The First 90 Days (32 page)
Authors: Michael Watkins
Tags: #Success in business, #Business & Economics, #Decision-Making & Problem Solving, #Management, #Leadership, #Executive ability, #Structural Adjustment, #Strategic planning
Planning for Five Conversations
Your relationship with your new boss will be built through a continuing dialogue. Your discussions will begin before you accept the new position and continue into your transition and beyond. Several fundamental subjects belong at the center of this dialogue. In fact, it is valuable to include plans for five distinct “conversations” with your new boss about specific transitionrelated subjects in your 90-day plan. These are not subjects to be dealt with in separate appointments, but intertwined threads of dialogue.
1.
The situational diagnosis conversation.
In this conversation, you will seek to understand how your new boss sees the business situation. Is it a turnaround, a startup, a realignment, or a sustaining-success situation? How did the organization reach this point? What factors—both soft and hard—make this situation a challenge? What resources within the organization can you draw on? Your view may differ from your boss’s, but it is essential to grasp how he or she sees the situation.
2.
The expectations conversation.
Your agenda in this conversation will be to seek to understand and negotiate expectations. What does your new boss need you to do in the short term and in the medium term? What will constitute success? How will your performance be measured? When?
You might conclude that your boss’s expectations are unrealistic and that you need to work to reset them. Also, as part of your broader campaign to secure early wins, as discussed in
chapter
4
, keep in mind that it is better to underpromise and overdeliver.
3.
The style conversation.
This conversation is about how you and your new boss can best interact on an ongoing basis. What form of communication does he or she prefer? Face-to-face? In writing? By voicemail or e-mail? How often? What kinds of decisions does he or she want to be consulted on and when can you make the call on your own? How do your styles differ and what are the implications of your differences for how you should interact?
4.
The resources conversation.
This conversation is essentially a negotiation for critical resources.
What is it that you will need to be successful? What do you need your boss to do? The resources in question need not be limited to funding or personnel. In a realignment, for example, you may need help from your boss to persuade the organization to confront the need for change.
5.
The personal development conversation.
Finally, discuss how your tenure in this job will contribute to your personal development. In what areas do you need improvement? Are there projects or special assignments you could undertake (without sacrificing focus)? Are there courses or programs that would strengthen your capabilities?
In practice, your dialogue about these subjects will mingle threads and evolve over time. You might address several of the five issues in a single meeting, or you might work out issues related to one subject through a series of brief exchanges. Michael Chen covered style and expectations in a single meeting and established a schedule for talking about the situation and more deeply about expectations.
There is a logic to the sequence just described, however. Your early conversations should focus on situational diagnosis, expectations, and style. As you learn more, you will be ready to negotiate for resources, revisiting your diagnosis of the situation and resetting expectations as necessary. When you feel the relationship is reasonably well established, you can introduce the personal development conversation. Take some time to plan for each conversation, and signal clearly to your boss what you hope to accomplish in each exchange.
The detailed guidelines that follow will help you plan each of the five conversations with your new boss.
Planning the Situation Conversation
Reaching a shared understanding of the business situation you face, and of its associated challenges and opportunities, is your goal in the
situational diagnosis conversation
. This shared understanding is the foundation for everything you will do. If you and your boss do not define your new situation in the same way, you will not receive the support you need to achieve your objectives. Thus, your first discussion with your new boss should center on clearly defining your new situation using the STARS model as a shared language.
Match Support to Your Situation
The support you need from your boss will depend on the scenario—whether it is a start-up, turnaround, realignment, or sustaining-success situation. Once you reach a common understanding of the situation, think carefully about the role you would like your new boss to play and what kinds of support you will ask for. In all four situations, you will need your boss to give you the direction, support, and space to do
your
job. Table 5-1
lists typical roles your boss might play in each of the STARS situations.
Table 5-1: Matching Support to Your Situation
Situation
Typical Roles for Your Boss
Start-up
Help getting needed resources quickly
Clear, measurable goals
Guidance at strategic breakpoints
Help staying focused
Turnaround
Same as start-up, plus
Support for making and implementing tough personnel calls
Support for changing or correcting the external image of the
organization and its people
Help cutting deeply enough and early enough
Realignment
Same as start-up, plus
Help making the case for change, especially if you are coming
in from outside the organization
Sustaining success
Constant reality testing: Is this a sustaining-success situation
or is it a re-alignment?
Support for playing good defense and avoiding mistakes that
damage the business
Help finding ways to take the business to a new level
