Did you know that four out of ten first-time executives fail within the first 18 months of starting a leadership role? The cost of failure can be catastrophic for a company’s financial outlook and an executive’s growth. Calculating exact figures vary, but most experts agree that the value of a single failure ranges from two to twenty times the cost of executive compensation.

Five reasons for first-time executive failure include:

• Twenty-two percent find no process exists to assimilate new leaders into the role.
• Seventy-five percent fail to integrate successfully into the company culture.
• Fifty-two percent fail to build teamwork with staff and peers.
• Thirty-three percent are unclear about what the board expects.
• Twenty-five percent do not possess the required political savvy.

To be successful, first-time executives need a tremendous amount of support. The best transitions quickly align strategy into the integration. That’s why leadership coaching remains so valuable.

Research from the Institute of Coaching shows that over 70% of individuals who receive leadership coaching benefited from improved work performance and relationships as well as better communication skills. When the executive succeeds, so does the rest of the organization.

Five Focus Areas

Gartner identified five focus areas executives with new roles should implement in the first 90 days. Add strong leadership training to this roadmap, talent moving to the executive level for the first time can expect better outcomes.

#1 Prepare

Whether you are new to an organization or rose up through the ranks, preparing to take on the leadership role is key. Below are three important focus areas to fully explore:

Understanding the organization’s culture: One can argue that a company’s success directly aligns with its culture. A healthy corporate culture exhibits trust, transparency, and accountability between staff and leadership. Other qualities include:

• Teamwork and collaboration
• Recognition for success and other achievements
• Diversity and an inclusive workplace
• Alignment between company language, values, and actions
• Competitive compensation plans
• Opportunities for employee advancement
• Flexibility and an adequate work/life balance
• Psychological safety

Create a communication plan: Staff wants to hear from leadership. It’s important to define two critical areas – your audiences (i.e., staff, shareholders, board members, etc.) and messaging. Each audience requires a different message. You may even want to use different channels to promote messaging for each audience. For example, employees may benefit more from videos and town hall meetings while shareholders may prefer in-depth reporting. It is also important to decide how often you should communicate with each audience group. Leadership coaching can help develop persuasive communication skills which enhance collaboration, reduce misunderstandings, and promote smoother workflows within the organization.

Define expectations: Sometimes we make assumptions and think everyone agrees on a topic. Often that is not the case. To best align expectations, leaders should articulate the invisible expectations swirling around their minds. Leadership coaching quickly breaks through this barrier, helping to illuminate potential roadblocks faster.

Leadership is as much about listening as it is about speaking. Leadership coaching can improve your communication style, by helping you craft messages that resonate, inspire, and motivate. It is also important to ask for feedback (up and down the ladder) and integrate these suggestions as you move forward.

#2 Assess

Unfortunately, new leaders enjoy a short honeymoon period. Shareholders expect quick results, and employees want reassurance. With leadership coaching, a new executive can do a deep dive and perform a more accurate assessment. A coach can make sure an executive thoroughly understands her function at the organization while also helping the leader assess her strengths and weaknesses.

Building strategic relationships (both up and down the corporate ladder) remains an essential element to continued success. Getting to know employees, customers, and shareholders helps a leader develop the big picture, which should result in clearer decision making.

#3 Plan

A strong leadership transition requires a well-defined vision and strategy for the future. The leader that clearly articulates her vision better engages employees. The best new leaders strike a balance between emphasizing new standards but also empowering staff to continue doing great work.

Create a functional strategy: Functional leaders adopt an initiative-taking approach to understand the resources and tools necessary for success. Leadership coaching can quickly help an executive determine the best path, which can empower the team and lead to cost effective outcomes. A critical sounding board, professional coaches can offer a mix of coaching and advice. A coach with a similar leadership background or industry experience can serve both as a mentor and coach.

Set your KPIs: Define your key performance indicators and make sure they are measurable. Examples include revenue growth, profit margin, customer acquisition cost, customer retention rate, employee turnover rate, and market share.

Celebrate early wins: Do not forget to acknowledge accomplishments made within the first 90 days of assuming the leadership role. These milestones are important for employee morale and establishing a positive environment.

#4 Act

Functional leaders rely on a clear direction that aligns teams toward common goals, which fosters a sense of purpose and unity, so it is key to execute on the early wins. Prioritizing outcomes over processes helps an organization stay focused on delivering meaningful results and value. Effective leadership coaching can help build repeatable skills for the first-time executive, the necessary strategies to motivate team members and clearly define the next steps.

Leadership coaching directly impacts how executives think about their behavior. The process develops awareness of their leadership style and provides an opportunity for reflection. Surya Partners recently collaborated with an executive who worked her way to the C-suite. Although she understood the company culture and enjoyed established relationships, she remained hesitant to act. Through the coaching engagement and the collaboratively designed development plan, she learned how to manage difficult discussions with staff, clients, and peers. Quickly, she became more decisive, and did not contemplate every potential scenario. More importantly, this exec developed a newfound ability to ask for, and receive, what she wanted.

#5 Measure

Measuring a new leader’s early progress provides valuable insights that sets the stage for data-driven decisions and an avenue to take corrective actions if necessary.

Review the plan and adjust accordingly: Gather the data and apply the findings to your KPIs. Analyze the data to identify trends, patterns, and areas of improvement. This roadmap provides the baseline information to adjust the strategic plan if necessary.

Communicate successes: Communicate the results of your KPIs to employees, investors, and clients. Celebrate successes and highlight areas of potential improvements.

A strong leadership coaching plan can help the first-time executive achieve these goals.

Conclusion

Powerful leadership propels companies forward. At Surya, our leadership coaching framework ensures executives do more than just oversee—they motivate, drive innovation, and rally their teams.

Surya's leadership coaching centers around the individual. We understand that every leader has their own strengths and areas for growth. With our in-depth assessments, we zero in on what you or your executive truly need. Then, our coaching plan and individual sessions harness their strengths and address the gaps, ensuring every leader emerges more empowered and effective. Schedule your free consultation here.