leadership
Who is This Person
and Why Do I Care?
SUCCESS STRATEGIES FOR NEW EXECUTIVES IN NEW POSITIONS
By Debra Hughes, MBA, Ph.D.
To answer pressing strategic or tactical challenges, organizations
often find it necessary to create a new executive
position based on that specific need. But what if you were
introduced to the new executive vice president of customer
engagement? Would the title alone tell you anything about why
he/she is there or how the role adds value in the organization?
Probably not. Without careful planning, one-off appointments at
the senior level can generate confusion as to the person’s responsibilities
and place in the reporting structure, and can compromise
the value the new role was intended to add.
To accelerate the integration of an executive into a role that
has no organizational precedent, the HR professional must pay
special attention to the five key success factors (role
clarity, relationships, culture, early wins and learning) as outlined
in the first two articles in this series, published in the October and
November/December 2014 issues of HR Professional, respectively.
But because both the executive and the position are new, there
are five additional steps that should be addressed to enhance the
value of the new executive/position combination. HR leaders can
play a vital role in all of these steps.
DEFINE
Ensure all key stakeholders are aligned on what this new position
will contribute. Create a profile of the unique combination of behaviours
and skills required to be successful in this particular role
at this point in time. Everyone should be in absolute agreement
on this document, as it is the basis for the success or failure
of the position.
Without this foundational step of defining the
role, the new executive will be unclear how best
to focus their efforts, stakeholders may fail
to include him/her in important conversations,
tasks could be duplicated in other
roles and priorities might not be aligned
with those of the organization’s. In short, the
new executive is set up for failure.
PART
3 OF 3
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HRPATODAY.CA ❚ JANUARY 2015 ❚ 35