The grass is always greener …
Due diligence before accepting a new role
I have one ask for those of you in taking on a new role.
It doesn't matter if the new job is within your existing organisation or if it involves a move to another employer.
It is to perform rigorous due diligence on the job, the team, and the organisation.
The bid/offer between what people expect when they sign on the dotted line and what a role is when they walk through the door for the first time seems to be growing.
"The grass is always greener on the side fertilised with BS."
Carrying out more rigorous due diligence is a WIN | WIN |WIN for the candidate, the hiring firm and the recruiter involved.
I have worked with three executives recently where the reality of their new roles did not meet their expectations. One was the head of Inclusivity & Diversity. Their skills and interests were not a good match for the reality of their new role at a law firm whose culture and way of doing things expected everyone, no matter their seniority, to get stuck into the details. Another was a new head of algorithmic trading who discovered that their coding team didn't actually report directly to them. So they faced the reality of continuously negotiating for the coders who were crucial for them being able to deliver their mandate. And third was a senior salesperson hired for their credibility at selling and as a new relationship manager. The actual reality was that the sales figures were all that mattered, so there was no time to spend on the relationship management side.
Transitions are opportunities, a chance to make needed changes in an organisation. However, executives' success in their careers to date does not always prepare them to operate as successfully in a different culture and way of doing things. While transitions are opportunities, they also can be vulnerable times. As the adage goes, you don't get a second chance to make a first impression.
Yes, of course, things might change between an offer being accepted and a start date, especially in the UK, where the notice periods for more senior roles are often three months or longer. However, we can and should mitigate the inherent risks of moving positions.
Begin before you begin
The best way to recover from a false start is to avoid one in the first place. Here are five straightforward things to ensure you fully understand before you accept the new role:
Mandate - what are you being hired to achieve? Is this a turnaround situation, maintenance and sustaining the current performance levels, or a start-up and new project/initiative/venture?
Accountability - what is it you will be held responsible for? Obvious, but too often, people will answer this question with generic or ambiguous responses. Specificity is incredibly helpful, especially in the first 180 days.
Priorities - your understanding of how the hiring manager views the urgent deliverables for the new hire. You will form your own opinions and views, especially of the early wins, to build credibility, but this initial guidance is essential.
Resources - the resources you will have access to, whether the size of the team, number of your direct reports, and key financial resources where appropriate. Too often, I see people arriving and not having the teams they thought they would have and so struggle from day one to deliver the early wins.
Reporting Line - Who will you report to and be accountable to? Who else, as matrix reporting is increasingly common? This is crucial as your early success will depend on your relationship with your new boss and understanding their preferences and way of doing things.
We have cognitive limits. Our brains simply won't let us take everything in, so we risk quickly forgetting important points. To help ensure you remember, I strongly recommend that after each interview and conversation with the hiring team and recruiter that you debrief yourself immediately:
Write for up to five minutes. Write quickly. Don't worry about spelling, punctuation or grammar. Write whatever comes into your head. Don't sensor.
Stop after five minutes and briefly read back through your writing, then write for a further two minutes using one of these stems:
I notice …
I am aware of …
I am curious about …
I feel …
I am surprised by …
Stop writing after two minutes. Now, set a timer for one minute and write a list of items you want to discuss further, crucial things you have learnt, or actions you may want to take now.
Use these reflective notes to help with follow-up questions in subsequent interview rounds.
Let us assume you have been successful and there is an offer on the table, or there will be one soon. You may want to consider sending an email to the hiring manager, laying out your understanding of the essential points from the five topics above: mandate, accountability, etc. Start by saying something like, "From all the conversations and meetings in the past few weeks/months, this is my understanding of the role…" and then ask, "Is there anything crucial that you feel I have misinterpreted or misunderstood?"
If you are still not sure, pause and step away. Changing jobs (especially when things are already going well) is one of the most important decisions you will make. This must be a "hell yeah" decision, as anything else is a no.
And if you can afford it, work with a coach who specialises in helping people through executive transitions (moving roles, moving teams, moving locations). If you can't afford it, read this.
📫 - Favourite quote
"Coaching is bigger than coaching."
Sir John Whitmore
A single coaching conversation will likely have a positive impact on the individual.
The impact doesn't stop there. The changes made by that person have the potential to grow as they interact with their teams, their peers, their partners and their bosses.
Individual1️⃣ > team 🧑🏻🤝🧑🏿 > organisation 🏢 > community 🏙️ > world 🌍
🧾 - An absorbing and insightful (short) read
I have a confession to make. I bought Sapiens - A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari but never managed to read past the first 100 pages. My copy of the book is slowly gathering dust on my bookshelf, alongside another book I have struggled with (message me if you are interested in the second title).
So I read this article over the summer about the author with interest and just a hint of smugness because of my inability to read his most popular book.
The ability to tell an interesting and thought-provoking story has often become more important than the research and scholarship itself. #lazythinking
🐣 - Something I am doing differently or entirely new
Over the summer, I have been involved with a new collaboration to launch a podcast later this year. Every episode will delve into and explore the lazy thinking that my fellow co-hosts and I see going on in the worlds of tech, social, work, politics and the future. We want to remind people of the importance of instilling not just received knowledge but a willingness to question it - to be imaginative and to think differently.
As part of my work with coaching clients, we work through the history and source of the problem, obstacle or opportunity they are facing. I help my clients with the objective analysis and evaluation to identify, clarify and approach the choices and options in front of them. Not all decisions are equal, and rarely are decisions binary, black and white.
This new podcast will allow me to take a core element of my coaching, something that I am invigorated by and relish the journey to mastery in a different direction. A direction that will provide feedback to help me become an even better coach for the executives I partner with.
Follow The Paragone Podcast on Twitter to receive the latest updates and be notified when the first episode drops.
⚖ - If you did have the answer, what would it be?
Perhaps the following will provide insight and be of help with a problem you are currently facing:
Do you need a new perspective on a challenge you're struggling with?
Are you starting a new role and want to make a positive impact and quickly establish credibility?
My latest article is here - "Humility - a powerful trait of great leaders."
The RYSE Journal - "A coach in your pocket."
All the best, until next month.
Rob