How Leaders in New Roles Navigate the Pressure of Swift Progress
Delivering quick wins and lasting impact
When stepping into a new leadership role or confronting a fresh challenge, the imperative to deliver is undeniable. One thing that I’ve observed from working with new leaders for over two decades now is that the pressure that they put on themselves far outweighs the pressure from elsewhere.
This self imposed pressure is not unfounded, considering the necessity to deliver results.
Striking the right balance, however, is key. Conventional business wisdom professes the power of the 100 day plan. Originating from the political world, it creates intentional pressure and establishes public expectation for rapid progress.
Yet while a 100 day plan can be useful to gain momentum, the reality is that it takes anything from 9-14 months for leaders to be fully integrated.
The reality is that you do need to make progress quickly, but not too quickly.
All leadership appointments come with the expectation of results; results that work and stick.
Hastily made decisions carry disproportionately large consequences and that shape your reputation far into the future. Such actions can paint you as a leader who fails to listen or take the time to understand the intricacies of how the business really works at a more senior level.
Yet leave it too long to make changes and to make your mark, and the opportunity to use the momentum of your arrival has passed. Over time, people become accustomed to your presence, perceiving you as fitting into the existing world without introducing something distinctive or noteworthy.
Navigating this challenge is complicated and there is no rule book.
So how then do you know when you’re moving too fast or too slow?
Read on for five things that will help guide you.
Reflect: We each have natural styles that drive what we prioritise and how we work. Faced with a new role or project, you may dive straight in and plan as you go, or perhaps you focus on building a core team around you and plan extensively.
Being aware of your natural strengths, tendencies and blind spots and using them to your advantage will help you - and also ensure you are mindful of how you might trip yourself up.
Take a moment and reflect:
What is your underlying urge in the early days of a new job or and project?
What strengths can you use to your advantage?
Where are you at risk of getting in your own way?
Don’t go it alone: The best leaders choose their advisors carefully and recognise that they can’t and shouldn’t do it alone. They use their coach as an unbiased sounding board and consider their steps intentionally.
So choose your advisors with discretion and get yourself a coach. Many organisations have coaches internally, if not, invest personally in making sure that your next leadership role is successful and stays the course.
What support do you have already around you?
To what degree do those around you push you and challenge your assumptions?
What new perspectives could you benefit from?
Make space: Step back often and give yourself headspace. One of the biggest challenges for leaders who like to get things done is to create space to think. Set expectations for yourself and for your team early on that time for thinking, planning and learning is as important as doing time.
When is the optimum time for you to create the headspace you need?
What would you need to say no to, to make it possible?
What would it make possible for you?
Prioritise: When you’ve started to identify priority deliverables, before diving straight into ‘doing’ think strategically about what will get you the biggest return on your investment. This matrix will help you distinguish quick wins from areas of longer-term investment for your first 6-12 months.
What criteria can you use to determine quick wins and deliver short-term impact?
What needs to be in place to start work on the strategic items?
What will be your balance of energy and effort between the two so you can make progress on both?
Think Forward: Whilst the 100-day or 90-day plan concept is useful for building momentum, their focus is nearly always on ‘what’ you deliver. Whilst that is critical, focussing on ‘what’ to the exclusion of other factors such as the relationships that you’ve built, and how you feel physically and mentally is unwise.
Take a moment and think forward.
What words describe how you want to feel about your first year/six months?
What will tell you that you feel this way (your heart, your head, your gut?)?
What signals will tell you are going off course?
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