Time is such a luxury, these days.

Time is not something to be taken lightly,particular when taking on a project or joining a new team. Increasingly you’re expected to hit the ground…running  

Looking at the recent headlines in the UK press, about the retirement of Alex Ferguson (Manager of Manchester United) and one is struck how time seems like an increasingly rare thing. This could of course be a reflection on age, but I don’t think so. They say as you get older, time seems to go quicker.

Looking at the questions marks over other premiership managers, it is striking that many received less that 12 months to “prove their worth”.  Alex Ferguson was manager of Man Utd. for over four years before they won any substantial silverware, and over 25 years,  he has seen them through their greatest successes as a club.

The demand for quick performance is not just the preview of sport, business too has had some very high profile,  short terms of office at the top. John Browett (now CEO at Monsoon Accessorize) was “let go” as head of retail at Apple after less than 6 months. Ron Johnston at the US Retail Giant JC Penny enjoyed a little bit longer than that, 12 months there before being fired. Generally both were considered not good fits with their new organisations. But it was not that they couldn’t do the job. It was the soft issues that they and their employers seem to part company on. It was a ‘time’ issue

Closer to home, I have been recently talking with clients about our Fast Track Assimilation process.  I have had two separate occasions where clients made a senior hire which “just did not work out”.  Again, time seemed to at the heart of the matter. In one case it cost the company €250,000 / US$ 320,000) to settle an agreement for the individual to leave. With the other, it was even more serious, as it was not just the money; there were shareholder questions and public interviews about the new executive’s activity.

Time is increasingly a luxury that many businesses cannot offer to a new hirer, particularly at a senior level. Hitting the ground running is the expectation. But it is not just about having the technical knowledge or expertise; it is also a matter of culture, of style, about how the new individual goes about doing things.  It‘s not the case that these new people are not clever, experienced or able. Most have gone through a demanding and thorough hiring process, often at some expense.

So what are companies doing about it? It’s not a matter of making the ‘wrong choices’,  in their selection of the person in the first place (which can happen). But what steps do companies need to take to ensure that they don’t have to rerun their hiring process, again? On boarding or as we call it Fast Track Assimilation helps. It address the time issue and helps avoid some of the pitfalls. However, it only works if it doesn’t become a box ticking exercise. It needs to present real challenges to the new person to understand the culture they are coming into. They need to consider how appropriate their new plans will be to that culture and the effects these changes will have.  Are colleagues (or the company) ready for those changes? Will they accept them? Time is of the essence.  The first 100 days is a short period, but with an interactive process, both company and a new senior hire can begin to see if their ideas and experience can really meld, to create what the company wanted to get from that new hire in the first place.

If we are moving to an increasing expectation of ‘immediate effect’ from our new senior managers then organisations need to plan for success for those new hires. Pointing someone at a desk and saying “off-you-go” just won’t be sufficient.