The recruiting is over. The employment contract is signed.

Our Executive has been appointed to the dream role, the next career step …

Our Chair/CEO/GM is confident the new hire will add value to the business, be a pleasure to work with, make their job so much easier …

Want to keep walking on sunshine?

Then think about a tailored executive onboarding plan right now.

In ‘Chasing Stars’ Professor Boris Groysberg’s research found executives who achieved ‘star’ status in one work environment were not guaranteed of success in another. Senior hires face multiple challenges – a new team, new stakeholders, new culture, new markets, new ways of doing things…. that’s a lot to deal with, in addition to those stretch KPI’s.

The first 12 months in a new role can be tough.

“If it’s not working, the wheels start to fall off between 6-10 months – and then I get called in to sort it out.” That’s from an experienced global HR Director who’d seen it happen too many times. He estimated that globally, almost half of senior hires left the organisation within 18 months.

Where did all that sunshine go?

You make a big investment – in time and money – when you hire a senior executive. It’s a bit like a courtship. Lots of confidential meetings, squeezed into already busy schedules, help you get to know each other.

Then the paperwork is signed, and everyone goes back to their day job. The courtship is over. We’re back in the real world.

“We do assume they’re smart enough to work things out from Day 1”, a CEO told me, admitting his business offered virtually no support for new senior leaders.

They ARE smart. They’re also human.

Leadership can be isolating and lonely at the best of times. Those early days in a new role or workplace, before you’ve worked out who you can trust, are even worse.

A structured, personalised 12 month onboarding program can provide the right kind of support for a new leader at a time when it’s needed the most.

It’ll keep you all walking on sunshine…

… and don’t that feel good!

Bust A Move blog soundtrack: ‘Walking on Sunshine’ with Katrina and the Waves. Go on – dance like nobody’s watching!