Fast Track your New Executive's Impact
Congratulations! You’ve just hired a top-tier executive to drive your scaling organization forward. But what comes next?
For many startup CEOs, onboarding typically means having the new hire read countless reports and meet with team members. But too often, that approach falls flat: it doesn't provide the deep integration or momentum that new executives need to succeed quickly.
Instead, strategic onboarding is critical to ensure your new executive seamlessly aligns with your company’s mission, culture, and leadership team. Research from The Boston Consulting Group and Spencer Stuart shows that companies with well-structured onboarding programs achieve 2.5 times the profit growth and 1.9 times higher profit margins compared to those without such programs.
One powerful method for fostering this alignment is Shadowing, as outlined by Matt Mochary. Having your new executive shadow you for an extended period of time is amazingly effective at helping them gain a deep understanding of your company’s mission, culture, team dynamics, and operations.
But how can you make the shadowing process even more impactful?
Many of my CEO clients and their new hires have found success by incorporating a “Success Factors” approach during the shadowing phase.
This method accelerates your new executive’s effectiveness by emphasizing the critical elements necessary for their success.
What are Success Factors?
Success Factors are the key elements that must be in place for your executive to excel.
Some of these Success Factors, like building trusting relationships with peers, are universal and backed by research. Others may be specific to your organization, such as understanding the legacy of leaders who have previously held the role, or mastering the nuances of your company’s operational systems.
By identifying and articulating these Success Factors, you, your new executive, and the organization can work together to create an environment primed for success from day one.
A Quick Story
Take one of my clients—CEO of a unicorn company. He just brought on a new Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) to help overhaul their go-to-market strategy. It was clear that for this transformation to stick, the CRO needed to break down silos and build strong relationships across the leadership team, fast.
So, during the shadowing period, we made “relationship-building across peers” a top Success Factor. The CRO went all in—setting up 1:1s with the heads of product, marketing, and customer success, finding out what they cared about, uncovering the best way to get them motivated to work together on the go-to-market strategy. Every week, the CEO and CRO touched base to assess progress, tweak the approach, and ensure the right conversations were happening.
Within a few weeks, the CRO was driving cross-functional collaboration and leading pivotal changes that would have taken months without this approach. Shadowing, combined with clearly defined Success Factors, gave them the clear focus they needed to hit the ground running.
How to Implement Success Factors
Customize the Success Factors Table: Start by reviewing the table below and tailoring it to your unique context. Ideally, this should be a collaborative effort involving your executive team and the new hire. Identify the specific factors that are essential for their success—whether cultural, operational, or relational.
Cover All Bases: Be sure to address all key areas: social, cultural, and professional factors. Consider often-overlooked factors like cultural familiarization, peer relationship development, alignment with the company’s core promise, and team dynamics understanding. The more comprehensive, the better.
Regular Reviews: Review the Success Factors weekly with your new executive during the shadowing period—and beyond! This continuous check-in ensures alignment and ongoing improvement. Discuss each factor, review progress and learnings, identify challenges, and adjust the onboarding and development plans as needed.
Adjust Over Time: As the executive settles into their role, refine the Success Factors to include specific areas of opportunity. For example, one of my clients incorporates elements from 360-degree feedback into the Success Factors to ensure continued growth.
Success Factors Table
The following table, grounded in research from talent firms like Egon Zehnder and Spencer Stuart, provides examples of key Success Factors my clients use, along with the necessary actions to achieve them.
Click the table to expand.
Sources:
Spencer Stuart
Executive Onboarding: Is there a right way?
Emphasizes the importance of pre-boarding and ongoing feedback sessions. Successful onboarding involves clear expectations, cultural alignment, and continuous support over many months.
Egon Zehnder
Executive Onboarding, Accelerated
Focuses on five critical tasks: assuming operational leadership, taking charge of the team, aligning with stakeholders, engaging with the culture, and defining strategic intent. Recommends a comprehensive integration approach.
Harvard Business Review
Effective onboarding can accelerate executive success by 40%. Highlights the importance of starting onboarding early, using personal touches, engaging with the executive's family, and maintaining continuous feedback and development mechanisms.
The Biggest Mistakes New Executives Make
Identifies common pitfalls new executives face and provides strategies to avoid them, including the need for clear communication and setting realistic expectations.
Onboarding a New Leader Remotely
Offers strategies for effectively onboarding executives in a remote environment, emphasizing the importance of virtual relationship building and clear communication.
Discusses the critical steps to take after hiring a new executive to ensure their successful integration and long-term success.