Onboarding Coaching
After an intense procedure of search and selection you start with a new challenge in your career. Starting a new job at executive level, outside your known environment, outside your comfort zone. You want to become effective and productive as fast as possible in this new role.
The importance of an onboarding coach
There is proven evidence of the importance of onboarding coaching in an executive role, especially from outside your own company: from the very beginning of your new job you operate in a complex and delicate arena. On the one hand you are confronted with the day to day demands from the existing organization; on the other hand it is important to set your own agenda with your own priorities of issues which you deem of strategic importance.
You are all alone at the start of your new executive role
First, you need to observe thoroughly what is going on in your new company, get a grasp of the company culture, your colleagues and the interpersonal relations. But in addition: you need to perform strongly right from day 1, take firm decisions, deal with pressing shortcomings and initiate.
Both these elements are essential and concurrent. It is very hard to perform both effectively as well as considerate. Right from the start you need to make choices; take big and small decisions all the time. You are on you own, as there has been no time yet to make alliances in your organization. There are pitfalls you need to see and avoid.
An experienced coach in the background
Whatever choice you make: you need to take charge, give direction and show leadership. You will need all your agility and empathy to be as effective as possible in your new leadership role.
Your onboarding coach is your partner in the background, an ally in this lonely situation at the start. Your coach is a subject matter expert whom you can trust and confide your challenges and who can provide you with a ‘critical mirror’ as and when needed. Someone who can take you out of the daily heat of kitchen of your organization.
The onboarding coaching trajectory
Issues and topics that will certainly be part of the QUIST onboarding coaching are:
ORGANISATION STRATEGY
Is there a clear strategy in your new organization and how is the strategy applied in practice? What plans are there? What is your opinion about these plans, are they coherent? What would you like to adjust, change or add?
PHASE OF YOUR NEW COMPANY
Analyze the strategic phase of your new company: fast growth: turn around – repositioning – sustain success and expand. This will likely determine your role and how to play your leadership role in the organization.
BROAD INTRODUCTION
Familiarize yourself extensively within the organization: not only your Management Team or the Advisory council but engage with a broad spectrum of all stakeholders in the organization.
YOUR NEW TEAM
Assess your team, the individual roles and the performance and dynamics of the team.
YOUR PRESENCE
Visible presence and personal impact. Define your key themes/ goals and end game: What are achievements after 3 to 4 years?
WORK – LIFE BALANCE
If work and life are in balance you can perform at your best. You do as you say and you say as you do, whether at work or at home: ‘you walk the talk’. Your onboarding coach will help you to keep that balance or get the balance right.
QUIST onboarding coaching is taylor made
Our onboarding program is tailor made for your needs and wishes. During 6- 12 months you will have
6- 9 coaching sessions. After that you are well landed in your new job. You have been avoiding pitfalls, made the right choices and you are operationally effective. You know you add positive net value to your company.
Our onboarding coaches
Books like ‘The first 90 days’ by Michael Watkins or ‘Your first 100 Days in a New Executive Job’ by Robert Hargrove can help you to prepare yourself for your new job but it is so much more convenient to have an experienced executive coach at your side to support you in this first phase. A coach who knows the ‘rules’ of this complex game. All QUIST onboarding coaches have been in that same position as you are now: they had their doubts, they had to make tradeoffs, they ran into pitfalls and lacked a trusted ally. With this rich experience they are the best choice to coach you and to back you in this new dynamic job.