Leadership Transition Readiness: What Your Last Three Executive Hires Tell You
Some HR teams come to us before a new executive’s first day. Others reach out a few months in, once the leader is finding the role harder than expected. We support leaders at either stage, but those who start early have a clear advantage. Their coaching is set up before the busy first weeks begin, so it’s already part of their schedule when the demands of the new role arrive.
There’s a simple way to check whether your organization is ready for its next leadership transition. Look back at your three most recent senior hires or promotions, and ask three questions about each leader’s first months.
Key Takeaways
- Three hires show a pattern — Your most recent senior hires or promotions show whether your organization supports leadership transitions consistently or decides case by case.
- Onboarding often ends early — Most organizations handle administrative onboarding well, but far fewer help new leaders adjust to the culture or meet key stakeholders.
- The hardest challenges are cultural — New leaders most often struggle with how the organization works, cultural fit, and peer relationships, and they report getting the least support from peers.
- The right support speeds things up — Research suggests the right transition support can halve the time it takes new leaders to get up to speed.
- An early start pays off — Support arranged before day one is already in place when the demands of the new role arrive.
Why Your Last Three Hires Say More Than Your Onboarding Plan
A single hire can go well or badly for reasons that have little to do with your process. Looking at three hires together shows how your organization tends to handle transitions. For example, you might find that:
- All three leaders were matched with a coach before their first day, which points to a planned approach.
- Each leader got help only after running into trouble, a sign that support is reactive.
- One leader had a coach because their hiring manager asked for one, and the other two had none.
- Support for all three ended after orientation, and no one owned the rest of the transition.
If each leader got different support, from different people, on a different timeline, your organization is deciding support case by case.
Each question below is paired with findings from “How to Effectively Onboard and Integrate Your Executive Talent,” a report by Michael Watkins, co-founder of Genesis and author of “The First 90 Days.” The report draws on several surveys of executives and HR leaders, most of them conducted by Watkins and Genesis with Egon Zehnder, a global executive search and leadership advisory firm. It builds on “Onboarding Isn’t Enough,” an article Watkins co-wrote for Harvard Business Review.
Use this grid to record your answers as you go.
Question | Hire 1 | Hire 2 | Hire 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
What support did they get, and when did it start? | |||
Who provided the support? | |||
How long did they take to find their footing? |
Question 1: What Support Did Each Leader Get, and When Did It Start?
What the Research Shows
Most of the senior HR executives surveyed rated their organizations effective at the practical early steps of onboarding. Far fewer said the same about helping new leaders integrate.
Onboarding step | HR leaders rating their organization effective |
|---|---|
Administrative arrangements | 88% |
Business orientation | 86% |
Legal and procedural formalities | 85% |
Aligning expectations with teams and bosses | 52% |
Organizing meetings with stakeholders | 33% |
Helping new leaders get familiar with the culture | 29% |
Watkins concludes that onboarding systems that don’t help new leaders adapt to the culture and build key relationships are setting them up to fail.
What to Look For
Note whether each leader’s support went beyond orientation and paperwork, and when it began. Support arranged before day one is a sign of a planned approach. Support added a few months in still has value, but the leader went through the busiest weeks without it.
Question 2: Who Provided the Support?
What the Research Shows
Who supports a new leader matters because of where new leaders tend to struggle. In a 2013 Egon Zehnder survey of more than 500 experienced executives, the most common leadership transition challenges involved politics and culture. Lack of experience or skill ranked last.
Reasons new hires struggle | Cited by executives |
|---|---|
Poor grasp of how the organization works | 69% |
Poor fit with the operational culture | 65% |
Difficulty building alliances with peers | 57% |
Lack of understanding of the business model | 48% |
Ineffective decision-making | 31% |
Disagreement over strategy | 28% |
Lack of experience or skill | 26% |
Peers stand out. In a 2016 survey, newly hired leaders said they received less support from peers than from their line managers, HR partners, or teams.
What to Look For
List everyone who supported each leader, including the hiring manager, HR, peers, the new team, and any outside coach. If the list changes from hire to hire, support probably depends on who did the hiring. Watkins also notes that recruiting and talent acquisition teams are often responsible for getting leaders on board but not for getting them integrated and fully up to speed. If no one owned that second step for your last three hires, you’ve found a place to start.
Want a broader view than three hires can give? Take the quiz: How Effectively Do You Support New Hires?
Question 3: How Long Did Each Leader Take to Find Their Footing?
What the Research Shows
The researchers also surveyed executives who received transition support, along with their hiring managers, HR business partners, and advisors. Each group estimated how much less time the executives needed to become fully effective. The results suggest the right support can halve the time it takes new leaders to get up to speed. Watkins calls the research exploratory, but he adds that the reported impact was high enough to shift the question to how much this support helps and in what ways.
Executives and their hiring managers also rated which parts of the support made the biggest difference.
Support activity | Executives reporting great or very great impact | Hiring managers reporting great or very great impact |
|---|---|---|
Understanding integration challenges and what to focus on in the first 90 days | 84% | 90% |
Getting feedback from the team around the 30-day mark | 79% | 90% |
Feedback discussions throughout the first 90 days | 74% | 85% |
Insight into stakeholder backgrounds and sensitivities | 74% | 75% |
What to Look For
Check whether anyone tracked how long each leader took to become fully effective. If no one did, ask the leader and the hiring manager separately, since their answers may differ. In the research, hiring managers rated the impact of transition support higher than the leaders themselves did.
What Leadership Transition Readiness Looks Like
Organizations that handle transitions well plan for them before the leader arrives. Their answers to the three questions look much the same from one hire to the next.
Support Is Part of the Offer
Transition support is included in the offer package, so the leader knows from the start that it’s coming.
Coaching Starts on Day One or Earlier
The coach is matched and sessions are scheduled before the leader starts. The work is underway before the meetings and onboarding sessions of the first weeks fill the calendar.
Every Senior Leader Follows the Same Process
In some organizations, every leader at the VP level and above who takes a new role is matched with a coach as a standard step. HR doesn’t have to decide case by case, and the organization gains more data on how its transitions go. Some organizations begin with a pilot, such as coaching for the next five leaders who are hired or promoted, and build the program from there.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is leadership transition readiness?
Leadership transition readiness is how well an organization is prepared to support leaders moving into new roles, whether they are external hires or internal promotions. A ready organization gives each new leader consistent support, from the right people, starting early.
What are the most common leadership transition challenges?
In a 2013 Egon Zehnder survey of more than 500 executives, the top reasons new hires struggled were a poor grasp of how the organization works (69%), a poor fit with its operational culture (65%), and difficulty building alliances with peers (57%).
How much faster do leaders get up to speed with transition support?
Research reported by Michael Watkins suggests the right transition support can cut the time it takes new leaders to get up to speed in half. The finding is based on estimates from supported executives, their hiring managers, HR business partners, and advisors.
When should transition coaching start?
Transition coaching works best when it starts before the leader’s first day. Genesis provides transition coaching at any point in a leader’s first three months, and an earlier start means support is in place for the busiest weeks.
What does good transition leadership look like from HR’s side?
Good transition leadership from HR means support for new leaders is planned, consistent, and owned by someone after the start date. HR builds coaching into the onboarding process, so every leader at a given level receives it without a separate decision for each hire.
Start Before the Next Hire
If your last three executive hires had three different experiences, you know where to begin before the next leader starts. The quiz looks at how your organization supports new leaders as a whole.
Have a senior hire or promotion coming up? Book a call to learn which kind of transition support fits your organization.
Read More
Why Most Leadership Transitions Fail and How to Succeed
How to Fast-Track New Leader Success and Know When It’s Time to Help
Best Practices in Onboarding and Transition Acceleration
