Starting a new role as a senior leader can be overwhelming at the best of times. Starting during the coronavirus pandemic where everyone is working from home, can be even more so.
At least when you are physically in the office, you get to bump into people in the corridor, or talk to people at the water cooler which helps to forge some of those significant relationships.
With the world of work turned on its head from what we have been accustomed to, onboarding in a virtual world is a new phenomenon many leaders are now facing.
Whilst we have seen the rise of global teams over the years, many leaders have still had their office base where they’ve been able to suss out the organisations culture and people dynamics. But how do you do this in a completely virtual world? How do you do this when you not only have to learn your new role, but you also need to quickly establish your leadership presence, raise your profile, and develop interpersonal relationships?
Over recent months, I have coached a few leaders who have started new roles during the pandemic. And on 2 webinars I spoke at this week, the question was asked about starting a new role in the middle of a pandemic. In particular, how to go about developing your leadership presence when everyone is working from home. So, I’ve decided to write my thoughts on the matter.
What are the pressing priorities?
Be clear on what is expected of you and what the priorities are that you need to focus on. What are the challenges your area of responsibility is facing? Familiarise yourself with how recent performance has been. What has worked well? What has not worked well?
Gain an understanding of what has been going on, what is in the pipeline, and what the bigger picture is. Identify all that feeds into your area of responsibility and what the state of play is like in those areas.
You won’t be expected to know absolutely everything but have a plan as to how you will bring yourself up to speed with all that you do need to know.
Who do you need to develop immediate relationships with?
Arrange to have one to one video calls as soon as possible with direct reports, stakeholders, your peer group, and who you report to. Find out about them, how they like to be communicated with, what is working well, what is not working well, and listen to what they have to say.
Get to know a bit about them personally, as well as sharing a bit about yourself so you can establish rapport and start to nurture and develop those relationships. Let them know how you like to be communicated with.
One introverted Vice President (who knew she made her best decisions after thinking and reflecting), when starting a new role, informed her teams that if they wanted her to make decisions, they needed to give her appropriate time. She told them that if they expected a response straight away, she would give it, but it would not be her best.
If you establish that it is an ‘extroverted environment’, now is a good opportunity to let them know how you make your best decisions.
Having met individually with your direct reports, meet with them collectively via a video call. Find out how they work as a team and what (if any) challenges they have as a collective. Listen and observe to understand the dynamics of the team.
Communicate with indirect reports and the wider organisation
Introduce yourself to your indirect reports. This could be by way of an introductory email, sharing a bit about yourself, how you intend to get to know them. Recording a short video message introducing yourself can be quite impactful. Send an introductory email to the wider organisation for whom your area of the business has an impact.
One thing I have seen during this pandemic is that people want to see the humane side of their leaders, so let them see the humane side of you. A lot of organisations hold virtual social events so take part in some of these.
Have a virtual open door policy
Working from an office, it is easy for people to drop by you if they have a quick question and vice versa if there is anyone you want to ask a question to. Working from home it can be easy to fall into a routine of only being available when necessary and those spontaneous conversations don’t happen.
Re-enact the open door policy in a virtual way. Have set times of the day or week when you are readily available and let people know when that is. Encourage them to call you on the phone or have a video call with you if they need to.
Utilise company wide communication platforms
Write an article for the company intranet or newsletter sharing your knowledge, expertise and thought leadership whilst letting people get to know the real you. Do this periodically so that you raise your visibility and profile with the organisation.
If appropriate, you could also do this with stakeholders, it will help you to raise your profile with them.
Don’t go in guns a blazing
You may be tempted to go in all guns a blazing and make your mark in order to prove yourself. If so, as much as you may think that is a quick way to establish your presence and raise your profile, unless the organisation is going through a crisis or performance needs a drastic turnaround, don’t do it. It is a sure way to put people’s backs up and then put up a resistance to you and your ideas.
Find out what works well and what their challenges are. Listen to their ideas and suggestions on how to improve. They know the business better than you do so listen and let them feel heard. It might be that you bring in a fresh perspective and can see why things are not working. But if you rush in there and make sweeping changes, you won’t influence and bring them along with you.
If you don’t take their suggestions on board, let them know why. If people feel that their voices have been heard, they are more likely to readily go along with what you suggest.
Even if you have been brought in to get them out of a crisis or turn performance around, you still need people to help you make the changes. It is better to influence and have people come along with you willingly rather than reluctantly.
A final thought
Starting a new role whilst working from home, it can be easy to fall into the trap of working excessive hours as you establish yourself, blurring the boundaries between work and your home life. It is important that you maintain those boundaries. Take breaks, get out and get some fresh air during the day, and don't work too many hours.
If you don’t do this, you will start to feel the pressure and the longer you carry on like this, that pressure will turn to stress, and before you know it, burnout.
When the pandemic is over, it is likely that many organisations will continue having people working from home, so onboarding remotely is likely to be here to stay. Be creative in how you establish your leadership presence when starting a new role when everyone is working from home.
If you are starting a new role during the pandemic, what are your concerns about onboarding, establishing your presence, and raising your profile? Or if you have been through it, how did you go about it? Please let me know below.
First published on LinkedIn.
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