Development & Transition

Many companies fail to harness the potential of talented new leaders and existing talent. We help organizations create structured transition support programs to welcome new executives and development programs to help existing leaders continue to grow.

Executives report that transitions to new leadership roles rank right up there with divorce and health issues when it comes to stressful times in their lives. However, with the proper support and onboarding, companies can provide incoming executives with a better transition experience and avoid pitfalls that hinder a new leader’s success. For current executives, our development programs ensure they have the tools needed to continue upward in their careers and position themselves for future roles.

Support executives in crucial areas

Too often, executives fail due to a lack of clarity of opinions and expectations. We focus on delineating short-and long-term strategic priorities, proactively identifying risks, setting expectations with the CEO and other critical stakeholders, establishing performance standards, and helping the executive integrate into a new culture and leadership style. With 50 years of executive transition experience, we can help set new leaders up for success in their careers and within their respective organizations.

Tailor onboarding for accelerated success

An executive’s success is determined more by adjusting to their new role and how quickly they can understand the organization than any technical skillset. We work with our clients to create an organized and efficient onboarding process. We tailor the plan to each client and position using our data-centric approach to ensure new leaders get quickly plugged into their new roles. Tailoring the onboarding plan and adding experienced external advisors can in reduce the time to productivity by up to two months. Our proprietary approach, based on unique research and delivered by expert advisors, helps drive transition impact faster and more effectively.

Provide structured support

Executives joining the top layers of an organization want to know they have the opportunity to succeed. We can create a structured support system that integrates these new leaders into an organization’s culture. Without this ability, executives may be hesitant to join your organization and hurt the company’s ability to attract top talent. The need for a structured system has never been more critical, as the shift towards more virtual and remote environments reduces the crucial face-to-face time that has helped ease this shift.

Our structured development initiatives provide executives a data-focused, strategic plan to grow their own skills. Companies too often ignore the development needs of executives, but a platform for growth can help them improve their own performance and continue to grow. These development opportunities can also reduce executive movement, providing an avenue for advancement for executives that might otherwise feel stagnant.

Without a development and transition structure in place, both the business and new executive can struggle. Building an integrated onboarding plan complemented by expert advisory and establishing clear metrics of success to help executives provide essential institutional knowledge, create confidence, decrease time to productivity, and increase their chances of a long-term tenure.

Protect diverse viewpoints

Imagine the scenario that, an organization recruits a female executive from a different industry in hopes that she’ll bring a fresh perspective. Within a few months, however, her seemingly fresh ideas sound a lot like those of the previous incumbent. This is the danger of executive assimilation—it risks “assimilating” all other backgrounds and ways of thinking. Our unique “three advisors” approach provides transition, market, and leadership support to help fill in gaps in knowledge and culture while encouraging differing views.

 

39%

60%

2.5x

Senior executives fail in their first 18 months of a new position.

Executives are dissatisfied with how they integrate into the organization.

Revenue growth where there is an effective onboarding program.

 


 

Global development and transition leader

 

David Lange

With more than 30 years of experience advising organizations and executives on leadership development, David ensures we bring the full power of our one-firm approach to develop your leaders so they can shape what’s next. That means he brings together the right team to meet your organization’s needs.

 

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