Connecting People to Strategy: OnBoarding
By Ron Cox, CEO, Tailwind
Transitioning key talent from one company to another is challenging, and the results are much poorer than you’d expect. Depending upon what research you look at, failure rates of new executives will average as high as 40 to 50%. Think about the expense incurred—both in terms of hard costs and soft costs. The monetary costs of losing a key hire are pretty straightforward, however, the costs of lost opportunity can quickly overshadow them. The strategic impact of starting over when a key hire doesn’t work out can have a much greater impact on the organization, both in the short term and long term.
Many companies are working to mitigate this issue by adding structured on boarding processes. These processes help formalize and accelerate the assimilation of the transitioning talent. In looking at these programs, what seems to be missing for me is strategic integration. Key talent needs to be strategically connected to the new company and strategically relevant as quickly as possible. They need to be synched up with the company’s strategy from the onset, in addition to the more classic on boarding processes. This includes accurately translating the company’s strategy at their level. Strategic integration of the executive, done right, can make a key difference…not only in whether they effectively transition and become part of the team, but also in how quickly they’re on the same page with senior leadership and driving the results you brought them in to achieve.