New Leadership Roles: Challenges and Opportunities

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

For a new leader or executive, starting a new role can be both exciting and daunting. It has been said that the first three months in a senior position can make or break the role. This is because transition is a time of great opportunity and challenge. It is an opportunity to set the tone of your leadership, to establish new relationships, assess the team’s capabilities and to chart the way forward for the organisation. There is also a significant risk as there is a need to balance progress with information gathering, managing competing expectations and with caution.

In his book, ‘The First 90 Days’ Michael Watkins identifies critical success strategies for a new leader or executive. He states that the first days in a new position are critical because small differences in an executive’s actions can have a huge impact on long-term results. New leaders are very vulnerable in their first few months in a new job because they lack in-depth knowledge of the challenges they’ll face and what it will take to succeed with their new company. Failure to create momentum in the first 90 days virtually guarantees an uphill battle for the rest of an executive’s tenure.

Executive coaching can assist a leader to quickly and confidently move into a new leadership role and to make the most of opportunities to lay the groundwork for long-term success.

Find out how executive coaching may enable you to improve your transition to your new executive or leadership role or return to the Stepshift Leadership Blog for more business advice.