Pitfall #1: Having trouble making a transition to the team
— Image by © Royalty-Free/Corbis
In addition to their recommendations for good management practices, Google’s research project discovered three common reasons for management failures among Google’s leaders. These failures were so prevalent, Google took pains to include them in their directives to managers as additional cautionary advice. The first of these is the special challenge that managers face in taking on a new leadership role.
The Challenge of a New Leadership Position
Here’s what I’ve discovered in my experience working with thousands of managers and supervisors: The vast majority of team leaders rarely have the chance to assemble their team from scratch, with the ability to recruit and handpick their own team members. Most team leaders inherit someone else’s team; someone else’s people; someone else’s problems; someone else’s problem people! (That’s a topic for another time!)
Google’s research identified two specific kinds of challenges for new team leaders. The first type of challenge is very common in growing organizations that are hungry for leaders. It happens when higher-ups identify a high-performing member of a team and make them the leader of the team. Higher-ups often view this type of team member as a “de facto” leader because other team members already view them as a leader of sorts; and may also look to them for leadership in certain circumstances. In other words, this particular team member has established a strong degree of trust, respect, and influence with the rest of the team, which gives them a certain measure of natural authority.
For many higher-ups, it makes sense to give someone like this a formal position of leadership, since they already seem to have an element of informal leadership by virtue of their character and performance. This is a common instance of what I refer to as a “convenience hire.”
The “Inside” Hire–Making the Leap
A convenience hire happens when executives begin to experience “hiring fatigue” and want to avoid the bothersome drain on their time (and budgets) that effective hiring demands. So a convenience hire is usually someone the executive already knows; already trusts—often someone who is already in the organization—someone familiar with the corporate culture who also demonstrates a proven ability to “fit in” with “us.” Promoting an insider like this enables hiring managers to avoid the time consuming process of reviewing countless résumés, enduring endless interviews, and assuming the risks of hiring an “unknown” or an “outsider.”
The problem, of course, is that the convenience hire may NOT be the best person for the job. Google’s research revealed one of the reasons why. They put it this way:
Sometimes, fantastic individual contributors are promoted to managers without the necessary skills to lead people.
This happens because the skills required to perform a particular kind of work, are different than the skills required to manage a team of people who perform that work!
And yet, high-performing team members continue to be promoted routinely in every organization, without regard for the unique skills required to manage and lead! This is why one research study determined that 85% of people who serve in a leadership role in an organization do so without any training!
New Leaders Need Help!
What’s the solution? I help organizations identify practices that address this issue:
- Providing formal leadership/management training for existing and emerging leaders
- Establishing mentoring initiatives that support individualized learning and growth
- Making employee development a metric for managerial performance
- Engaging the services of an executive coach, to help struggling leaders
These simple things done well can help any organization get better—improving its effectiveness by improving its leaders!
The “Outside” Hire–Fitting In
Another challenge that hiring managers face is the inevitable need to recruit leaders from outside the organization. As mentioned before, this entails a greater risk—the possibility the newcomer will not understand the culture of the organization, or worse, may resist the vision and values that the employees must embrace in order to work cooperatively and collaboratively together. Google’s researchers put it this way:
People hired from outside the organization don’t always understand the unique aspects of managing at Google.
How does an organization avoid this?
1. It starts with the hiring and interviewing process. Hiring managers need training that equips them with the sophistication and skills they need to determine cultural fit before the candidate is hired. Sadly, the vast majority of managers receive no such training.
2. Organizations can also assign “sponsors” to new management hires. These are leaders on the same level (or sometimes higher) who are available to offer guidance; advice; support; and encouragement to the newcomer, to help them better understand “us.”
Up Close and Personal
I was an outsider, myself, when I took over a “one-time-highly-successful-now-languishing” department in an organization. I felt the need to get a better understanding of the history and the previous circumstances of the department, in order to engineer the right approach to an effective turnaround. I found a “Rabbi” in the organization who generously offered his time and information. The insight he shared with me was just what I needed to meet the challenge and lead my team to a new level of success.
3. Employee feedback mechanisms can also help. A well-designed and skillfully-conducted employee survey can enable organizational leaders to see when managers are having difficulty assimilating the corporate culture. Effective 360 degree surveys should include questions designed to measure this.
Cultural disconnects are difficult to address, because they are often so subtle. Newcomers can easily be completely oblivious to their deficiencies in this regard. It’s a confusing place for any leader to be. But this kind of frustration can happen with many, many other issues!
Executive Coaching Can Help
If you are frustrated and struggling in your leadership role—new or old—contact us! Our executive coaching can help you identify where you need help; target your specific needs; and equip you with the skills you need to quickly become more effective!
And stay connected with this blogsite—every entry is designed to help you become more effective in your leadership role.
Until next time—yours for better leaders and better organizations,
Dr. Jim Dyke – “The Boss Doctor” ™ – Helping you to be a better boss and to have a better boss!
