When you come into a new position it is important to recognize that you cannot have the incorrect talent on your team. When you inherit a team of direct reports, it is essential to marshal the talent you need to achieve superior results. In the first 90 day the most important decisions you make will be about the talent on your team according Watkins the author of “The first 90 days: Critical success strategies for new leaders at all levels” This discussion will walk you through the process of organizing your team.
The first point of understanding is to avoid common traps. Some leaders keep the existing team too long. Timing is everything, in the first 90 days the plan should come forth and by 6 months the strategy should begin. After that the team is yours and adjustments are very difficult to achieve. Another pitfall is not repairing the airplane. You have inherited the staff and did not build it from scratch. Therefore, you must figure out what is wrong on the fly and repair it in flight without crashing. Another common mistake many leaders do is not aligning the team and organization in parallel, failing to hold onto good people, team building before the core is built, making team buy in decisions too soon, or trying to do everything by yourself. Leaders should avoid these traps.
The new leader must assess the team. This involves establishing criteria such as competence, judgment, energy, focus, relationships, and trust. There are a host of methods to evaluate teams. Watkins offers a method that is a quick read of weighted criteria. It essentially gives you, the leader, a gut feel for the team and areas to focus on. You must also factor in the situation regarding how the team operates, the team’s capabilities and capacity to function, and the STaRS model situation. Then you must also become more granular assessing the individuals for their preparedness and verbal or non-verbal clues. Ask probing questions and test their judgments. You’ll also need to assess key functional actors on the team. Then wrap your findings up into a team assessment as a whole assessing group dynamics, the data, and asking systematic questions.
Next the leader must restructure the team. You must keep in place talent performing well, move some talent into stronger performing positions, observe and develop other staff that has potential, replace some staff based on a priority plan, recruit other talent to fill gaps and missing needs. Termination in unpleasant and you should consider the alternatives such as lateral moves and transplants. As a leader you should have back up plans and treat people respectfully.
Finally, with your team in place you should begin to align goals, incentives, and measures of performance. In designing your incentive systems there are push and pull approaches to motivate people. Most incentives are push styled. There should be a mix of monetary and nonmonetary rewards as well as an appropriate emphasis on individual and team rewards. The incentive equation offered by Watkins helps gauge the performance and team based mix for the team. Ambiguity and nebulous terms should be avoided.
So the team is now structured and motivated. The final push is to establish the new team processes. First, you’ll need to assess existing processes then target processes that need to change. This may require altering participants and managing decision making. You may need to centralize some decisions and loosen control on other decisions. In the end, whatever you decide influences the team’s ability to deliver superior results.
The bottom line is that you cannot go at it alone. Your team will either make you or break you. Having strong team building skills, understanding your organization, and making sound judgments based on the framework present thus far will propel you in your first 90 days to superstardom.
References:
Watkins, M. (2003) The first 90 days: Critical success strategies for new leaders at all levels. Harvard Business School Press. Boston, Ma.
The first point of understanding is to avoid common traps. Some leaders keep the existing team too long. Timing is everything, in the first 90 days the plan should come forth and by 6 months the strategy should begin. After that the team is yours and adjustments are very difficult to achieve. Another pitfall is not repairing the airplane. You have inherited the staff and did not build it from scratch. Therefore, you must figure out what is wrong on the fly and repair it in flight without crashing. Another common mistake many leaders do is not aligning the team and organization in parallel, failing to hold onto good people, team building before the core is built, making team buy in decisions too soon, or trying to do everything by yourself. Leaders should avoid these traps.
The new leader must assess the team. This involves establishing criteria such as competence, judgment, energy, focus, relationships, and trust. There are a host of methods to evaluate teams. Watkins offers a method that is a quick read of weighted criteria. It essentially gives you, the leader, a gut feel for the team and areas to focus on. You must also factor in the situation regarding how the team operates, the team’s capabilities and capacity to function, and the STaRS model situation. Then you must also become more granular assessing the individuals for their preparedness and verbal or non-verbal clues. Ask probing questions and test their judgments. You’ll also need to assess key functional actors on the team. Then wrap your findings up into a team assessment as a whole assessing group dynamics, the data, and asking systematic questions.
Next the leader must restructure the team. You must keep in place talent performing well, move some talent into stronger performing positions, observe and develop other staff that has potential, replace some staff based on a priority plan, recruit other talent to fill gaps and missing needs. Termination in unpleasant and you should consider the alternatives such as lateral moves and transplants. As a leader you should have back up plans and treat people respectfully.
Finally, with your team in place you should begin to align goals, incentives, and measures of performance. In designing your incentive systems there are push and pull approaches to motivate people. Most incentives are push styled. There should be a mix of monetary and nonmonetary rewards as well as an appropriate emphasis on individual and team rewards. The incentive equation offered by Watkins helps gauge the performance and team based mix for the team. Ambiguity and nebulous terms should be avoided.
So the team is now structured and motivated. The final push is to establish the new team processes. First, you’ll need to assess existing processes then target processes that need to change. This may require altering participants and managing decision making. You may need to centralize some decisions and loosen control on other decisions. In the end, whatever you decide influences the team’s ability to deliver superior results.
The bottom line is that you cannot go at it alone. Your team will either make you or break you. Having strong team building skills, understanding your organization, and making sound judgments based on the framework present thus far will propel you in your first 90 days to superstardom.
I will explore in the next several blogs postings, Proving Yourself on Your New Job. The steps are:
01. Promote Yourself
02. Accelerate Your Learning
03. Match Strategy to Situation
04. Securing Early Wins
05. Negotiate Success
06. Achieve Alignment
07. Build Your Team
08. Create Coalitions
09. Keep Your Balance
10. Expedite Everyone
Should you have any comments or questions please feel free to post or email me; james.bogden@gmail.com.
01. Promote Yourself
02. Accelerate Your Learning
03. Match Strategy to Situation
04. Securing Early Wins
05. Negotiate Success
06. Achieve Alignment
07. Build Your Team
08. Create Coalitions
09. Keep Your Balance
10. Expedite Everyone
Should you have any comments or questions please feel free to post or email me; james.bogden@gmail.com.
References:
Watkins, M. (2003) The first 90 days: Critical success strategies for new leaders at all levels. Harvard Business School Press. Boston, Ma.
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