When new leaders are brought into an organization, we tend to look for three things. Do they have the capabilities and experience for the role? Are they a fit for the role, in terms of their temperament and approach? Are they a fit for the culture of the organization? These are all seen as bellwethers of success.
The idea of a cultural fit can be problematic however, in the sense that organizations don’t always have a clear understanding of their culture. Alternatively, they may think of themselves in terms of their aspirational culture (i.e., who we are when we’re at our best). That doesn’t necessarily align with the way things work on the ground.
There are what can be perceived as negative or disruptive aspects of every organizational culture. They may not be the more dominant aspects of the culture and may only surface during times of change or crisis. These more challenging characteristics often go hand in hand with the organization’s positive traits. They form a “shadow culture” that the new leader may not pick up on during the recruiting or onboarding processes. Yet it is important that new leaders come to understand and appreciate these characteristics and have a strategy for dealing with them within their teams or functions. Otherwise, they may have difficulty in achieving initial success.
1. Innovative cultures
Where Shadow Culture Can Emerge
Innovative cultures pride themselves on their new ideas and novel approaches. They often build their brand by being on the cutting edge. In these organizations, there are typically both formal and informal mechanisms in place to promote and enable idea generation and bring those ideas to fruition.
A challenge for new leaders in these situations is that innovation thrives on freedom – freedom of thought, freedom of expression, freedom of action. Changes the new leader may bring, particularly process changes, may be perceived as curtailing that freedom, and may cause tension within their team. Innovative organizations may also suffer from not-invented-here syndrome, with a bias against any suggested changes coming from an “outsider,” even if those changes are meant to add to efficiency or performance.
Recommendations for New Leaders
It is important in these cases for the leader to quickly become steeped in the history, traditions, and language of the new organization. Leaders must be careful not to simply carry over what worked for them in their prior role. Whatever the changes, team members must feel like there’s a level of respect and appreciation for the existing culture and approach. Having a strong lieutenant in place can help with the translation of outside ideas to the new culture.
New leaders should also look to prioritize their activities, focusing initially on ideas and changes that are “mission critical” to the outcomes they are trying to achieve. Prioritization will help the leader to clarify their vision (for themselves and their team), making it easier to generate buy-in. It would also minimize the risk of needlessly alienating team members as the leader is first trying to build trust.
2. Empowered cultures
Where Shadow Culture Can Emerge
A goal in many organizations is to push decision making down to the front line. This allows the staff to be more responsive to the needs and concerns of its customers. This doesn’t mean that every team member is meant to act as an independent agent. In best practice organizations, this empowerment is accompanied by:
- A clear vision for success – to help set expectations for behaviors and outcomes
- Training and role playing – to inform behaviors and to help team members address different customer scenarios
- Active performance management – to help calibrate behaviors and allow for continuous improvement
There is also a level of psychological safety built into these cultures, so that team members aren’t afraid to act.
In the absence of these guardrails, a different kind of empowerment may take hold. People within the function, who are frustrated by what they perceive to be a lack of clear direction, or by processes they deem to be outdated or inefficient, may develop their own workarounds or localized solutions. They may stick to these workarounds even as different leaders come into the organization, thinking they’ll outlast whatever changes the new leader or leaders may bring.
The presence of these workarounds does not inhibit change. However, the inefficiency and redundancy that exist within a function may make it more difficult for a new leader to implement change at scale.
Recommendations for New Leaders
A key first step for new leaders is to take inventory of how work gets done within their group. This may take some digging, as the workarounds typically sit in people’s heads. They are rarely captured or codified. It would then be helpful for the leader to learn more about why the workarounds exist in the first place. It may be due to an issue that the new leader was already looking to address; or there could be some communication or process challenge (within or across functions) that wasn’t on the new leader’s radar that they are now able to fix.
Team members will also need time to buy into the new leaders’ style and approach. Some workarounds or localized solutions go back 10-20 years and may actually be the basis for an individual team member’s success. They will not want to move forward without some confidence that they can succeed in a new paradigm. This is unlikely to be a one-time conversation between the leader and their team. Team members may need additional coaching and reassurance during the transition.
3. Entrepreneurial cultures
Where Shadow Culture Can Emerge
In empowered cultures there is an ability to act. In entrepreneurial cultures there is an expectation to act. Success comes to those who take the initiative and find opportunities to achieve or advance. In theory, there are no limits to what team members may accomplish in this environment.
A concern, however, is that people within entrepreneurial organizations are not always operating on a level playing field. Even the most aggressive members of a function need allies and sponsors to further their objectives, and access to those allies and sponsors may be greater for some than others. This is a key and often unspoken challenge around diversity, equity, and inclusion, where jobs and other assignments go to people we know, without others even being aware of the opportunity.
The pressure to achieve in these organizations is also high. People are expected to be self-starters and problem solvers, making it less likely for those who are “out of the loop” to offer their input (for fear of indifference or rejection) or to reach out and ask for help.
Recommendations for New Leaders
It should be easy for a new leader to connect with and leverage the more visible players in the function. The new leader may need to be proactive in drawing out the best from some of the other members of the group.
1:1 meetings with all team members may not be practical, depending on the size of the group. But a quick review of personnel with VPs, directors and managers can help to identify the broader range of talent that exists within the group. It is also important for a new leader to foster an environment of visibility and accessibility during the transition. This may reduce the sense of isolation that certain team members may feel by yet another change that seems outside of their control.
Carpe Diem as Your Trusted Partner in Executive Onboarding
Carpe Diem offers a breadth of services across three pillars – leadership acquisition, leadership development, and leadership advisory. Through our work we help clients to place leaders and enable their initial success, build leadership capability, and guide leaders through change and disruption.
Our accelerated onboarding services provide structure, facilitation and coaching solutions to quickly advance the integration of new leaders. Leaders are able to hit the ground running through pre-entry planning. Coaching during the first 90 days helps new leaders to align with their manager, get to know their direct reports, connect with the organization, and build partnerships with peers.
A key focus with leaders is on how to navigate the culture and politics of the organization, including elements of the “shadow culture.” We find that organizations don’t always have a firm grasp of their culture. So, we work with clients to provide a timely but comprehensive assessment of the current-state culture. Rather than just looking for the presence or absence of different cultural traits, we rate each trait along a spectrum – e.g., proactive → reactive, collaborative → competitive, empowering → controlling. This allows us to highlight key cultural strengths, but also to more readily identify cultural barriers that may be making the onboarding process more challenging. These learnings are then fed back into the coaching process.
These market insights from Carpe Diem Global Partners are gathered from the firm’s extensive client work with Board, CEO, CXO, and CHRO leaders in public and private multinational companies. For deeper, custom insights, contact Craig Kamins at ckamins@carpediempartners.com.