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| But still not good enough. Even if the company has done this for the new leader in advance, if they have waited until this moment to start, they are already behind, and they have stacked the odds against themselves. We have tested and evolved PrimeGenesis¡¦ onboarding methodology in many different environments, with all types of leaders. We have found there is a huge difference between the leader who has a plan, hits the ground running, and makes an impact on their first day on the job, and the leader who waits until Day One to start planning. Clients who have used our methods have been able to deliver better results faster. And they¡¦ve reduced the rate of failure of leaders going into new roles fourfold from the 40% we quoted above to well under 10%. |
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| Here are our three most important recommendations for leaders going into new roles: 1) Take charge of the ¡§OnBoarding¡¨ process. It should include discrete steps structured and driven by the leader over time. (Mirroring the steps in this summary.) 2) Get a head start before the first day. Day One is a critical pivot point, and a major opportunity to accelerate progress if the new leader can hit the ground running. A little early momentum goes a long way. 3) Think team. In the first 100 days it is essential to put in place the basic building blocks of a high performing team. New leaders will fail if they try to do everything themselves, without the support and buyin of the team. As a team leader, their own success is inextricably linked to the success of the team as a whole. |
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| Consider the example of the Puritan Foods team at Procter & Gamble, which in six months, accomplished more than anyone thought possible. The new team leader was given a budget to test market Puritan Foods. A budget, but no team. He had to recruit volunteers to work on the project in their spare time. The good news was that this meant that everyone that worked on the project was doing it by choice. Their mandate was to get a set of new products into test market as quickly as possible to learn about those products and their consumers. | |
| The team was comprised of people from product development, finance, sales, market research, and marketing. They identified outside suppliers to create, manufacture, and distribute the products and to manage instore tests. They rented a townhouse as a base for the team in the test market, established their own sets of communication and decision practices, laid out their plans and timelines. And they went to work, picking up some early wins along the way and adjusting team members¡¦ roles as appropriate. | |
| The result was that they went from ¡§Make it happen¡¨ to twelve new products on the shelf in under six months-faster than anybody thought possible at Procter & Gamble at that time. Four of the twelve test products were expanded into successful businesses. Furthermore, what the team learned about health conscious consumers made a big impact both on the balance of the Puritan business and on other Procter & Gamble businesses. Better than anybody thought possible! | |
| How? Why? In essence, the leader and his team did everything they were supposed to do in the first 100 days. The new leader had a plan for hitting the ground running. He got started working with key people before Day One. And he focused on getting the right people on his team, aligned around one burning imperative throughout. |
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