Super Worker to Leader - How much are these internal transitions costing your Company?

Challenge Your Thinking

Super Worker to Leader - How much are these internal transitions costing your Company?

No matter what terminology a company or organization uses, when they promote from within, it typically involves a "Super Worker" moving from individual contributor to leader with a title change and an expectation of performance. Have you ever stopped to consider what kind of metamorphic experience a Super Worker promoted on Friday goes through over a weekend to return Monday morning prepared to be a leader of people?

You might think of it as "The Weekend Miracle"

Webster defines a miracle as an event or action that apparently contradicts known scientific laws and is hence thought to be due to super natural causes. This practice touches upon the supernatural when you consider that almost all of these promotions or transitions require hot landings where the new leader is expected to hit the ground running. The contradiction is, an average of 40% of new leaders going into starting roles fail within 18 months. Studies done between 1998 and 2005 by the Center for Creative Leadership, Right Management, Leadership I.Q. and Top Grading's Brad Smart confirm these findings.

Depending on your perspective, you may think that poor hiring practices and undeserved promotions are the primary reasons for these failed transitions. There is no doubt organizations today have to be more deliberate in their hiring practices to compete for and attract the best talent for their organizations. However, considering the percentage of transitions that fail, the number is much too high not to be understood as a development challenge. While failed transitions and turnover are costly to organizations, you can't underestimate the impact on the most talented performers who lose trust in leadership and begin to emotionally separate from the company. The price tag associated with turnover varies by position and industry, however it generally includes the cost of recruitment, training, lost productivity, lost sales and new hire costs.

The following sources offer a rule of thumb calculation based on annual salary:

U.S. Department of Labor

Global Organization Consulting

As the Executive V.P. of Human Resources located in Paris, I had the functional leadership challenge of evolving an existing HR organization into an international team capable of meeting the professional challenges of a changing French global manufacturing business.

Based on the initial geographical challenges we faced, I engaged Norm Gauthier to provide organizational consulting support in the U.S. I knew he was someone I could work with and trust, especially in working remotely with me from Europe. His experience, allowed him to quickly assess what we had, the major challenges we faced, and helped identify step by step what needed to be done. He also helped define the needs in terms of skills and competencies required in building an effective international HR presence.

He used his business consulting experience and knowledge of HR practice to carefully focus on individual and collective development 'gaps' creating conditions that allowed team members to take risks, experience new roles and ...in the end take on more of a leadership position. During this change management process, he took on individual and team coaching assignments in support of several organizational initiatives. He also developed several international train-the-trainer development modules, linking each to the staged development and roll-out of critical management tools.

Results of the work… we now have a worldwide HR organization that uses the same processes and tools despite their location in the world, which is rare for a Global company. Our HR members are recognized by Business Unit management as professionals they involve early in the change process to provide advice and counsel. And, with the focus on developing leadership and accountability at the operational HR management level, the team now exercises a different level of problem solving and collaboration that requires less leadership time and involvement in decision making.

An outstanding work quality that is very effective…Norman respects the fine line between the 'decision maker' and the team - thus creating a challenging environment for the boss and a safe environment for the team to take on initiatives and risk - learning conditions that we needed.

J. Dekker,
Executive V.P., Human Resources Sperian Protection