Transitioning to your new CXX role?

So you’ve got there, the position you’ve been working towards all your career – that position on the Executive Board, the ‘Chief XXX’ title and all of the status, power and responsibility that comes with it. You might feel proud, elated, excited, anxious, confident, out of your comfort zone or all of these at once and more.

What is expected of me? How do I behave? Am going to get found out? What’s my vision? Have I got the right team? You’ll be asking yourself any number of questions but perhaps the most important questions you could ask yourself are:

• What does the organisation and the world need from me in this new role?
• What is the brand that I want to project and how do I make this authentic?
• What does this mean in terms of my behaviours if I am to be a success?

Often, I find that clients transitioning to a new CXX role start by focussing on tasks, goals and objectives – they ask, ‘what should I be doing in my first 90 days?’.  This is perhaps not a surprise as they have probably got where they are through successfully delivering for the organisation. However, what they often miss is the bigger picture, the fact that they are now ‘leading’ and that this requires a very different and broader focus. So, what does this mean? Well, here are some of the key behaviours that come up again and again when I’m working with leaders as they transition to their new CXX role:

• Agility and Continuous Learning: In today’s world, nothing stands still. In fact, the business, social, political and technological environments are changing at an ever-increasing pace. In order to keep pace, anticipate challenges, seize opportunities and respond effectively, ExCo leaders must embrace a growth mindset, think the unthinkable and create an environment where ideas and risk-taking are encouraged. They need to engage in continuous learning and stay updated on industry trends, new technologies, and best practices.
• Strategic Thinking: As a leader, they need to be able to influence the overall strategy of the company and engage others to ensure that it meets customer, organisational and societal needs. They need to consider a broader perspective than simply maximising profit – to be successful in today’s interconnected world, the leader needs to take account of multiple stakeholders – shareholders, employees, society, the environment and future generations. They need to be able to analyse market trends, assess risks and opportunities, and make informed decisions that align with the overall strategy of the company.
• Systems Thinking: Executives need to be able to think wider than their own area of responsibility. They need to develop the ability to think about the interdependencies between the company’s various stakeholders, both inside and outside the organisation and propose solutions that take account of their often competing needs.
• Influence and collaboration: The ability to collaborate and build strong relationships with peers, customers, colleagues and other stakeholders is essential. Leaders need to be strong communicators – truly listening to others, asking great questions, sharing ideas with impact and having the ability to bring others along with them to support key decisions and initiatives.
• Change Leadership: Change is both essential and a given in today’s world. ExCo leaders therefore need to be able to encourage innovation and create an environment where ideas can flourish. They need to accept that they don’t need to know all the answers and that their role is to help others to think. Of course, they also need to be able to lead change effectively by helping people to see why change is needed, motivating them to support the change and mobilising resources effectively.
• Risk Management: In today’s fast-moving world, ExCo leaders need to be able to navigate the paradox of encouraging risk taking to drive innovation on the one hand whilst managing risk to the organisation’s finances, reputation, operations and stakeholders on the other. They need to be able to think broadly, assess potential risks and take appropriate measures to mitigate them. This requires them to proactively identify and address emerging risks that could impact the organisation’s reputation or operations as well as understanding the key legal, compliance, and regulatory requirements.

So what are you going to do to ensure that you demonstrate these critical CXX behaviours and are not tempted to stay in your comfort zone of ‘doing’? Who might help you and what might get in your way?

Written by: Andy Jones, Associate Executive Coach

Andy is an experienced Executive Coach who has held Board level roles with some of the world’s largest companies prior to qualifying as an executive coach. He now specialises in working with senior leaders, especially those who are stepping up into more senior roles and those transitioning into new organisations.

Andy is an Associate Executive Coach of The Coaching Solution.

If you are interested in working with Andy, please contact info@thecoachingsolution.co.uk or call on 07789 007591.