7-2-10 Change and the Newly-Minted Executive

Just because you now have the “executive badge” emblazoned on your chest, doesn’t mean that you should charge in and make a whole bunch of changes. What?!? I bet you are thinking, “well, sheesh, isn’t that what they promoted me for?” Yeah, probably, but it won’t do you any good to make changes the day after you start your new job.

One of my survey participants put it very nicely.

“I think it is important to learn the team and gain some respect. By doing this your new team will be more willing to support the changes you need to make.” He went on to explain that he had been promoted to an area that was new to him -- and that the team in place didn’t know him very well. “I believed they did not trust me yet because of this. So before I made any major change I took my time to let them get to know me. Then when I did make the change they all stuck behind it.”

The issue here is managing change, a key skill in the execution portion of the Executive Skills and Traits model (12-30-09 Morphing to a Model). And while not specifically called out in the model, patience is an important factor in managing change. It is imperative that you take your time -- and not try to change everything overnight.

You probably have the skills to make all kinds of changes in a very short period of time. But as this executive wisely understood, the changes probably wouldn’t “stick” because the people involved with it didn’t trust him yet -- and by extension, probably wouldn’t trust the motive behind the changes or even the changes themselves. Patience is required -- the patience to learn about the team and the patience to allow them time to learn about you.

Change is difficult, even in ideal circumstances. And, despite the fact that you allow time for the team to adjust to you, not all of them will agree with or support the change. But if you have earned their trust, they will at least not block the needed changes.

So yes, you might have been hired or promoted to effect change in an organization. But you have to balance this with the willingness and ability of your new organization to accept and implement the change.

Cheers!