The number of client ‘stakeholders’ responsible for new appointments we encounter who either ignore or pay lip service to support, relationship building and, most importantly the giving and receiving of feedback is a constant source of astonishment.
We have lost count of the number of managers, including very senior ones, who shy away from giving timely, developmental feedback until the ‘problem’ becomes too much and the timescale becomes too late. When this is investigated with afterwards the new appointee often talks about ‘no one gave me the feedback, I thought I was doing OK, they then convened a review meeting and I was out the door.’ Sounds dramatic doesn’t it but, in our experience, is not that uncommon.
We have had client after client who think that by doing a weekly, monthly, three monthly or often dreaded annual paper based on an HR supplied appraisal or performance management process is what they ‘should’ be doing – in my view this is a cop-out!!
There is no substitute for on-going dialogue, relationship building built on trust and the giving and receiving of feedback.
The great organisations approach new appointments and, particularly, new senior recruits with a view that says, of course, ’let’s get results’ but not from a place of assuming the new recruit can just do it. They put in place supportive coaching or mentoring or both that really aims to deliver medium to long-term bottom-line results.
Companies spend an enormous amount of time, money and effort on the recruitment process but then fail to deliver on the transition into the new role. Failure to provide support for the new employee is, I believe, a key ingredient in the disastrously low success rates for new appointees.
If you would like help on implementing better leadership skills into your business, The Results Centre has a wide variety of services that can be tailored to your business.