Your Next Move: The first few months

SECOND post: Review of Your Next Move: According to a survey of HR professionals, 70% agree that the first few months after a promotion determine ultimate success or failure at a job. In short, if there’s a bad few months, life gets tougher (vicious vs virtuous cycle). His advice in general: 1) Organize what you need to learn; 2) Prioritize your list; 3) Define your strategic intent/vision; 4)Assess and build your own team; 5)Plan your steps for success; 6)Secure some early wins; 7) Create supportive alliances.

Your Next Move: Surviving your next promotion

Michael Watkins has done it again with his latest book: Your Next Move (Harvard Business Press, 2009). A former professor at both the Business School and the Kennedy School at Harvard, Watkins scores a winner with his new transition book—which follows on the heels of his best seller The First 90 Days. With this new book, Watkins “officially” becomes THE guy when it comes to professional transitions. In fact, I think this book will get greater play than ...90 Days because it’s about all the most common types of promotional challenges such as, leading former peers, the international promotion/move, the realignment promotion, the turnaround promotion, and the on-boarding promotion. If you know someone either in the midst of a new challenge/promotion transition, this would make a great holiday gift. If not, just wait a year or two, and they’ll need it (transition is inevitable)! This week I’ll be reviewing Your Next Move in some detail in a series of posts.

HBR Briefs: Emotions in Business

LAST Post about HBR Briefs for November: “Why Repressing Emotions is Bad for Business” (Daniel Shapiro) A lot of leaders who have to make tough choices, especially in these uncertain times, think that they must divorce emotions from their communication style: WRONG. Shapiro’s research offers this bottom line: “Emotional investment can improve your relationships, increase trust, and promote satisfying, enduring agreements.” According to Shapiro, emotions [especially negative ones] arise from predictable concerns from a lack of: appreciation, affiliation, autonomy, status, and role (change). He provides two brief but powerful examples of how people were laid off from two different companies. One layoff was done with respect, care and concern. The other, done unemotionally, cold, and uncaring. Take a guess at who threatened to sue the company!

HBR Briefs: Making Better Decisions

HBR Briefs 2009: “Make Better Decisions” Thomas Davenport points to the undisciplined nature of decision making in companies. Witness the decision to engage in sub-prime loans, among others. The author suggest a methodology of four steps: 1. List and prioritize decisions that need to be made; 2. Assess factors impacting each like who, what, how, etc; 3) Design roles, systems and behavior your company needs; 4. Institutionalize the new approach through training, data analysis, and outcome assessment. Also, check out the chart on p. 122 showing the benefits and cautions of old and new approaches to decision making.

HBR Briefs: Galvanizing Philanthropy

HBR Briefs (November 2009): “Galvanizing Philanthropy” Ditkoff and Colby argue that foundations and investors have to wrestle with the issues of Getting Clear (selecting strategic anchors like people, problems, values and beliefs and using them as guides to strategic planning); Getting Real (assessing the effort and time it takes to make a difference); and, Getting Better (regularly reviewing the entire funding strategy).

Community Relations and Social Media

HBR Briefs (November 2009): “Community Relations 2.0” (Kane, Fichman, Gallaugher & Glaser) in the November issue of the HBR.

This article tells us that social media has radically changed community relations. Now, within hours, even minutes Facebook, Twitter, and other social media can change the public’s view of your brand. The authors advocate a mandate to have a social media team. At last a cogent strategy! I especially like the outline on pp.48-49…check it out the detail. Until then, here’s the four major categories: 1. Develop a formal social media policy; 2. Monitor external and internal online communities; 3. Engage online communities; 4. Act as first responders.

What Would Peter Drucker Have to Say?

HBR Briefs (November 2009) This month’s HBR issue honors legendary leadership guru Peter Drucker, who would have been 100 this month. “What Would Peter Say?” by Harvard professor, Rosabeth Moss Kanter (one of my favs) says that Drucker warned us about the outrage of executive pay and the future challenge of global competition. He always taught executives to establish a long-term vision and to steer toward it, especially in tough times. Their job is the long-term health of the company, not their own personal wealth. His caution would be self regulate or the government will step in and do it for you. On personnel, he said, “If I put a person into a job and he or she does not perform, I have made a mistake. I have no business blaming that person.”(Wow--there's a new concept in an old bottle!) There’s also a an republication of an 1980 article by Alan Kantrow—that still rings true and five essays by strong leaders influenced by Drucker, including Frances Hesselbein (legendary former leader of The Girl Scouts of America), A.G. Lafley formerly of Proctor and Gamble, and others.