Integrating New
Executives
IT’S MORE COMPLICATED THAN YOU THINK
By Debra Hughes, MBA, Ph.D.
Some senior HR leaders relax and
think the job is done once an
executive accepts an offer of em-ployment.
The fact is, without
an onboarding plan, 40 to 60 per cent of
new hires fail in their first two years. Wise
HR professionals know the true measure
of success comes only when an executive
is fully integrated into the organization’s
culture and is producing sustained, qual-ity
results.
KEY INTEGRATION SUCCESS
FACTORS
The integration process is more complex
than most people think, and takes much
longer than the traditional “honeymoon”
period usually acknowledged. While the
first 100 days are critical, integration does
not stop at that point. Progress and the
likelihood of success are enhanced when
the HR professional and the executive ad-dress
five key success factors during four
distinct phases:
■■ Role clarity – Understanding the
role, its relationship to others in the
company and how success is measured
is most critical during the early stages
of a new position.
■■ Relationships and networking – Failing
to invest time in building relationships
with key stakeholders before they are
needed is often a cause of failure later
in the integration process.
■■ Navigating culture – Understanding
the implicit rules and beliefs that
influence how things really get done is
crucial. Failing to adapt to the culture
can cause failure at any point.
■■ Early wins – Achieving early successes
in areas important to the corporation
is an important component in building
credibility early in a new executive’s
career.
■■ Accelerated learning – Acquiring
information that will be critical to
understanding the business needs to be
a goal for the new executive. Executives
who are not seen as “catching on” feel
both their credibility and ability to
drive results suffer.
leadership
The focus and importance of these fac-tors
shift over time. For example, early
wins are an important contributor to cred-ibility
in the first three to four months,
whereas relationships take a lot longer
to build and the knowledge required to
successfully navigate the politics of the or-ganization
grows well into the first year.
THE FOUR INTEGRATION
STAGES
HONEYMOON: WELCOME
ABOARD! (MONTHS 0-3)
At this stage, the organization typically
provides some orientation support to the
executive. However, even this elementary
step is sometimes overlooked as everyone
congratulates themselves on a successful
selection. HR professionals and the com-pany
can provide needed support to the
executive through the following steps:
■■ Introduce the executive to the
organization in a way that
demonstrates support and confidence.
■■ Identify early wins and clarify
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PART 1 OF 3
HRPATODAY.CA ❚ OCTOBER 2014 ❚ 31