Socializing Your New Leaders

New leaders—either new to your organization or new to their role—deserve a well-thought out and executed socialization plan. Ask any serious dog owner (or human guardian as we say in the Bay Area). Socialization is instrumental for puppies and rescue dogs. They need to learn who’s the alpha dog in their pack. They also need to feel comfortable in their new homes and qualified to be Canine Good Citizens^R in their communities.

We dog lovers say similar principles apply to humans in new positions. If we want confident, responsible leaders who will inspire us and take decisive actions quickly, we need to help leaders acclimate to their new surroundings.

Socialization is especially important when we’re dealing with such turmoil at work. Right now, leadership turnover in the US is running lower than the overall unemployment rate (which is the highest in a number of years), according to Liberum Research, which tracks C-level and Director change in public companies.Yet any senior management change can have a significant impact on an organization and its employees.

When you’re an advisor to a new leader, consider taking these five actions:

1.   Introduce them to key players, inside and outside the organization. If they’re new to your industry, plan an immersion into their new world. For example, when conducting industry interviews this month for a leader who’s acquired a company in a complementary industry, one of the industry veterans warned me, “The new guy came by for two hours to meet us. That’s nice, but that’s not enough. He needs to spend a whole day here, getting down and dirty. That’s when he’ll get to know us, and we’ll start to think about trusting him.”

2. Help them find their voice. Leaders tend to be action-oriented rather than comtemplative. Yet, when a leader takes on a new role, you should take time with him or her to consider both the “what” and “how” of communications. What should the first actions be? And how does he or she want to be perceived? When talking? When listening? When working with others?

4.   Translate the jargon. If you’re an organization that embraces TLA’s (three letter acronyms), don’t worry about TMI (too much information) when it comes to explaining what you and everyone else are talking about and doing. Newcomers to your organization need to spend energy getting to know people, the surroundings and the relevant history. They should not waste precious time trying to figure out what everyone is talking about. A newcomer recently commented to me that she’s questioning why her organization preaches inclusiveness when their vocabulary sounds like they’re all from a secret society.

5.   Feature any flaws you discover. “If you can’t fix it, feature it,” was the advice of my former leader, David Nadler, who founded Delta Consulting, now Oliver Wyman. Barack Obama and his advisors are following that suggestion to a “T” with Totus (Teleprompter of the United States). Totus uses his Barack Obama’s Teleprompter’s blog plus Twitter and Facebook accounts to offer “reflections from the hard drive of the machine that enables the voice of the Leader of the Free World.” The President’s supposedly over-reliance on a teleprompter moves from a distraction to entertainment, especially when Totus proclaims, “Because there is no POTUS without TOTUS.”

When you’re working with leaders, you can influence with reason and emotions, not liver treats. However, it does help to have these tricks up your sleeve. They and other thoughtful actions show you have the best interests of your new leaders and organizations at heart and you are working hard to help them succeed.

What tips and tricks do you use that you can share?

 Liz Guthridge is a consultant, author, and trainer specializing in strategic change communications. Department leaders of Fortune 1000 companies hire Liz and her firm Connect Consulting Group LLC when they need their people—who are confused, angry or in denial—to adopt complex new initiatives so they can quickly change the way they work. For more information, contact Liz, liz.guthridge@connectconsultinggroup.com or 510-527-1213. Follow Liz on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/lizguthridge.