Leadership: Shape your mind

Your state of mind is key to your leadership

Leadership is not always constructive and can unfortunately be very destructive. We all agree that there are A1's leaders and unfortunately really bad leaders in this world. What do you think differentiates them?

Leadership has always been an area that I tried to understand better when I was at University. At the time some individuals would stand out naturally from a group just by the way they were. Some of them became president of student associations, others would excel in organizing student activities while others seemed to lead gangs and appeared to not do much. Already at the time, I could differentiate different types of leadership.

But what is the secret ingredient of successful "native" leaders?

Leadership is not a concrete notion and it is certainly not something I could learn in a chapter of a book like accounting or economy or stats. So, You'll agree that leadership is not a knowledge that we can infuse in ourselves after a session at school--- it has to do with the way we actually see the world, see the challenges, see others, with our level of energy and with the way that we actually prevent or react to situations. Leadership is a STATE OF MIND.

How could we describe a true leader? 

My own definition of a true leader is someone that has the inner POWER to attract and influence others,  the power to stimulate and motivate others, someone with a very high level of energy, someone that has the power to move mountains when needed without much apparent effort and the power to drive and direct a team a company in the right direction. They are like our super hero's, a super power that they mastered to use accordingly.

What are the characteristics of a true leader?

One characteristics that seems to come back in all literature is the capacity of the leader to build a clear and consistent VISION and to COMMUNICATE his/her vision at all levels (top-bottom)

Most of the time, true leaders are very PRAGMATIC and have a SIMPLE THINKING. They encourage KISS principle and tend to articulate problems and solutions in a simple manner. 

The third element is key, I believe that they have a sense of GRATITUDE and COMPASSION very developed. They are HUMBLE and recognize that PEOPLE (their team) is the key ingredient of their own success. They have RESPECT for others. Actually, it is know that all leaders that influences the world as we know it all had one thing in common: they were all thankful! Einstein used to say thank you hundreds of times to his collaborators! Other known leaders that were thankful; Martin Luther King, Lincoln, Jung and many others.

The fourth one is EMPOWERMENT, they understand that staff need to be empowered. They trust the judgement of their team members and encourage decision making from them. They know how to delegate and are not getting into micro details. Employees feel in control of their work, feel an important contributor and feel valued and important.

Leadership is very POWERFUL if used accordingly.

Some impacts of destructive leadership

STAFF ROTATION: You see a lot of rotation and resignation in key positions around you? 99% chance that the cause is not linked to the individuals leaving. Look upwards, look at the leaders managing those individuals --- What is the leadership style of the manager or director and exec? Are employees valued? Are employees empowered by the leader?

EMPOWERMENT and MICRO-MANAGEMENT Few years ago, I was a consultant for a 60M SAP delivery program? The execs in charge of the project were all over the place and did not empower their teams to make decisions. even the sponsor was challenging his own program director in front of everyone and did not show respect to anyone. Are you surprise if I tell you that the motivation of the all team was lower than ever? We actually had a serious talk with the execs and made them understand how their current attitude was impacting the program and the productivity of the all team, it had to change and it did. I spare you the details here but thank god that we did speak up! As a consultant, I learned to be straight forward even if it is not what the execs want to hear. It did pay off to all of us, including execs.

CONFUSION ON ACCOUNTABILITY; So now that you see how bad lack of empowerment and micro-management impact the dynamic of your team. Imagine if the same execs make you accountable with those conditions. IMPOSSIBLE! How can you actually put someone accountable for the results if in first place they are not empowered and second if you always put your nose (as an exec) in the decision making process? Who can be hold accountable if they have no control?

Imagine a pilot driving an airplane, first he is sitting at the back (not even in the cockpit) while executives are in the cockpit starting the engine and doing everything they need to do (without a proper knowledge) to start the plane. They call the pilot at the last minute and ask him to kick-off the plane without understanding fully what was done previously. The pilot had a hard time to complete the start up routine but did it. Now that the plane is almost at the right altitude, one executive decides to ask the pilot to step back and decides to sit on the pilot chair... This goes on and on and on throughout the flight until someone decides that it's time to get down - oops, there's no more fuel... they are kind of on the middle of the Atlantic! IF YOU HIRE A PILOT, LET HIM FLY ALL THE WAY, GIVE HIM ALL THE INFO HE NEEDS TO FLY AND TRUST HIM!! Do not interfere! As a true leader, don't you want your pilot to get you anywhere you need to with all his heart, judgment and deep motivation?

DISRESPECT; Recently, one of my Ex-director was telling me that his new exec participated in a call with him and a client. The call was disastrous in his perspective and he got out of the call demotivated, discouraged, frustrated, demobilised and angry. WHY? While he had followed every step and recommendations that the new exec gave him to resolve a problem, the same exec got in the call and questioned in front of his client the solution (that he had prescribed) and opened the door to other negotiations. The message that the new exec conveyed to my ex-director unconsciously (or not) is 1) I am better than you are 2) You are not important 3) I am the king and you are my submissive, you better listen to me. Anyway, this was the perception. Imagine the client that was on the line, what did they perceive?

I have so many examples I could share of destructive leadership and feel very sad when I hear or share those types of stories.

At the end of the day? How can we be the best leader we can be?

I truly believe that our employees ARE more important than we are, they are the ones that will MAKE US FAIL OR SUCCEED. They are our biggest assets!!!

We need to be thankful to have them everyday! Appreciate their qualities and straights. Trust their judgement. Put appropriate decision points in their hands!!! They will surprise you! Don't micro-manage! Learn to oversee their work! CHANGE YOUR MINDSET. True leadership is largely associated to a state of Mind.

So rather than thinking that you are the KING on top of your ivory tower, think of yourself as an active, friendly, opened, MENTOR. We are not superior than anyone, we just have a different role to play.

LOVE your team unconditionally, they will love you back!

Be THANKFUL everyday to them, they will be thankful and will give you the moon

You will attract the POWER of true LEADERSHIP

What do you think? Do you think that true leadership is a state of mind?

10 simple tips for effective meetings

Did you ever came out of a meeting and thinking?

'Why was I invited again?',
'What was said again?',
'What did we talk about?',
'What are my to do's again?' or simply
'What the heck was that meeting about?'

Believe me it happened to me more than once on my side! I do not know about you, but my working type is the one that comes in the office like a tornado, is anxious to make things happen and wants to bring as much as possible value in the day so that I came come out 8h to 9 hours later (MAX!!!!!!). So I'm really not the type of girl you can hang around next to the coffee machine for 15 minutes... I like to have fun but do not appreciate when I feel that I am wasting precious time. So he's some really quick tips I use to make it short and sweet. Main thing is to be ready and have fun.

1) Prepare the agenda 

be clear on the objective of the meeting. Take time to prepare your thinking process and ensure that supporting document is distributed for more complex topics. Ask in advance to someone to take minutes (taking decision points and actions are what you really want to have) - limit participants to the only ones that should be there....

2) Send your agenda and supporting material at least 24 hours prior to the meeting. 

If people have preparation to make prior to the meeting, let them know a HEAD in advance.

3) Respect people's time

Start at the latest 5 minutes after your meeting starting time. I see too often the chairman of the meeting be late! 

4) TAKE TIME TO EXPLAIN THE OBJECTIVE OF THE MEETING - - -

Do not expect that everyone is clear on what you are trying to achieve. Repeat - be concise!

5) When capturing the actions and decisions, be sure that the minute taker captures, the name of the action, the responsible, the target completed date... 

Do it electronically! This is you will be able to send out the minutes within the following 24 hours

6) For disruptive talkers during the meeting, park non related topic (MANAGE YOUR MEETING SCOPE)

7) At the end of the meeting, ALWAYS have room for conclusion and recap!!!!!! Always review the main actions so that everyone is clear,

8) Do not let anybody go out of the meeting until you agree on the next step!

9) Be THANKFUL for the time your participants took to come to your meeting

10) Assess your lessons learned to be better the next time.

Hope this helps!

Program Organization in FEW easy steps

Start your program on the right foot!

WAIT that your Program Director is assigned to the program and ensure that he/she takes over from this point on. Too often, execs make decisions on the program strategy, budget, ressources... and expect the new upcoming Program Director to be accountable to deliver objectives and targets they did not define.

This happens all the time and really puts your program at risk to start with - companies are so in fire when the charter gets signed that they rush into taking many organizational decisions without having the Program Director involved.

This typically leads to a lack of engagement and commitment from the Program Director and from the delivery team. Instead of going too far to launch the program without a Program Director, put all your energy, as an executive, on hiring THE CREAM OF THE CREAM PROGRAM DIRECTOR!!!!!

For large programs (50M+), the program organization activities will not be less than 3 to 6 months in timeframe. Do not underestimate the time it takes to structure accordingly a program or a project. The organization and planning activities are precious and do have a high ROI. On the other hand, do not overspend money in this phase to try to make it perfect. Ensure that the organization is robust without expecting that it will be perfect to the teeth. Incorporate a process to leave room to continuous improvement. Just make sure that your level of investment is just for this phase. The key activities will include usually the following subset of activities after you appoint your program director.

• Organizing the Governance, build the committees
• Develop the Program Organizational structure 
• Define your Program Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
• Organize the finance
• Clarify and define Roles and Responsibilities (RACI + Job roles)
• Develop the Program Management Framework (Processes, procedures and tools)

Program Governance 

You need to define early how the program will be governed to ensure the program success. the different governance entities will be identified:

• THE project sponsor,
• THE steering committee members (formed of senior executives such as division VPs+ sponsor+Program mgt group) at a minimum
• THE working committee members (formed of business directors and managers+program mgt leadership) and
• THE program committee (formed of the program management leadership group)

The creation of the governance structure needs to be worked out closely with the project sponsor as he/she will need to approve the governance entity. You will also need to identify the members of the committees / sponsor should confirm with peers in the business the appointments of committee members.

Program Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

WBS is defined in the parallel planning activities that are going on while you start to organize your project. The WBS needs to be thought through early in the process as it is an important input in the organization phase. It helps structuring your project and helps you to build the RACI that we will talk later on (to clarify the roles and responsibilities). The way you structure your WBS is therefore critical - it has to be easy to understand and has to be logical. Just think of it like a bill of material; think of how you would decompose a desk, you decompose it with key component types right?. WBS should not be complicated it should be simple. Do not forget that the WBS will be mapped into your project plan in your planning activities.

Program Organizational structure development
Once your governance entities are defined and you understand your WBS, you can confirm the teams you will need to have in your organization.

Always have the Program Director as the only one reporting to Steering and Sponsor. I found Strong matrix organizations most appropriate for large programs. Ensure in this case that all team members have a hard line to your program director. I am a hold fashion type of manager when it comes time to manage resources. I rarely seem resources extremely happy in a weak matrix organization - it often creates ambiguity. Do not let stakeholders keep a hard line with program resources in the Program Organisational Chart. This brings too much confusion and distraction for nothing. You can Structure your teams by competency or by Work packages what ever makes the most sense. In large programs you could have co-leadership: assign a business leader and an IT leader. do not let IT drive the show alone!

Roles and Responsibilities (RACI + Job roles)

Your RACI is a matrix that will provide an overview of who is Responsible Accountable Consulted and Informed for each of the First/Second levels of your WBS. Typically the first column is the WBS and there is one column by job roles to build the matrix. You need to validate the RACI with the directors and the business so that everyone has a clear understanding and agreement on the roles to be. GET YOUR RACI approved.

Once your RACI is approved, you can build your job roles! It is important to have a Job Description for each of the roles to be filled in the project. Along the way, you might have some replacements or new players and it will be easy for HR to help you out if you already have every roles clearly documented. Also, you will be using the job role summary the project kick-off and to assign resources to the project.

Program Management Framework (Processes, procedures and tools)
This is the part that I love the most! Providing a framework! Standards key framework components for an IT project can be;

• Risk Management
• Issue Management
• Time & Expense Management
• Logistics
• Document Management
• Program and Project Reporting
• Resource Management
• Purchasing Management
• Cost Management
• Benefit Management

If your PMO does not already have a framework, you can either ask a consulting firm to get a framework implemented or you can build one from scratch. My thought is that any good consulting firm can provide such a framework with fresh ideas and tools attached to the framework. It is very time consuming to construct from scratch... If you have time and tight budget; go a head and build it internally - - - If you do not have time and have a budget, use a consulting firm.

I like to have a folder by framework component and a separate folder for the project management standard TEMPLATES. I am from KISS school, do not build a 200 page document for your framework - people will just get so lost! Just be to the point! Say what you have to say about the process and that's it! Show few slides on the process in Powerpoint including your flowcharts and have a separate document for specific procedures. If appropriate save your visio file in a third file for people to view when needed.

You might want to look at tools that can facilitate your life and lower your project costs down the road! Assess your needs meticulously, spend money wisely on tools! Don't get Primavera or MsServer if you have few projects. Investiguate your tools - Excel is OK but I am personally not a big fan of it now that we have so many fresh affordable collaborative tools. Look at all the tools offered in the market it changes fast. CONFLUENCE did impress me lately.

Let me know if you have other thoughts or wish you comment, hope this was helpful

Straight Talk - For effective communication

Decide to be a straight shooter. Tackle and attack issues!

I was in a management meeting on Thursday that we call the Core Team. The Core Team is composed of the four Vice-Presidents involved in the Program, the integration manager, the program manager and myself.

As this is only my third Core meeting since my arrival, I started to dig in the issue log to see that most of the 15 issues remaining were opened last year! We spent the 60 minutes of the meeting basically not making any decisions and just NOT doing the right thing. I came out of the meeting so discouraged as I was trying to understand why decisions were not being taken in that group. The goal in this forum is supposed to be a decision making group! So - I got out of the meeting and asked myself what the 'ironic' smiles I observed in the room meant and why?

I never accepted to work in such an atmosphere so I decided that I should talk to the main VP about my perception. I had to tell the execs that they were to be in big trouble if they could not put an effective decision making process in place. For a large program of that sort, making quick and right decisions are critical!

My approach has always been to be honest with myself and with others, so I really thought that I had NOTHING to loose to talk to the senior VP on the situation. I understand that being transparent after not even 2 weeks can be really not well perceived - - -but I really did not care as I really thought that those meetings were not going anywhere anyway... We always have to pick the right battles and I thought that this one was very important.

So the next day, I asked the VP to organize a call with a director, him and myself to work on another issue. Lucky me!!! while we were waiting for the director to join us for the meeting, he asked me : ''So How do you like it so far?''

This was my lucky day! I did not have to break the ice, I responded spontaneously: ''EXCELLENT, I like the company size, I like working with a national team and really like the complexity that it brings... On that point, even thought I do not have all the understanding of the company's politics and complexity, I think that decision making will be one of our biggest challenge moving forward''

He looked at me for at least 2-3 seconds, he looked surprised but clearly got my point - it felt like finally someone was telling him what it is. He said ''Hmmm, interesting, you know what : I really want us to sit down together and talk about it, I want to hear your recommendations, it is true and we need help in that matter.''

Oh boy, let me tell you that it felt good to know that my message passed through - - - most important is that he acknowledged and wanted me to help him taking action! I was lucky but at the end of the day I gave my shot and tried to deliver a message.

After all, it is for their own good! WE NEED TO SPEAK OUR MINDS!!!

OPEN MIND TALKING SHOWS THAT YOU MIND ABOUT THEM!!!!!!!!

6 TIPS to capture actions and decisions from meetings

I know that the redaction of minutes is painful as it takes time and energy that often we do not have! So here are some quick tips of how I've been documenting them. 

There are no purpose to do a meeting if the action items and decisions are not captured & communicated! 

The tips below are mostly applicable for large scale programs/ but can be adapted to smaller project

1. Make sure that you write down the action items and decisions during the meeting/ type them directly into an issue log and a KDP (key decision point) log in excel or in your central log repository (Sharepoint or so)
• The issue log needs to contains all issues identified as well as the actions agreed to resolve the issue, it needs to include the level of critically of the issue, its impact, the description of the action, the responsible for the action item as well as the target date
• The KDP will contain decisions taken! You ensure that decisions taken are taken by people that are accountable for taking the decision, confirm the wording of the decision with decision maker and right it down!
2. Not more than 24 hours after the meeting, you send an e-mail summarising the new actions and the new decisions to everybody that was invited to the meeting (including the ones that were not there). Ideally you do a cut and paste of the new actions and new decisions from you excel file. When sending the note, you can add your administrative assistant or the individual responsible to update the central logs (if you did not do it during the meeting). Always use the same exact header to communicate the actions and decisions. I use : MEETING TYPE - DATE - Actions and decisions. For example: WORKING COMMITTEE - 02/18/2010 - Actions and decisions. 
3. Prior to the next meeting, make sure that you send a newer version of the issue log and decisions to participants - you can ask your PCO or administrative assistant to do so. Ask your team if they need to add new action items or decisions points to the meeting - - - you want to be aware before the meeting so that you can be more prepared. 
4. Start your meeting by following-up on the actions that are due for this meeting and shortly and those are are critical. Then discuss the new actions and new decisions points.
5. Always keep the same routine and structure, people will become more productive in your meeting and will less tend to jump in right and left.... 
6. CONTROL your agenda and use parking lot when necessary and not applicable to the objective of this meeting.

 Voilà, hope this helps!!!!!

Bye bye boss! How to handle a resignation

Oh no! This is one of the worst nightmare, someone is giving you his/her resignation.

Here's an experience I had with an employee a couple of years ago. At that time, I was directing a team of 30 professionals including project managers, functional leads, implementation consultant, trainers, technician and a PCO. The PCO was the latest addition to our team and was hired couple of months prior to this event.

Listen to this; I came in a Wednesday morning at work (around 8h20am), took off my jacket and hanged it - started my laptop, started to dial the voicemail number to get my messages and noticed that a folded paper has been placed under my empty glass of water!!!! What is this? I immediately took the paper and opened it. The paper was a printed letter and I immediately read the signature name and realized that because it came from that individual that this could be a resignation letter! Oh dear! Oh no!

Wow, I thought, this is the first time ever after 15 years of experience that this would or could happen to me- - - - hopefully, I thought, this is not what I am thinking about! I felt like I spent so much time training this individual and sharing with him my vision. I knew that he was facing personal challenges in his life and tried to provide him my support (as an employer) - But unfortunately, I realized that his personal challenges were affecting the quality of his interactions with the personal - 3 weeks prior to this event, he even got into verbal fights with a project manager, that fight went way out proportion (I addressed the behavior with both of them and have been very clear on my expectations - No one is allowed to adopt this type of negative and destructive attitude in my team - this is just not the way we communicate with each other, If they want to work with such an a negative attitude, I cannot accept them in my team - I am very strict on that).

So, to come back to that morning, before I got to read the letter that I was holding in my hand, the project manager that got in a fight 3 weeks prior to this event came in my office like a tornado. I could see that her face was all red and that she was very nervous and almost shaking. She sat down before I had the time to ask her and she placed her hands on her face to take a deep breath. OK - now I was sure that the two events were linked together - - - So I closed my door as I was still looking at her and waiting for her to calm down before I even said a word. My phone rang and I just decided to not answer and called my assistant so that she can take the calls for a bit. When I spoke to my assistant on the phone, she said, I need to talk to you it's about Carl and Anita. OK, we'll talk after Louisa, I am with Anita right now and have a note from Carl in my hand, I will come to see you right after.

''Anita, what happened?'' I said... She started to explain the fight they had yesterday before leaving the office and explained the fight they had again when they both came in first thing in the morning. The reason of the fight is irrelevant for the purpose of this blog but let me tell you that it could have been avoided for sure!

So I told her that I would speak with Carl and loop back with her before the end of the morning.

I read the letter right after she left and IT WAS A RESIGNATION LETTER EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY!!!! Wow, this is bad!!! Lots of DON'Ts in this this process to build a long lasting reputation for him that I will summarize later. So, I took the phone and called right away Carl to schedule a one on one meeting with him, I had to get to the bottom of this! One thing was however clear in my mind; I accepted his immediate resignation as the damage was already done. I could have forced him to stay for 2 weeks to close his projects and perform a proper knowledge transfer but I preferred to do it differently and wanted him to truly learn from this experience. I spoke with HR and wanted to validate my thoughts - HR agreed with my proceedings;

When I met with him the next day, believe it or not but he had regrets and wanted his job back. Let me tell you that I thought about this option but I could not see how it would work as he obviously broke the rule. He had all the technical skills to perform his job but he did not fit the people profile I needed in my team to create THE BEST TEAM TO WORK IN, IN THIS COMPANY!!!

Here is the messages I communicated with him during our one on one meeting - it was a very honest and transparent meeting, I really wanted to help this individual and the only way I could help him was to provide some recommendations him to move forward;

1. I confirmed to him that I truly appreciated his technical skills
2. I was very honest on the fact that I thought that he did not have the right profile for this job from a people skills perspective
3. I suggested that he never give a resignation without a 2 weeks notice, in this situation
4. I suggested that he always meet with his superior to discuss options
5. I suggested to always give a resignation one-by-one, never leave a resignation letter on a desk, at least talk on the phone before giving a resignation letter if you cannot meet with your superior.
6. I told him that given the circonstances that I did accept his resignation.

FOR EMPLOYEES

1. Make sure that you sit down with your boss before you make your decision, there might be some options that you are not even aware of
2. Give your resignation letter face to face / or call your boss and send it after to tell him it is coming up
3. Always leave at least 2 weeks, your boss might ask you for more than 2 weeks if needed (think of both parties, think of leaving with an intact reputation)
4. Be professional until the end, make sure that you do a good transition plan! That you execute it to the teeth!!! It's not time to get demotivated! It's time to leave your last tracks!
5. Always be positive about your company (don't let your colleagues down by telling them some aspects that you do not like about the company! They are staying and YOU are leaving)
6. Keep your smile until the end! Call your customers, your colleagues personally after you agree with your boss that you can communicate your departure. Explain why you leave from a new challenge perspective!
7. Be a good support to your team and boss! You leaving creates them head hicks!!!

FOR EMPLOYERS

1. Challenge your employee if you judge that the individual has lots of potential, never accept a resignation if you feel that this is a loss to the team and the company. The employee might not know that options are possible!!!
2. If you accept the resignation of your employee, ask to have a one-on-one meeting with the employee with the following objectives / it is not only up to HR to perform the closer interview, it is your responsibility to understand!
3. Understand your employees perspective; what worked for him, what did not work, what he wishes that you would have done different as a boss,
4. Express to your employee your gratitude towards his contribution! Tell him what you consider to be his best deliverable and skills. Tell him honestly what components you feel that your employee should work on to achieve his career objectives (as a manager you should have a clear understanding of your employee's goals)
5. Plan a transition with your employee / ensure that your employee is motivated to perform his last 2 weeks and that you appreciate his contribution until the end!
6. Communicate the departure of the employee and the transition plan as fast as possible to the team. This needs to be done at the latest 24 hours after you receive the resignation... You want to control the communication and ensure that your team does not hear the news from others.
7. Come-on!!! You need to celebrate the departure of the leaving employee (when the departure is done professionally by the employee)!!! Departures are as important as Welcoming!!! Departure celebration are allowing your employee to truly feel appreciated! The celebration should be in proportion to the employee contribution and years working for the company (not only for the time reporting to you!!!)

To you think of any other advises to provide? What is your point of view, please comment

Starting a new job? See here how to make a killing!

Congratulations on your new challenges!!!

You feel Excited? Energized? Motivated? Fired Up? Alive? Enthusiastic? and... a bit Nerve Racking! I so get you!

For how much painful it can be to get into a new role, I also really enjoy the discovery phase; getting to know the stakeholders, the team members, the decision makers, the business dynamic, the scope of work, the risks, the current issues...

The reality is that even if people know that you are an outsider in your role, they kind of forget that you are new and you have a learning curve to go through.

I just started a mandate in early 2010 in one of the largest company in Canada and my role was as I was working on the governance component related to their largest IT and Business Transformation Program. So here I am the first morning meeting with the Program manager that was responsible for my integration - Before noon I already got in my court 4 critical complex issues that needed to be addressed for Yesterday.

Here's the thing: no matter how ''rushy'' and critical the issues seems to be when ever you enter a new role, most of the time those issues have been ''haunting'' the house for a while.

So, with that being said; here is what I suggest you to make a big hit right from the start and to not let yourself dive without knowing where you are going too fast - this is what I am doing and what I started practicing a few years ago

1. Split your job in 2 streams of work;
• one is for the tactical activities: The mistake that people usually do is to get in a job and work in a short term perspective, they do not bloc anytime for a more strategic stream. Tactical activities would be for me to fix the governance issues in the roles and responsibilities for the next phase of the project versus the entire program - tactical tasks are looking for short term results. It is however important that you don't go the other way and only focus on the strategic stream as people will get frustrated quickly as they will have the feeling that you are not helping them at all since you arrived. Take control of the tactical activities that has to be performed and make sure that you prioritize them well to go get the biggest impact you can quickly. You have to demonstrate quickly your ability to make things happen fast especially when you are new to an organisation. Your team needs to know and see that you are taking control on the operational aspects.
• the other is the strategic stream: The strategic stream is the stream that will create long term value in the organisation. You will take your function and quickly make an assessment of the current situation; look at your organisational structure, understand current roles and responsibilities, understand business financial figures, your current team impact in the organization (from a budget and revenue perspective if applicable), your current business processes, the volume of transactions and department performance versus similar industry for example, your current people skills and performance. Involve your team when possible - Do not scare them right from the start by saying that you will put in place a transformation program 1 day after you are in place! On the other hand, management team is expecting you to think outside the box and help them create value!
2. Do a 30-60-90 day plan and submit it about 2 weeks after you came on board. You will build a plan that you will present to your boss early when you arrive. Ask your boss his input before you communicate the plan to your employees! The plan's objective is for you to get organised and ensure that all angles of your work (tactical and strategic) will be addressed within the first 90 days.
3. Go buy a notebook that you will use during the first 90 days of your assignment. This notebook is not meant to be used to take meeting notes - it is meant to be kept to put your thoughts, observations and questions on the current situation. You will write in there your ideas on potential improvement areas and potential solutions to be looked at later on. This book will be very useful and you will be able to go back to your notes months after! A president already told me that the first 90 days are the most productive as you are still objective and get to really understand the business... Try it, it really works!
4. Be professional and organized. It is simple but too many people don't do it. Do it even if the company you are working in is not organised! Only plan meeting when require. Send agenda a head and make sure that you have everyone you need. Take meeting minutes making sure that the actions are clear and that decisions taken are documented. Maintain an issue log. Have a plan. Pay attention to your verbal and written communications. Don't waste your time and respect the precious time of others! BE NICE all the time, try to find constructive ways of expressing your point of view. Be transparent while being constructive again.

Good luck!!!!

How to build a strong reputation

Your name, your reputation is a the most precious brand at work!

I realized today how important it is to always leave an impeccable track where ever we work! The truth is that most of the key jobs are filled in by someone that knew someone.

Two elements are crucial: First, build a strong and long lasting network and second ensure that you always excel in any mandates you are given or always leave in excellent terms with your clients, colleagues and partners.

As I just confirmed my commitment last week on a new engagement, I just received a call today from a Company that I worked for in 2001... The CIO happens to be someone that I met in 2001 in that company and whom was reporting at the time to the ex-CIO in a special project position. We quickly connected but left the company shortly after as we moved elsewhere with my husband. So 9 years later, I receive a phone call in regards to a position to be filled in his team as someone pointed out to him my resume.

Even thought I cannot break my new commitment I made last week, I will perform my mandate but will surely look forward to meet with the new CIO to identify potential opportunities for the future.

Take control of your reputation;

• Focus on adding value everyday single day, in each conversation, in each meeting, in each deliverables
• Be nice with EVERYBODY (from receptionist to board members), respect others;
• Always keep in touch with ex-colleagues even the ones your worked with 10 years ago;
• Be active in networking including social Internet networking like Linked In/ conferences;
• Finish what you started when leaving a job or project or perform a knowledge transfer;
• Know your stuff and use lots of MODESTY;

• Learn, learn, learn and apply your learnings to practice;
• Be a great leader, inspire your team / it's difficult to keep an great reputation if you really don't care about your people! Serve them, help them , coach team, guide them.

You never know!