How can new executives succeed when replacing a former leader who failed?
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Oh been in that situation thrice in my career with no handover, no document and a department with low morale and FUD to add. Here's what I did and thankfully it worked; you may adapt based on your reality and frame of reference.
Week 1
1. Start with the CEO/your reporting Manager to understand what happened; just listen without passing any judgement. What are going to be the determinants of your success.
2. Talk to your team to get their perspective, remember you will be judged based on the earlier persons personality and (dis)connect with the team. What would they like to change. Build empathy as they will be the folks who will deliver.
3. Ask your peers on their (dis)satisfaction with IT; pet peeves, ineffectiveness, frustrations, maybe what has worked too because of or despite IT. What would they like to change.
4. Meet the key vendors without whom IT cannot succeed! Get their perspective on plus and minus as they see it
Week 2
5. You already have a gist of what is missing or not working, make a 30 day plan and talk to your Manager on what you intend to do. Set into motion what can be done, drive from the front.
6. Conduct 1-1 sessions with your direct reports, assess their ability to work with your style and speed; if there is a misalignment, guide them on what you expect from them and their teams
7. Meet functional heads (not the CXOs) to understand their perspectives
Week 3
8. Formalize governance for your team and for projects underway and already planned, create an IT newsletter with status of what's happening (not just a status report but a little informal if you will).
9. Go out and meet your customers (internal and external); understand how IT is impacting them positively or negatively or not at all. Get their inputs on what they would like to see as a change. Interestingly many great ideas come out in these conversations.
Week 4
10. Publish the progress report against the 30 day plan and formally present your 6, 12, 24 month strategy and plan including changes if any to your team (new hires, desired attrition) with budgetary and organizational support as required.
Execution and communication is the key; people listen and observe your mannerisms and form their opinions on your ability to survive and deliver. Your credibility is going to be build on the actions of your team and how you portray the successes. Keep an ear to the ground, stay connected across the layers of the company.
I'd flip the question. How can organizations succeed when a former leader resigns? While I do believe in Peter's Principle and that some individuals do end up in jobs that are larger than they are, my observations of peers who have failed are almost always due to a dysfunctional organisation or a strategic fundamental that is mission impossible. Any c-level individual mandate is going to have to be a c-team effort. Second, often people are not given a proper mandate. Turnarounds require careful analysis of the root causes of the problems for which a leader is hired, and if team work is not extant then the mandate needs to cover those critical dependencies.
Build relationship. Earning trust is extremely important to the role. Understanding the history is important as well. But don't just walk in with a bunch of questions and sort of conduct the conversation like an interview. Talk to your stakeholders, get to know them. Ask questions and listen. This may need more than one personal visit/connection. Do this to stakeholders and your people. Validate your findings and come up with a plan to address the opportunities. Pick top 3, come up with a solid plan with proper measures (KPI's etc.). Get the buy in from Key Stakeholders and the leadership, make sure that you have the right resources lined up (if you don't, get the resources and or skill them up if learning curve is small) and execute to get results.
I believe that when a new executive assumes a leadership position, they should create a 100-day plan. This plan should be divided into three phases: Analyze, Optimize, and Deliver. During the Analyze phase, the new executive engages with multiple stakeholders to understand their perspectives on past events, identify necessary actions, and learn valuable lessons. Once these views are gathered and analyzed, the next step is to optimize existing activities and identify quick wins. It’s important to note that not all identified activities in the analysis stage will have equal priority. Prioritizing these activities and kick-starting their implementation occurs in the third phase of the 100-day plan. While this process may seem straightforward, organizational politics can significantly impact the success of the new executive. Regardless, defining what success looks like remains crucial for any leader
Always useful to understand the past as others have mentioned. But it is far more important to understand what is needed, and ensure alignment with the C-suite. Then to build a plan to deliver.