communications should be reviewed by you to make sure that the tone, language, and messages match the purposes.

  Communicate with a Purpose

  Start your communication plan by developing a list of communication principles. These will serve as the foundation for how your messages look, feel, and sound. Such principles help to ensure consistency throughout your transition. Here are some principles you might find useful:

  ◆Communicate messages with conviction, and optimism.

  ◆Use direct conversation whenever possible.

  ◆Be transparent, sharing what is appropriate.

  ◆Start with existing communications tools whenever possible.

  ◆Reinforce the company’s values, vision, and strategy.

  ◆Make it clear when you do not know the answer.

  ◆Come to meetings prepared with questions.

  ◆Follow up on action items.

  ◆Determine if messages are received with the appropriate intent.

  ◆Prepare communications well ahead of time.

  ◆Brief senior leaders, direct reports, and peers before important announcements so they are not blindsided.

  Encourage Dialogue through Forums

  There are many ways to convey messages. We have become used to communicating through emails, short voicemails, texts, and even chat groups, yet sometimes these brief messages can be incomplete or misleading. When communications are not clear, people may create their own meaning, which can lead to misplaced effort, misunderstandings, and incorrect information. Communication can differ by business, and each leader has a preferred style. Figure out how you wish to craft your messages — your full messages — in ways that convey the right information, using an appropriate style that enables people to do their jobs well.

  People process and absorb information in different ways and at different speeds. Instead of communicating a message just once, I suggest communicating the same message many times in various ways, using alternate communication vehicles so that your meaning actually gets through. Here are some different types of forums to consider for distributing your messages:

  ◆Lunch-and-learns

  ◆Walking the halls

  ◆Leader forums

  ◆Social gatherings around a specific business or leadership topic

  ◆All-employee town hall meetings, which include a discussion format, breakout sessions, and refreshments when appropriate

  ◆CEO memo with weekly musings, such as “Where in the world is…?” and “Ask me a question”

  ◆Intranet pages, blogs, microblogs, tweets, and chat rooms

  ◆Informal breakfast and lunch meetings

  ◆“Virtual” cup of coffee or lunch discussions (conducted via phone, teleconference, or a corporate chat site)

  ◆Audiovisual messages and emails or newsletters

  ◆Quarterly one-on-one meetings with key direct reports of your own direct reports

  Use these forums to create a dialogue, rather than a monologue. The best approach is to ask questions and get people talking. Make it acceptable to have a conversation with you. When you are sharing information, tailor your message to your audience. Map out what you want people to know; decide how the message will affect them; consider how you want them to feel afterward. Determine what actions you wish people to take after they fully hear your message.

  Chapter 14

  Listening: The Art of Engagement

  We have two ears and one mouth and we should use them proportionally.

  – Susan Cain

  Listen, Listen, and Listen Some More

  According to Julian Treasure, an expert in listening techniques, we spend roughly 60 percent of our communication time listening, but we retain only about 25 percent of what we hear. He says we are losing our ability to listen. The lack of good listening in business can cause issues to arise when you are trying to build relationships, help others understand business concepts, and lead your fellow workers.

  When we actively listen, people feel heard. You create a dialogue and mutual understanding. When you become more conscious about your listening, your understanding and engagement increase significantly.

  Unfortunately, listening can be a difficult skill for leaders to learn, since they are accustomed to directing the conversation. Yet, transitions require careful listening. You will be given a lot of information from multiple sources and will need to find a way to sort through it all. You may even have a tendency to filter out messages that do not fit your assumptions. So make every effort to hear messages that disagree with your orientation, as well as those that support your plans.

  Listening starts with being able to listen to oneself. When we can take a pause from our busy lives and sit in silence, we can learn to listen to ourselves without judgment or the need to change or fix anything. We are then able to listen to the rest of the world.

  Conscious Listening

  To bring focus to the topic and give keen attention to the person talking, practice conscious listening. During this process, the listener practices listening without feeling the need to respond. Using conscious listening, the leader can then be present, with attention fully on the speaker. The listener thus creates a safe environment for the speaker to share information.

  Conscious listening also allows us to be aware of our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. It gives us a way to put into perspective the information we receive from others, and to thoughtfully prepare how we share comments and feedback. When we listen consciously, we can gain the benefit of what people are actually trying to communicate. Conscious listening is first about listening and then about absorbing. You can then respond thoughtfully to the speaker.

  Leaders can become enamored with their own solutions and shut off input from others. When we believe our ideas are better than those of others, we put ourselves and the business at risk, because we may not be looking objectively at the full situation. Our business judgment can become clouded, and we are a
pt to make mistakes. Conscious listening can pull us back to the present to hear what is really being said.

  Practice Listening

  Leaders can become so expert at filtering outside noise that they may actually stop listening to the inputs. Such leaders become deaf to objections, whether stated or hinted at, and search to hear only things that match their own thinking. They can also become impatient with long explanations, if they are accustomed to receiving information only in sound bites. Unless the volume is turned up and conscious listening is a habit, important messages can be missed.

  In a July 2011 TED talk, Julian Treasure shared simple practices to improve listening skills:

  1. Sit in Silence

  Take three minutes every day and sit in silence, with no distractions from digital devices or phones. This helps to reset and recalibrate your hearing, so that you can hear the quiet over the noise.

  2. Tune in to the Sound

  See if you can separate different sounds, like those of several channels on the radio. Notice whether you can hear and identify the different sounds in a noisy location.

  3. Find the Rhythm

  Listen to the rhythm of mundane noises, such as the sound of traffic, a clock ticking, water trickling in a fountain, the rebooting of your computer, or the hum of an air conditioner.

  4. Become a Better Listener in Conversations

  ◆Receive – Give your full attention to the person talking to you.

  ◆Appreciate – Reinforce others by making small noises (“uh-huh,” “I see,” “umm”).

  ◆Summarize – Paraphrase what you heard back to the speaker to check that you heard the information correctly.

  ◆Ask – Pose questions, both to clarify what you heard and to build on shared ideas.

  Chapter 15

  Building Rapport with Your Boss

  Trust is knowing that when a team member does push you, they’re doing it because they care about the team.

  – Patrick Lencioni

  Find Common Ground

  The more senior your position, the more that people will want to be consulted and informed on various facets of the business. While you might be accountable for running the business, there are others who will be affected and wish to have influence over the decisions. They may be your boss, Board members, or investors. They could be customers, employees, or even analysts. Your direct boss is one of many who will want to be engaged. Whomever you report to, take the time to build rapport.

  At some point, the conceptual conversations that took place during the interview process change to focus on the true realities of the business. You may be excited about creating a new vision, only to find that your focus is first required on other business needs. You begin to understand the difference between what you thought you were hired to do and what actually needs to be accomplished in the short term. You have a choice: You can push back on the advice and counsel, or you can use your executive presence and gravitas to find a workable solution. Many of my conversations with executives have been to strategize about how the executive works through differences of opinions on running the business.

  Usually, when leaders struggle with their relationships with senior managers, no one wins, especially you. The “you versus them” approach just causes unnecessary silos. Everyone is working for the same business, but some may have different perceptions and approaches. Do not expect others to always have the emotional and social intelligence to manage these conversations. It’s best for you to have the ability to navigate through challenging discussions and relationships. Everyone wins when you can take the high road and work toward some agreeable solution.

  In your senior role, you are bound to view the business differently than others. So find ways to take a full view of the business and see all sides of the issue. Express your ideas in terms that allow others to understand your point of view. Listen to the input of others and be clear on what actions you will take. The various perspectives will enable you and the company to make the best decisions.

  Make the most of these discussions and meetings by preparing ahead of time the topics, questions, and key points you wish to cover. The Goals and Business Review One-Pager outlined in Chapter 6 and the Stakeholder Preparation Plan reviewed in Chapter 11 are helpful tools to organize your thoughts and prepare for these important conversations. When you are fully ready for these conversations, you are better positioned to lead the conversation to a better outcome. Save time at the end of the meeting to capture decisions and agree on next steps. Follow the meeting with a short note that captures the ideas and actions.

  Chapter 16

  Assimilating with Your Management Team

  Culture does not change because we desire to change it. Culture changes when the organization is transformed; the culture reflects the realities of people working together every day.

  – Frances Hesselbein

  It’s assumed the team at the top, known as the Executive Team or Senior Management Team, or sometimes the Executive Committee, possesses the team-building and leadership skills to work together. All too often, the reality is that many top teams really struggle to work together. The lack of a high-performing executive team affects how the entire organization works together. If you are fortunate to inherit a high-performing team, your job will be to cultivate the camaraderie.

  As the incoming executive, you most likely have your own preconceived notions of how you will lead the team. Those on the team recognize that there will be changes. They will want to hear from you, and will be curious about how you will engage the team. An Assimilation Work Session helps you and your team to get to know one another and determine how to work together. Using an assimilation exercise allows you to assess how the current team works today and where to make changes to create the team you want.

  Usually, the Human Resources department — often working with an outside facilitator — runs such an assimilation session, according to its set process and with a goal of meeting the organization’s needs. This doesn’t mean, though, that you cannot review the outline of the session ahead of time and make suggestions for additional topics that will help you in your transition.

  Figure 16-1 show the steps to prepare for an Assimilation Work Session. The agenda in Figure 16-2 takes you through the activities for the Assimilation Work Session, from premeeting preparation to postmeeting follow-up. This session creates a nonthreatening, productive way to get to know the management team.

  The result of the Assimilation Work Session should be an understanding among all parties about one another and about how everybody will work together to meet organizational goals. The session also provides an opportunity for you to assess the people on your team. It is important for your own success to have the right people in the right roles. These sessions will help you evaluate the thinking, style, and effectiveness of the participants. The discussions that arise will shape your ideas about how to align your strategy, processes, and people.

  Figure 16-3 suggests an outline of the information you will want to share about yourself with the other participants in the Assimilation Work Session. Chapter 8 reviews more details on how to create and communicate your personal brand and other messages about your background and expectations.

  Before you move on from this exercise, take a few minutes to capture your personal observations of the overall team, as well as of the individuals on the team. Figure 16-4 shows a simple Team Member Assessment template. This template will come in handy as you assess the team and its members’ individual capabilities.

  Even though this session may be designed and run by others, you can exert significant influence on the information covered in it.

  Chapter 17

  Making the Most of Meetings with Direct Reports

  You cannot push anyone up the ladder unless he is willing to climb.

  – Andrew Carnegie

  Prepare for One-on-One Conversations with Direct Reports

  One-on-one conversations provide an excellent forum for getting to
know individuals and their contributions to the business. These meetings can offer you a way to hear about the company through different individuals’ perspectives as well as a way to assess the capabilities and talents currently in the organization. You will want to couple these one-on-one conversations with group discussions. Come into these meetings with a focus on listening and learning how you can best serve the business versus what you can do to fix, change, or adjust the organization. Stating your intention of giving real service will allow you to listen more deeply, rather than simply feeling a need to react on the spot to the information that will be shared.

  While you are assessing the people and the business itself, your direct reports will be interested to learn how you will help, or hinder, their careers and work. They will want to know how you work and what they can expect. They especially want to find out your impressions of them, and they will be assessing whether they should stay or leave. This is a “dance of engagement” between you and your direct reports. Leaders who view this engagement as only a one-way street lose the opportunity to hear others’ perspectives, step into others’ shoes, and understand what their people need to hear.

  Prepare for these conversations and create a list of questions. Determine ahead of time which personal and professional stories you will share, then map out a series of interactions and conversations. If the organizational culture supports it, I suggest that you start with personal conversations that can then lead up to professional ones.

  On the following pages are three suggested outlines for meetings held one on one with your direct reports that should lead to trusted working relationships. I share these outlines so that you can avoid common complaints from direct reports. After such meetings, some will say their new leader wasn’t prepared for the early conversations. Others will think the leader jumps too quickly to conclusions, while others will say the new leader spent too much time talking about herself. The point is to make a good first impression, in order to forge a trusting relationship.