Why is gaining acceptance in a new role more difficult than a new role in a new company ?

It was the usual monthly management review meeting where the CEO announced his intent to leave. He had built a great team with mix of talent, each bringing something to the table, complementing each other in more than one way. Potentially any of them could have taken the position and barring a couple, everyone put their hat in the ring. Rigorous process later, the announcement surprised the unelected, many of them believed that they were better candidates and they were not all incorrect in their belief.

The new CEO brimming with pride and swagger, he used the same forum to assert his new found power on the recent peer group that now reported to him. He found himself facing challenges that never surfaced in any earlier meetings, problems that appeared manufactured rather than real, issues that could potentially dilute the company’s image, market share and profitability. Attempts to create allies appeared futile and one by one, most of the aspirants exited leaving the new CEO struggling to sustain the business.

They were already grumpy with perception (their reality) that a less deserving person had been selected; he never really received acceptance due to his past behavior as a peer. Even though he was willing learn, empower the team, help them solve problems, provide resources, to them he remained the pain that he used to be. The exit of more than half the team left him incapacitated, raising concerns with global HQ; he ended up building his own team who would be subservient to his wishes, whims and fancies.

Whenever a person gets promoted unexpected or moves up the corporate ladder laterally, the event creates flutters for many. There are those who believe that the person was granted favors beyond his/her capability or they got lucky, or some kind of nepotism was at work. The person has to work harder than s/he expected to with the new position; there is also a sense of suspicion and distrust which tests his/her capability at every step. Surviving in the new position takes all the acumen until acceptance.

For someone coming from the outside into a position, it is comparatively better; they are given the benefit of learning the ropes (Honeymoon period), culture, people before the pressure starts rising. Off course some aspirants to the position may make life difficult for the newbie or decide to leave to save face especially if their colleagues believed that they should have made the grade. Newcomers get higher tolerance and benefit of doubt, stretchable timelines, and resources to complete the tasks at hand.

The position had been vacant for a while in the quest to find the right candidate for the position; the earlier incumbent had to beat the retreat rather hastily. This time around the management wanted to be sure of their choice and thus validated with help of senior industry veterans. The CXO came on board with a lot of expectations riding on him; he had also connected with the industry veteran to gain insight of what awaited him in his new role. Adequate assurances on both sides, he decided to take the plunge.

Baptism by fire awaited him with a flood of activities, requests, and expectations that filled his plate during the induction. He was overwhelmed by the current state and quantum, urgency and variety of work that was placed in front of him. Every discussion unearthed new facts and challenges that made him shudder; he took it in his stride careful not to set unreasonable expectations. As weeks passed by into months, people accepted his viewpoint and gave him latitude to plan, recast his team and manage deliverables.

Tolerance levels in the first case were significantly lower with strains of animosity and jealousy tainting relationships; cooperation and understanding was withdrawn to otherwise normal working. The CXO intuitively knew the cause and effect; unable to change the situation he accepted it and attempted to work within the constraints which did impact outcomes. He also attempted an offsite team building meeting with his new direct reports which did soften their behavior but not enough to help.

Whereas in the second, the newbie was welcomed with open arms by the Leadership team, peers and direct reports like manna from heaven who will save them from doomsday. On his part he played to the gallery with a balance of finesse, tactical decisions, and playful arrogance, winning hearts before getting down to work. The latitude offered made the difference to how well he could settle down and start executing rather than being judged from day one. He did have a honeymoon period a luxury for a newcomer.

I wonder why is such easing in not available to internal movements ?

Career or Comfort ?

Should I take up the new offer I have ? It’s offering over 50% rise and a larger responsibility. The industry is the same and the company which is a recent entrant is growing in leaps and bounds. I have been in my current company and role for over 4 years now and it has a great work-life balance. So moving to the new assignment would entail moving to a new city, unknown people, unknown culture, starting afresh building credibility and gaining acceptance from the team as well as peers which would take a year or so.

The CIO was past his mid-life crisis and leaning towards his sunset years with about a decade of active working life remaining based on generally accepted and regulatory definition of retirement age. He was doing well in his current company having spent a decent amount of time managing process, systems and expectations. He had been successful though not overtly so, but consistent in his ability to deliver to promise and keep progressing. He was been headhunted for the first time and was excited by the prospects of the new role.

He was also heavily into work-life balance and an example for some of us on keeping the balance tilted towards life more often than work. While his demeanor suggested a laid back person, he was effective in managing tasks, projects, budgets, suppliers and customers with ease. Financially stable and well off, he was not driven by monetary incentives nor materialistically inclined. Thus I was a little taken aback with his meanderings considering that he was of a sure mind and rarely hesitated or consulted anyone in such matters.

Challenging him to listen to his heart rather than the mind if they were in conflict, I asked him what caused the dilemma ? Was he unsure of the new organizations ability to succeed in the chosen industry or was it the comfort zone that caused the see-saw decision ? It’s not like that he had spent a lifetime in the current company; why was he feeling discomfort by the thought of change ? Continuous prodding finally brought out some interesting tenets for his inability to take a decision and it was not an easy one to solve.

Growth in current company would come over time; it was a profitable and stable entity where he had the freedom to operate. He knew the system and how it works; he had a good team and they delivered consistently. His family was well settled in the current city; wife working, kid entering last year before college, other kid getting to his first job in another city. He had just bought a house with a mortgage and done it up with a lot of care. Workplace being a stone’s throw, he enjoyed life to the fullest even after putting in the required work hours.

The new entity had expanded fast and planned high growth in an industry which had a lot of promise but not too many made money. There was a lot to do for the next couple of years and he would hopefully grow with the company. The new company had a frugal mindset and culture vis-à-vis his current one. Work-life balance would become a memory with pressures in the company, a new entrant in an industry requiring deep pockets. Success would come but require far more effort; comfort versus challenge !

Would you sacrifice work-life balance and family over career ? How do you prioritize and determine where you should focus ? At which life stage should life takes precedence over career or career over life ? When do you reach a point that you get off the treadmill ? Many have given up careers to pursue their hearts desire or become entrepreneurs on reaching financial goals; some remain hesitant with fear of the unknown. It is easy to stay in the comfort zone until life gives you a push to get out and start afresh.

I believe there is no right or wrong, no good or bad decision. The inflection point varied by individual; open a restaurant, write a book, teach at B-schools or colleges, the calling has varied for some of my friends. My recommendation to my friend was to take a few days off and introspect for the future and find what keeps him going every day. If you can dream it, you can also make it possible. I for one have been conscious of comfort zones as they give me discomfort. What would be your advice or what would you do ?

When to quit

His leaving came as a surprise to everyone; he was going great and was synonymous with the company and the industry for a long time. It was like he was destined to be in that position tailor made for him. He reveled in this and loved the attention and adulation it bought. The industry acknowledged his leadership and mentoring of the minnows to help improve their well being. So when leading media and press announced his exit, it was totally unexpected and unanticipated news.

Speculation had it that he had fallen out of favor with the board; some said that he had become complacent and thus was fired. Internal politics resultant out of management shift was another rumored reason for downfall. Another said that industry challenges and cost cutting measures resulted in high profile exits; after all another CXO had recently left the company under mysterious circumstances. There was no dearth of good and vile reasons; no one however asked the CIO lest they rub a wrong chord.

Joining them at the cusp of growth and globalization the CIO had spent a long innings in the chosen company and industry. He invested significant effort which bore fruit for the company leapfrogging it and strengthening their leadership position. He created a high performance and empowered team who created success with ease. Not that the journey was a bed of roses, thorns were a plenty which he slowly weeded out and won the confidence of the enterprise and industry with his willingness to lend a helping hand.

Industry bodies and associations depended on him for thought leadership and his ability to get people together. He improved the level of participation from across companies bringing out the best to discuss and debate solutions to generic and specific issues. Awards and accolades were conferred upon him with invitations to share his strategic, pragmatic and practical views globally. It was almost like a fairy tale in which everyone lived happily ever after. That is why the news appeared improbable.

Tentative in my approach, I decided to uncover the mystery that had many in the industry wondering. I called upon the CIO and popped the question forthwith. Is everything okay ? What happened ? Why did you leave ? Was there a problem ? Where are you going ? Who is taking over ? You were doing so well ! He patiently listened to me and waited for my questions to stop which did bring me to a pause. Smiling, he then started to explain his position and the raison-de-etre behind his steps.

My journey has been great; the industry adopted me and gave me an opportunity to create new benchmarks in customer service. I took on the leadership role with help of my CEO and support from within and outside the company. Challenging conventional wisdom and fast tracking some leading initiatives gave me the requisite platform. My vendors embraced some of the new ideas and committed resources to experiment and explore. Many case studies later I was the spokesperson for what IT could do.

The journey through the recession and upswing cemented the business technology relationship to create new benchmarks. Moving from projects to impacting business outcomes was a great feeling for everyone. This partnership grew from strength to strength; for me the question was what next ? My team was on autopilot and I was on a roll, at the same time a bit restless. That is when opportunity came knocking on my door. It was once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create again from ground up; in today’s world that is a rarity.

I liked what I heard and decided to take the plunge. Leaving on a high is a great feeling when everyone is asking WHY; I did not want to be where people start asking WHY NOT. Everyone remembers champions at their high points of achievements and move on to the next winner as soon as you start faltering. I took my call and decided to take the plunge while setting into motion a process to ensure that all the effort of the teams did not go waste post my exit. I am enjoying the new role and the industry has rallied around this quickly.

Hmm, what a story, I hope I can do the same someday. Should you leave when the going is good or should you build upon past success ? I believe that this is a personal call depending on your risk appetite and the way you see your career progressing. Whether you are a creator or good at sustenance with incremental innovation will determine your calling. There is no one answer that works for everyone. It is for you to find the right opportunity or make opportunities where you are.

What do you do when you start a new job in a new industry ?

Across the last decade or so, I moved across many companies, all of them representing a different industry vertical. In each case, it involved learning about the segment in which the company operated, its customers, its services/products, marketplace, competitive scenario and market standing. Being a part of the executive management team, the expectations were quite high and needed to be addressed with speed.

In such a scenario, there are many approaches that work for different people. Research using print and electronic media is a starting point and it can give a broad perspective of the industry. However the experience on the ground can be a big eye opener ! It's like being in the stands and watching a sport and making references to how the player should play, and actually playing the game !

Is there a settling time ? And if there is what should it be ? Over the last 2 months, I have been through my induction, meeting people, making notes, asking questions, and above all getting to understand the dimensions of IT with my team. Despite best efforts not to get involved in the operational issues, reality is that when the ball stops here, you have to do something with it. People look up to you for advice, resolution and decisions on way forward.

So like it or not, you have to start playing and learn on the job. Depend on your team and peers to help you through the process which will help in reducing the mistakes you may end up making if you were all alone. Organizations are extremely different in many respects but at the same time they are also similar in many ways. Use your past experience to validate what you see. e.g. Finance, HR, legal and a few other functions will behave in the same way across most organizations and will probably have similar issues.

My guess is that within the first 90 days, its a process of absorbing whatever is thrown at you. Validate your assumptions by asking questions and write back or repeat what you understood. This will help in ensuring that you have understood what the other expected you to. Sometimes progress can be a bit slow, and patience helps in these cases. Supplement your understanding by talking to vendors who will be more than willing to contribute to your learning.

What do you do after the first 90 days ? For that you will have to wait another month ! But if you have changed jobs across industries, do share your experience.