Assimilating New Leaders: The Key to Executive Retention

The numbers are alarming: More than 70 percent of newly hired senior executives leave their positions within the first two years. The reasons for this are numerous. Often, the hiring organization expects a new executive--especially one who arrives with a high price tag attached--to hit the ground running, with minimal assistance or supervision. The "new leader" may not understand company protocols and existing programs, or may even have been a poor match from the start. But while the reasons may vary widely, the results are the same--unexpected financial costs and organizational chaos for the hiring company, and career interruptions that the departing executive can find difficult if not impossible to overcome. "Assimilating New Leaders" presents an in-depth process for ensuring that new leaders and their hiring organizations are able to leverage each other's strengths to achieve mutually beneficial goals. While most books on the subject offer simple guidelines for orientation and socialization of entry- and mid-level employees, this timely book goes deeper: It provides both a compelling business case for the need to focus on new leader assimilation and an innovative set of tools and approaches that will help organizations integrate and retain their top executives. "Assimilating New Leaders" starts with specific strategies for ensuring a successful recruitment process, then outlines a four-stage process for weaving a new executive seamlessly into the fabric of an organization. Based on the authors' extensive experience working with senior managers and filled with numerous case studies, checklists, activities, and worksheets designed to help monitor each stage of the process, the book features: * A "reciprocal impact" assimilation model that outlines how both the organization and the individual can work toward their mutual assimilation goals * Pre-hire strategies that go beyond "fit" to determine whether a candidate is the right choice for an organization at a particular point in time * Specific activities that allow an organization to lay the groundwork for a new leader's successful entry * Ways to assist new leaders in digesting their new environment--and adapting previously held assumptions to new circumstances and realities * Steps for helping the new leader solidify his or her position and emerge as an organizationwide resource and contributor Since each new executive represents the future of an organization, it is important--in fact imperative--that the success of their relationship not be left to happenstance and luck. "Assimilating New Leaders" provides a step-by-step program for ensuring a new leader's ability to survive and thrive from his or her first day in an organization. In addition, it greatly enhances the organization's chances of fostering an orderly transition--and a successful, long-term relationship.

Newly hired senior executives don't need any help, right? After all, they're getting paid top dollar for knowing their stuff!

The reality is that executives often do need guidance and support when joining an organization. In fact, a recent survey reported that more than 70% of newly hired executives left their jobs within the first two years! These missteps can wreak havoc on subordinates, departments, customers, suppliers--and ultimately the bottom line.

Assimilating New Leaders offers a way to turn around this abysmal turnover rate by proposing an original four-stage process for successfully assimilating new leaders into an organization. By employing this dynamic new model and examining the book's abundance of real-life examples, readers will learn how to:

* Anticipate the potential pitfalls of leadership transitions

* Minimize disruption to business cycles and processes

* Give new leaders the tools they need to succeed

* Understand how to recruit--and retain--the right senior leaders

* Realize the organization's return on investment in the new leader.