Difficult Conversations

This is the first of a series of posts based on my review of the book, Difficult Conversations (By Stone, Patton and Heen, Penguin Books, 2000)

I only strongly recommend a handful of books to all my executive coaching clients, students at George Mason University, and colleagues. Difficult Conversations is one I recommend without reservation.

The authors, members of the Harvard Negotiation Project, have written a compellingly simple and effective guidebook for anyone who has had or will ever have a difficult conversation with a spouse, client, or any other human. In short, it’s a book for all reasons, seasons, and persons. At its core, the book realizes that conflict is part of life and that it’s how we deal with those conversations that makes that conflict constructive, not destructive.

Over the next week, I will review this book in some depth, hoping I can show you why you might want to add both the text and the audio CD’s to your leadership collection.

Executive Transition: The First 90 Days

This is the 2nd of several posts of the coming week based on my book review of The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leader at All Levels by Michael Watkins (Harvard Press).
Executives coming into a company fail at the rate of 40-50% at a cost of $2.7 million to the company.

1. Promote yourself: Don't get stuck trying to do your old job. Let go and move on and don't assume what got you here will get you there (what Marshall Goldsmith's latest best seller is all about).

2. Accelerate your learning: Get systematic and focused about learning first things first (akin to what Stephen Covey also suggests)

3. Match strategy to the situation: Diagnose whether the new challenge for the transitioning executive involves a Start up, Turnaround, a Reorganization, or Sustaining Success (STRS). This is a critical distinction made by the author.

How Executives Can Survive the First 90 days.

This is the first of several posts of the coming week based on my book review of The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leader at All Levels by Michael Watkins (Harvard Press).

**Startling Statistic: Executives coming into a company fail at the rate of 40-50% at a cost of $2.7 million to the company.

According to Harvard Business School professor Michael Watkins, an executive gets 90 days (three months) to move from a value consumer (costing the organization) to a value creator (value added)—and thus hit the break-even point. The faster this transition takes place the better off the organization is and the more likely the transitioning executive is to be successful. As mentioned, the failure rate for senior executive outside hires into a company is a whopping 40-50%, at a cost of $2.7 million per executive in both direct and indirect costs. Watkins does an excellent job setting up a new executive to succeed. He uses ten steps (PAMS-NAB-CRE)—I need mnemonics to help me remember things. I'll review each of the steps in the next week. You may want to buy this book if you're heading off to a new job--if just as an insurance policy.

One note: I've been working with transitioning executives for some time now--those coming into a new company from the outside, those being promoted from within, and those leaving the company. I've found the process of transition to be done exceptionally and uniformly poorly. In fact, I'd say with rare exception, it's never done well and the results are universally devastating for the employee, his family and the company. Truly, these transitions are the most blatant lose-lose situations I've seen.

Post your transition stories here.

Observations for President Obama from an Executive Coach

First in a series of observations....

What an exciting day we all had this week as president Obama was sworn in. For me personally, it was a day for great celebration. That said, I considered the enormous task ahead for our new president and the country.

I’m typically called in to organizations to work with senior executives—more frequently these days to help new executives avoid costly missteps. A recent study revealed that senior executives transitioning into a new company fail at the rate of 40-50% and cost the company: $2.7 million. Imagine the cost to a country if a president missteps!

As an executive coach,I ask probing questions about client goals and objectives, provide a reliable sounding board for them, and then hold them and myself accountable to reasonable progress. Offering my personal observations happens either when the client asks, or when I believe such observations are relevant, and then only after the client is asked if he or she wants to hear the observation. Because my coaching engagement with president Obama isn’t likely to happen anytime soon—though I hope that in the future the president-elect does consider getting a coach outside the administration—I would like to put a few observations out there for Mr. Obama to think about based on what he’s already said in public:

1. Lead with your original theme of change: “Yes We Can.”
This won’t be easy, despite the power of its emotional appeal. Hardly anyone likes change. Pareto’s 80/20 rule applies here—80% of the people won’t want change. Fighting the strong magnetic draw of the status quo will be much harder than you could ever think. People are concerned about change because they’re more afraid about what they’d lose than excited about what they’d gain.