Muriel Wilkins, cofounder of the executive coaching firm Paravis Partners, says that starting a leadership role at a new company or via internal promotion is demanding. Doing so remotely during the Covid-19 pandemic is even more challenging. She says that new senior leaders must focus on two things: connectivity and credibility. And she explains how to build those attributes when much of the job is performed virtually. Wilkins is the host of the new HBR Presents podcast Coaching Real Leaders.
CURT NICKISCH: Welcome to the HBR IdeaCast from Harvard Business Review. I’m Curt Nickisch.
“The president of the United States gets 100 days to prove himself. You get 90.”
That sober accounting comes from the introduction of the classic book from Michael Watkins, The First 90 Days. It’s about how the actions you take during the first few months in a new role end up being so pivotal.
Watkins goes on to write that, “If you’re successful in building credibility and securing early wins, the momentum likely will propel you through the rest of your tenure. But if you dig yourself into a hole early on, you will face an uphill battle from that point forward.”
Now that management book was written before the pandemic and taking on a new leadership role during this difficult time is even more complicated and even more important to get right. And our guest today has some advice on the biggest things to keep in mind if you are starting a new job remotely, and the added pitfalls to look out for.
Joining us now is Muriel Wilkins. She’s a co-founder of Paravis Partners, an executive coaching firm, and she’s also the host of the new HBR Presents podcast, Coaching Real Leaders. Muriel, thanks so much for being here.
MURIEL WILKINS: Thank you for having me.
CURT NICKISCH: So setting a baseline here, what are those standard hurdles that leaders face when they start a new role at a new company?
MURIEL WILKINS: Well, whenever you onboard into a new role, whether it’s at a new company or at a different company, a leader is really tasked with jumping two main hurdles, the way I see it. One is how they effectively and quickly establish their credibility as you’ve stated. And the other is also how they effectively and quickly establish their connectivity.
So the credibility part is learning about the organization, assessing what’s working, what’s not working, at times having to make decisions on day one, right? When they just stepped in the door, and even articulating what their vision might be for the organization. And the connectivity side to it is understanding and establishing their relationships or their presence with their team, their board, their investors, their customers, and the broader organization, so that those folks can get a sense of who the leader is and take in any information that might signal to them how that individual is going to lead into the future. So both of those hurdles are at play, both the credibility piece and the connectivity piece, and the onus is on the leader to really jump those hurdles as best they can.
CURT NICKISCH: How has COVID changed that?
MURIEL WILKINS: Well, so I think that in the COVID era that we’re in the same two buckets still apply. The difference is really how it’s done, right? So I’ve worked with leaders and with CEOs who were offered their position February of 2020, and then started their role in April 2020, r ight as the pandemic was starting, they’re starting their role.
CURT NICKISCH: And they haven’t even met their team yet, probably, in person.
MURIEL WILKINS: They haven’t met their team. And so their whole organization and actually the whole world is in crisis mode. And let’s face it not all leaders are crisis leaders, right? And so they need to learn how to be that quite quickly. And then they also had to onboard in many cases, completely virtually, as you just shared. They haven’t met anybody face to face. And it’s really not something that we’ve had a recent precedent, or I don’t even know if we’ve had any precedent for this. So all the must do’s on how you onboard effectively as you duly noted in Michael Watkins classic, The First 90 Days, still apply. But the challenge now is how does one do that under the circumstances of a pandemic?
CURT NICKISCH: Let’s talk through some of those key tasks, then key competencies that people have to have as they take on a new leadership role at a new company. I imagine the classics are things like communication, relationship building, maybe more so now than ever change management. What are those things that new leaders have to really focus on and keep front and center in a very distracting time?
MURIEL WILKINS: Yeah, absolutely. So certainly I think the competency of communication is of prime importance during this time, because we cannot just assume that individuals and the organization’s going to understand where we’re coming from as a new leader, that they know what we’re thinking. It’s a little easier to do that.
I’m not saying it’s easy, but it’s a little easier to do that when we had the times where we could interact in person, do the drive-bys in the office, or walk the halls, and run into people and talk to them in an impromptu way. That’s not happening right now. All of the spontaneity and the impromptu moments that actually make up human relationships and human dynamics are gone. And so leaders have to understand that A, they need to communicate. B. Again, they need to adapt how they’re communicating and be proactive around that.
It’s having the meetings, making sure that they’re communicating at all levels of the organization. And when they’re communicating, are they demonstrating a presence that, again, not only demonstrates that they are credible and that they’re learning and that they have the knowledge to lead this organization, even if they’re new, but that they are relating to those that are in front of them, that they are starting to forge some type of connection with their stakeholders.
CURT NICKISCH: This has always been one of the balances that new leaders have to strike when they come in, there’s the proverbial, listening tour, getting a lay of the land, but also trying to take action quickly, get early wins, show what they’re about. Is that calculus different now?
MURIEL WILKINS: Yeah, I don’t necessarily think the calculus has changed. The risk right now is that because the circumstance has changed, it might be exacerbated for a particular leader, because not only are they facing the pressure of starting a new role, they’re also facing the incremental pressure of starting that role under the pandemic. And so what I’m seeing is that there’s a higher likelihood under this exacerbated stress for leaders to default to what’s most comfortable for them rather than carry that balancing act of the listening and taking action.
So either they’re spending too much time in listening mode and not moving to action early enough, or they’re moving to action too quickly without making the time to listen understanding. So not to say that this didn’t happen pre-pandemic, it just has been exacerbated.
CURT NICKISCH: H ave you seen people navigate that really well? I mean, is there anybody that you’ve coached or worked with that you feel might have some insights here, some lessons?
MURIEL WILKINS: Yeah, absolutely. So I’ve worked with somebody who did a fantastic job from day one, having these virtual tours. She leads a huge organization, and she went out of her way. It was a big burden and workload on her, but went out of her way to create smaller, intimate, virtual gatherings, where people could ask her things. They got to see her in terms of the human that she is, which is really important, but she started conveying her ideas around what she was interested in for the organization. But she took a lot of time to again, ask the questions, listen to people, give them a chance to voice their opinions. And then she started to work with her team to articulate where were they going to start taking action. Before they started taking action though the biggest thing was that they needed to really understand what the priorities would be.
And so just going through a process of articulating the priorities before moving to action was starting to bring the organization along and didn’t feel like too soon. So the steps were, she listened, prioritized, then started to take action. And during that time, really circling back with folks to ask, is it too much? Is it too fast? What can the organization handle at this point? And at the end of the day, it’s a dance. I mean, there’s no perfect art. There’s no perfect timing that’s going to say, by day 30 you have to be doing this. But it requires the leader to be in tune and again, have their ears on the ground for what’s happening as well as have the courage that maybe now it’s time to push. And the question is, how much can I push?
CURT NICKISCH: Yeah. It also takes a lot of time to do those. You have to work harder to create those one-on-ones to get those relationship building meetings and interactions when you’re not in an office or not in the same workplace, specifically as the manager. So what can you do to overcome that?
MURIEL WILKINS: Yeah. So I think that look, I mean, again, time was the issue of we don’t have enough time is nothing new. Again, the question becomes, how do you deal with it now? And in reality, in terms of making the time to have these meetings is a bit of a conundrum, because we actually have more time now, and we’re filling it up. So the question is, are we filling it up with the right things?
So what it requires is actually getting back to this notion of essentialism and prioritizing. And so part of what I am seeing, some of the leaders I work with do is take a step back and say, how do I A, systemize some of these meetings that I need to have so that they’re scheduled, there’s a cadence to it. Again, no different than what you should be doing, even pre-pandemic. But this time around recognizing that they might need to be doing it at different levels so that they are covering all the different touch points. But they also need to make sure that they’re making room for the impromptu interaction.
So not everything needs to be scheduled. And so I encourage a lot of my clients to leave some unscheduled time so that if they need to call somebody, they call somebody. If they need to just check in with them, they check in with them. They don’t have to wait for a scheduled meeting for it to happen. So it’s both scheduling the formal meetings, but also making sure that you’re leaving room in your schedule for the impromptu informal interactions that might need to happen, which will require you to be proactive there.
And another good practice is to make sure that your communication or your interactions are not just outbound, meaning create a way for others in the organization to have access to you. So, one of the ways that I’ve seen this happen is I have a leader that I’ve worked with who has established what she calls the Zoom Tea Hour, and it’s every Friday from two to three, and she’s on Zoom with a cup of tea. And it’s an open invite for anyone who wants to join.
And she says, “It’s time to spill the tea,” as they say, right? So she’s like, “Ask me anything. And if I can spill it, I’ll spill it.” And sometimes one person shows up, sometimes a whole bunch of people show up, but the message she’s sending across is, I’m accessible to you. It doesn’t always have to be me sharing information, come and share with me or come and ask me questions. I’m available if need be.
CURT NICKISCH: That’s a nice example right. How do you make sure that your personality and management style and priorities come through remotely?
MURIEL WILKINS: Yeah. I mean, it’s interesting because I think during this time we have come to truly appreciate how much live interactions impacts our ability to forge connections and relationships, perhaps something that we’ve taken for granted, right? With the rise of email communication, with the rise of texting, and even with social media where we think we see somebody’s true personality, but we actually don’t. And so the bottom line is there’s really nothing like a live interaction to let folks see what you’re about, whether that’s through video conference or phone calls, or even a virtual town hall. So my rule of thumb is make it live when you can. Right? And show them who you are until they get it. Particularly if you’re new. I mean, they’re looking to see who you are. Who’s the human behind the CEO title or the president title or whatever title you have.
And secondly, I think it’s important for leaders new in their role to not only show their style through these interactions, but quite frankly, be really explicit about what your style is. Talk about it. Tell them what they should expect in terms of your style. I think this is a time where, particularly in those first few weeks, something like the tradition of the GE new assimilation process or discussion with your team where you’re open about how you communicate, how you make decisions, how you take in information, what are your likes and dislikes, this is a time to use that. Right? Just be explicit about it. Tell people. Don’t keep them guessing. I just find that to be even more important during these times.
CURT NICKISCH: How do you exercise, show, display, empathy as a leader when you’re starting a new job at a time like this?
MURIEL WILKINS: Yeah. I mean, look, I think that the muscles of empathy still get demonstrated in similar ways, right? How do you feel like somebody empathizes with you? They are listening to you. And they’re listening to understand. So you asked the questions to fully understand where the others are coming from. You acknowledge and appreciate what’s been done before you arrived on the scene. You reach further down into the organization. Again, you don’t stay in your bubble. You take questions openly and respond to them as transparently as you can.
And you do all those things, not only under the regular operation of the business, but you also do them with regards to how people are dealing with the pandemic. Because while we’re all in it, and we’re all experiencing this era that we’re in, everyone is experiencing it differently. And so a leader has to be in tune with that.
This is the wrong time for them to project what their experience is living through the pandemic on everyone else. Okay? So acknowledging that it’s not business as usual and that everyone is trying to do the best they can is important.
I also think that an effective way of authentically and genuinely displaying empathy is keeping in mind that little things go a very long way. Yes, you have to do some things organizationally, but there are also some small actions you can take that go a tremendously long way. So think about what you can do to alleviate the pandemic stress for the overall organization, but also don’t overlook some of the small actions that can make a big difference in one person’s situation, and will have a ripple effect.
I think about a CEO that I work with and his admin, his executive assistant, was having an incredibly difficult time managing her home life because she has young kids and she now has to take care of them while having to take care of him. Right?
Which is a very challenging job in terms of managing all the things that he has to manage. And so he was very concerned and was seeing signs of burnout in a way that he had not seen from her before. But she’s a trooper and kind of wanted to keep going. And he finally had a conversation with her and said, “Look, you know, let’s come up with a creative way where you can still support me and…” Right? So it’s an and. “And you can take care of whatever priorities you have at home.” And what they ended up doing is she has reduced some of her work hours without impact on her pay or performance. And they’ve created a job sharing solution with another admin who did have some capacity. Right?
So it took the fear out of her thinking, oh my God, does this mean eventually I’m going to lose my job? There’s no concern there. He’s still getting what he needs, but it took some creativity and some adaptability, it’s only one person. It was a small thing. They actually made some small nuanced changes in her schedule, but it goes a long way. It goes a long way. But it took him being in tune with what’s happening and recognizing that, yes, he’s responsible for organizationally what needs to happen, but he can also create the small touch points.
CURT NICKISCH: I mean, everybody is sort of recalibrating their understanding of productivity and just really amping up their understanding of the work situations and home situations that employees are in. But when you’re a new leader and you come in and you may have a new role over a new kind of department, and you may not totally know the jobs of the people who are on your team and working for you, I imagine that that’s just really hard to assess and just having the confidence of knowing that, no, this team can do more or, no, I have to back off on the reigns because of the situation. It just feels like it’s a pretty hard thing to feel confident about.
MURIEL WILKINS: For sure. And I think it’s one of those things that you can’t assess in a vacuum. Right? What burnout is for me is going to be different than what it is for you. Everybody has a different threshold. Right? That tips the point over to really feeling burnout.
And this has been the reality of it pre-pandemic, but it’s just, again, there’s a magnifying glass on it now because it feels like a more common issue that we’re facing in a different way. I think the first thing is that, leaders need to acknowledge and be aware if they’re people are facing fatigue or burnout or working at a pace that is too accelerated at this point in time. Do they just need a pause? Right? That’s what I’m hearing a lot of. Teams are saying, we’re okay with moving forward, but can we just have a temporary moment where we pause? And what would be the risk of that? Where we can just get a little bit of stability, test what we’re working on, get a breathing moment, and then we’ll be ready.
CURT NICKISCH: Yeah, catch our breath.
MURIEL WILKINS: So no different than working out, catch our breath. But I think that the leader has to have a better understanding of what kind of burnout or fatigue are people experiencing? Is it change fatigue? Is it that the workload has doubled? Is it the tiredness from being on Zoom all day? Is it the fatigue that comes from operating just under uncertainty. They sort of have to diagnose it. Right? And whatever it is, the leader has to knowledge it. And then they have to move on to see what they can do within their control that can take a bit of the pressure off.
And I think the best way to figure that out is to ask. Right? You know, those ideas aren’t going to come up by the leader sitting by themselves in a room and conjuring them up. They’ve got to go out and ask, what ideas do you have? And then take those ideas and see what’s doable and decides which ones they can implement. And my goodness, we talked about early wins, make sure you’re communicating that these things are actually being put into action.
CURT NICKISCH: What’s the biggest mistake you see new leaders in new roles making right now?
MURIEL WILKINS: Right now I think the biggest mistake I see them making is that they have to approach their onboarding in the same way that they have onboarded every other role. They are hinging their success on what has made them successful in the past. And while a lot of those variables are going to be important, they need to understand that they’re doing it in a different context. And so, again, it goes back to the, yes, these are the things that you need to do, but just understand that it’s going to require some creativity and some adaptability so that you’re delivering them potentially in a bit of a different way than you have in the past.
CURT NICKISCH: This is a really interesting leadership challenge, right? To take on a new role during this time. And you’ve done a really good job of talking about how it’s different and the new demands that it puts on people. There are some people who’ve stayed in their existing jobs longer. And I just wonder what you’d recommend to somebody if they have an opportunity at a new place during this time? Do you think that experience is going to be critical for any leader going forward to be able to handle a new team during a time of transition? Or is it just a passing reality?
MURIEL WILKINS: So I think that the question really becomes around what is the leader’s capacity to handle change in a big way? And that should really then help them decide whether they stay or they move. Because regardless we have all experienced change. We’ve been forced to change. The question is how do we handle it during this time?
So whether they decide to stay in their role or move on to a different role, some change is still going to be required. And what I’ve seen is over the past year, I mean, it’s almost no coincidence. It sounds a little cliche now that the year was 2020, because it’s the year of clarity of vision from my perspective. And if you can actually sit in the discomfort of change, you might learn some things about yourself that then leads you to make this decision of, do I stay, or do I go?
So the question is, if you decide to stay or pursue new opportunities, my question back to any leader would be, how does that decision or that particular change lead you closer in alignment to what you see for yourself and/or for what you see for your organization? Okay?
Where I’m seeing some folks getting clearer and it’s very uncomfortable is recognizing that they might want different things than they thought they wanted if you had asked them two or three years ago. And so the decision is based more on that rather than, am I going on to a bigger and better opportunity? I’m seeing a lot more introspection from leaders about what changes they need to make for themselves. And I encourage them to sit with that discomfort, be introspective, ask for the feedback to help inform these decisions. And then use that to help inform whatever actions they’re going to take, whether it’s an action about their organization or an action about their career move.
CURT NICKISCH: What are the biggest road blocks that people seem to have when it comes to adopting it, to changing that way?
MURIEL WILKINS: To changing. Yeah. I mean, the first is, the first road block I would say is what is their mindset as it relates to change. Some people one mindset is fearing change, which is a little bit of a delusion because things are always changing. I mean, nature changes. Right? We don’t control, the seasons change. So change is around us all the time. So one of the biggest roadblocks is fear of change. And I think how you move through that is not seeing change as a way of losing something, but rather, can you see it as a path of growth and evolving? So it’s more about broadening who you are and what you’re capable of and what your experiences might be and where you take the organization versus changing fundamentally who you are. Because at the end of the day, that’s what people get concerned about when it comes to, if I embark here, is it going to challenge what I fundamentally stand for? Who I am as a leader, et cetera, et cetera? So I think the perspective around change is a big roadblock.
The second biggest roadblock I think is if you find yourself in a situation where you’re focusing on everyone else and not yourself. The reason why the organization can’t get through this situation, this pandemic, this change, what we need to get through, is because of everything that everyone else is doing potentially wrong, rather than focusing on you first as a leader and saying, okay, what is within my control? How do I set the tone? What decisions do I need to make? Where do I need to step back? Where do I need to push forward? And making yourself the catalyst for what needs to happen rather than focusing on everyone else and not taking a look at yourself.
CURT NICKISCH: Well, Muriel, it’s been a pleasure. Thanks so much for coming on the show to talk about this.
MURIEL WILKINS: Thank you. It’s been a pleasure as well.
CURT NICKISCH: That’s Muriel Wilkins, executive coach, and host of the new HBR Presents podcast, Coaching Real Leaders. You can find it at hbr.org or wherever you get your podcasts, which might be where you’re listening to this one right now.
This episode was produced by Mary Dooe. We get technical help from Rob Eckhardt. Adam Buchholz is our audio product manager. Thanks for listening to the HBR IdeaCast. I’m Curt Nickisch.