Helping Executives
To Stay on Track

Business leaders who “derail,” or fail to achieve expected success, are often thought to be victims of their own foibles. These include poor relationships with superiors, peers and subordinates; failure to build and lead teams; inability to cope with change; and failure to meet business objectives.

Not surprisingly, executives hired from outside the organization are more likely to fail than internally promoted candidates.

In one recent study, executives estimated the failure rate for external hires to be 35%, compared with just 24% for internal candidates. In another, nearly two-thirds of new presidents hired from outside the organization left their companies within four years, compared with only about one-third of those promoted from within.

Why the difference? Perhaps internal candidates have an advantage, knowing the corporate culture and the key players. Organizations themselves may be more “forgiving” of miscues committed by their own. At the same time, organizations may have higher expectations of external candidates, who come in with impressive credentials and achievements.

So how can newly hired executives minimize the risks for failure?

“The best advice for anyone coming in off the bat is to look and listen very carefully before making any major changes,” says Dan Jones, Ph.D., a member of WJM Associates’ executive coaching and assessment faculty. “Learn something about the organization and take time to gather your own impressions before making any major business or strategic decisions.”

Jones also encourages newly hired executives to build a solid core of relationships -- laterally, up and down -- so they have people they can work with. “People who are in leadership positions can’t get it done all on their own,” he says. “They have to get things done through others.”

Another key step to minimizing failure: Find out what kind of impact you’re having on the organization. “Executives should have two or three confidants who can give them candid feedback, good or bad,” says Jones. Another effective option is to work with an executive coach who can gather that feedback objectively and independently.

While executives themselves take appropriate steps to minimize failure, organizations can also do their part by providing candidates with unblemished information about their culture and challenges. They can try to be realistic in terms of understanding how long it may take for a new candidate to move into a new position, and to provide that candidate with resources to help with the transition.

A large, global financial services company has a program where everyone who comes in above a certain level goes through an assimilation program. Three or four months after they’ve been hired, an executive coach conducts a set of 360-degree interviews with superiors, colleagues and direct reports. The coach then summarizes those interviews, provides feedback to the new hires, and works with them on a limited number of sessions to help them understand the feedback and develop a directional plan.

“It took the company years to set up the process, but it’s institutionalized now,” says Jones.


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Making Time to Be Creative

By Leslie Evans

I recently received some feedback from a client that made a great impression on me. This was a very senior person, reporting to the president of a division that contributes 20% of a company’s bottom line, and I took what she said seriously.

She told me that one of the greatest benefits of the coaching process was that it gave her time to be reflective … about herself, her job and her business.

I thought this was a very insightful perspective. I’ve known many executives who, unfortunately, look at coaching as something that consumes, rather than creates, time in their very busy schedules. Actually, people who have been coached will tell you that when their schedules become packed, the first thing they do is call their coach to help them deal with the mounting pressures.

In today’s highly competitive business environment, as the pace of change intensifies and technology compresses what little competitive advantage organizations might have over one another, you need to make time to be reflective and think creatively about your business.

And coaching, among other things, creates space in your schedule to be reflective. It also gives you an honest, experienced, objective observer with whom you can brainstorm and seek feedback on ideas you would otherwise hesitate to share with others.

Giving executives time to think creatively about their business can yield substantial benefits. My client, for example, had started a financial decision-making group within her division, and she was thinking about how to take it to the next level.

One of the roles of a coach is to listen intuitively and ask specific and strategic questions that enable senior executives to go more deeply into their thinking about key issues. So we devoted part of several coaching sessions to a discussion of this process.

Ultimately, my client not only increased the profitability of her immediate group, but her company also decided to replicate her approach globally in all the consumer businesses in its organization. It was a relatively small investment on the company’s part for a very big payoff.

One of the greatest believers in the power of reflective thinking is Sir Richard Branson. A multibillionaire and the founder of more than 100 businesses within his Virgin empire, he exemplifies creativity as much as anyone in business.

Branson owns a private island in the Caribbean called Necker Island. He spends three months out of the year there and says it’s his most productive time. On Necker Island, he can sit back, reflect, and generate new, creative ideas.

Most of us can’t afford an island of our own, but we can create an island of time in our schedules. And if we use that time to do a little more “right-brain” thinking, the results could be impressive.

Leslie Evans is a member of WJM Associates' executive coaching and assessment faculty.

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Your Career Path to Success

Learning to Manage
Passive-Aggressive Employees

By Bill Morin
Chairman and CEO
WJM Associates

Have you ever managed a person to whom you just couldn't get through? No matter what you said or did, the relationship never seemed to work, and any attempts at coaching either made things worse or had little effect.

Welcome to the world of management. Just when you think you've figured out how to manage people effectively, a situation presents itself that leaves you scratching your head in bewilderment.

There is no one formula for managing people, just as there is no one formula for raising children. That's what makes it so challenging. Each person is unique and different. Each has his own personality, his own style of communicating, his own views of authority figures, his own baggage -- all of which can be possible sources of conflict between you and him.

As managers, our job is to treat all people fairly, but not the same. People need customized managing and coaching, particularly those who are challenging to work with.

Most effective managers have a basic understanding of human behavior. They have insight into people who present particular challenges and how to work with them. Of course, the better you understand yourself, the better you can understand the dynamics that may be going on between you and a difficult employee.

Sometimes we need to adjust and change. Knowing when we are the problem and when the employee is the problem is sometimes difficult to discern. Our own egos, of course, will always point the finger at the other person.

The passive-aggressive person is a tough one to deal with because you are never quite sure how he really feels. His aggression is cloaked in passivity, which sometimes makes it difficult to recognize. So what are some examples of passive-aggressive behavior? It can manifest itself in a multitude of ways, such as:

* Withholding important information as a way of disempowering another person;
* Being pleasant and nice to a person and talking viciously about them to others;
* Setting themselves up to be the victims in situations when in fact they are the perpetrators;
* Playing subtle mind games that keep people on their guard;
* Refusing to deal with conflict directly;
* Punishing another person by shutting down and refusing to communicate; and
* Doing something hurtful to another person and then pretending not to know what the person is talking about.

Passive-aggressive people are usually highly manipulative. They can be extremely creative and devious in the ways they get people to do what they want them to do. If you don't know what you are dealing with, it can be very frustrating. Your gut tells you something is wrong, but on the surface everything is fine. Here are some general suggestions for dealing with passive-aggressive people:

* Don't play the same game with them. It will only make matters worse.
* Try to understand their motives and keep these in the forefront of your mind when you are dealing with them.
* Stay centered. Do not let them push your buttons. (At least don't let them know they are pushing your buttons.)
* Don't reward the behavior in any way.
* Be direct with them.
* Depending on the situation, point out their contradictory behaviors.

Unfortunately, passive-aggressive people are not the only difficult type employees to manage. Next month, we’ll look at another challenging personality type: the angry person.

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WJM Associates offers a wide range of services designed to help organizations recruit, hire and develop top performers. To learn how we can help you, visit www.wjmassoc.com or contact Vice President Cynthia Auman at 212-972-7400 or cauman@wjmassoc.com.

WJM Associates, Inc.
675 Third Avenue, Suite 1610
New York, N.Y. 10017
Phone: 212-972-7400
Fax: 212-972-0695
www.wjmassoc.com

Enhancing Executive and Organizational Effectiveness