Prospering When Your Many Predecessors Have Failed by Teena RoseIt is perhaps one of the most challenging and exciting executive jobs to hold--filling a position where others have failed. How do you go about succeeding where your predecessors have failed? By applying some common sense, using effective communication techniques, and learning from past mistakes--both theirs and your own.
Avoid Past Mistakes
Your predecessors failed in one or more areas, yet the CEO and the Board expects you to follow in similar footsteps. How do you handle this situation? It can be difficult to contradict the views of senior management; however, your job is to create the turnaround situation that others before you were unable accomplish. If previous methods proved ineffective, yet are the company norm, you need to assert yourself as the expert.
There is more than one way to contradict expectations, but all require tact. If you have been hired to perform a turnaround, a gentle reminder of this may be all you need to do. Senior management chose you following an executive search or through an executive recruiter for a reason. Defer to your executive resume, past accomplishments, and turnaround record. Change is difficult, even when current practices aren't working. People are more comfortable with known factors, and this includes CEOs and Board members. The known may be losing money, but it is familiar. Understand that resistance to change is simple human behavior.
Use research to assert your position. If you come from previous turnaround situations, use examples from similar circumstances. Provide numbers for senior management that are presented simply and easy to understand. When the information is in black and white, it is easier to accept. Offer a variety of scenarios forecasting different outcomes, including those that did not succeed in the past. You can make your case much more effectively when you have concrete information to back it up.
Show That You're on the Team
As the new kid on the block, others may view you as a threat, regardless of the accuracy of this. Make the effort to get to know your new colleagues and demonstrate how you fit in. People are more comfortable and trusting with others who are like them. If you are able to show that you are not there simply to shake things up, but are genuinely interested in creating meaningful change, you will find cooperation rather than resistance. Your CEO and Board are not an exception to this rule.
When you enter an executive job where people before you have failed, the others may see this as a reflection on themselves. What CEO may not feel a twinge of failure when choosing a string of poor leaders? As you seek to make change, it is at times necessary to do so gently, as one of the team, and without passing judgments. Be patient as you work to gain the trust of your colleagues and decide which changes you need to do now and which you can implement gradually. You're here for the long haul. Make this known.
Determine What's Best for the Company
As the expert, it's your responsibility to determine what is best for the company, even if this goes against the opinions of senior management. While some changes should be done gradually, others need to be avoided completely or undertaken in a more effective way. When you find yourself in a situation where you must disagree with top executives, make your case as best you can, understanding that your suggestions may not be accepted.
Again, solid research is key. If you don't have the numbers to support your position, there's no point bringing it up in the first place. However, if you have the strategy and the numbers, move forward and utilize effective communication techniques to present your case.
Remember that everyone takes his or her opinions seriously, so do not state that the other way of doing business is wrong (you may end up doing it that way, and you'll need the support of your team members). Acknowledge everyone's opinion as valid before showing why you believe your way of doing things is better. Demonstrate why this method is best for the company and how each person has a stake in the outcome. When people can relate to change on a personal level, they are much more likely to cooperate. Show how your method will benefit all involved and the company as a whole. Put the information into perspective. Use examples. Show the numbers.
Finally, learn from your own mistakes as well. When presenting a new way of doing things, for example, communicate your own failings in the past, particularly if they are the same or similar to how your predecessors did things. When your new colleagues see that you are not infallible and that you have made and learned from your own failures, they will be much more inclined to trust and believe you. One easy way to explain that a plan is not best for the company is to use personal examples of how you found a better solution to the problem in the past.
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