Coaching Questions for a Successful New Year
As a leader in a new role you are in the spotlight. With your most recent move, you have taken on huge new responsibilities. The organization and nearly everyone in it is watching you to see how well the ‘promising talent’ is doing. Decision makers are anxious to prove that promoting you (and not the other guy) was the right choice. Not only that, but the company cannot afford to lose momentum whilst you are getting up to speed in your new job.
Your desire to create some ‘quick wins’ is understandable. You want to make your mark and repay their trust in you. You want to show them publically that you can do the job. Ultimately, you want your latest promotion to be a step up, not out.
When working with my coaching clients, it’s clear that some executives under pressure to deliver results fast tend to jump to conclusions and rush into action without fully understanding the bigger picture. Being impatient and making snap decisions can have far worse consequences than not creating the desired quick wins though. Your organization will tolerate slower progress for the benefit of sustainable long term results. However, wrong decisions or political blunders in the first few months of your new assignment will turn your path ahead into quicksand, dragging you and your career under without a trace.
If you are in a new role as executive, don’t let the perceived pressure to create impressive results fast cloud your judgment.
Here are my top tips to ensure that you only deliver quick wins that will enhance your career, not sabotage it:
- Allow yourself time to go into observation mode, and listen to people. Learn from those who have been around for some time.
- If you encounter anything that seems just too odd to accept, ask yourself “what else could this mean?”
- Whenever you feel the the urge to change things immediately, figure out first why no one has changed it before.
- Make it your mission to discover the political land-mines you should not step on
- What are the sacred cows that you should not touch, at least not yet?
- What are pet projects and special agendas that powerful players are supporting?
In a new role, you might be performing a permanent balancing act. Choose wisely between what changes you need to push, and where it is better to close one eye and adapt (for now). After all, nothing is more dangerous than the quicksand you create if you blindly focus on quick wins only to find that you have sabotaged your own career in the process.
May you hit the ground running and create the right, sustainable impact!
Next week you will learn just how forging ahead can leave people behind and sabotage your new executive career.
Related Posts:
Nine Traps that Can Sabotage Your New Executive Career
Trap #3 That Can Sabotage Your New Executive Career — The Goals You Don’t Even Know Exist
Trap #4 That Can Sabotage Your New Executive Career — The Skills You Never Knew You Needed
Trap #6 That Can Sabotage Your New Executive Career — Forging Ahead Whilst Leaving Your Team Behind
Trap #7 That Can Sabotage Your New Executive Career — The Trap of Doing It All By Yourself
Trap #8 That Can Sabotage Your New Executive Career — Believing Your Own Hype
Trap #9 That Can Sabotage Your New Executive Career — Losing Yourself in the Rush to Success
If you would like an individual consultation on how to hit the ground running and create the right impact as an executive in transition, contact me now:
email: gerrit@vivocoaching.com
phone: +66-2 107 2025
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