“Welcome NEW LEADER! Here’s your office- I’ll let you get settled in and come back to take you to lunch to talk about how you’re going to take us to the next level in the marketplace and what you had done with the rest of this morning to get us there.”

If you haven’t experienced this sentiment yet- brace yourself! Our global knowledge economy demands leaders who hit the ground running- at a full sprint. Wall Street analysts’ seem to expect the mere announcement of new leadership to have a direct impact on a company’s stock valuation. This expectation of superhuman productivity is not only myopic it can set a new leader up for failure.

Too many companies who bring leaders in from the outside or even promote from within seem to seek measurable results within an increasingly shrinking timeline. Often to ensure successful leadership transitions executive or leadership coaches are engaged to support the newly appointed. While such coaching is a powerful and effective tool (more in future posts) it is one of many tools that can facilitate success in assuming a new leadership role. In his most recent blog posting, Marshall Goldsmith, identifies three factors that have the greatest impact on the efficacy of leadership coaching. One of the factors Dr. Goldsmith identifies resonates to leadership transitions in general – Is this leader going to be given a fair chance?

An excellent question to be sure.  In a world of global organizations and virtual teams with work flows that never stop, thanks to new and collaborative technology- how can we ensure that we are giving our leaders a fair chance ? New leaders weather they are new to the organization or just the role, require the proper On-boarding or In-boarding to set the stage for sustained success.

I recently moderated an intriguing HCI Leadership Community Webcast: Gaming: The On-boarding System in which Sun Microsystems CTO- Charles Beckham and Senior Director, Partner & Employee Learning- George Selix, Ph.D. shared with us the innovative ways they are leveraging technology to ensure such success. The Comprehensive On-boarding Track presentation described how Sun uses their on-boarding process to aid enculturation and assimilation of new and prospective employees, including their most senior leaders, using a highly collaborative video game which engages and informs candidates and new hires about corporate culture, organizational structure and work flow.

Sun’s is among the most innovative, comprehensive and integrated initiatives I have seen an organization employing to ensure success of new leaders! Truly COOL!