The leadership transition marks the beginning of a critical time and is often associated with significant change. Organizations expend valuable resources to find, hire and relocate leaders. Concurrent with this, organizations often have high performance expectations and complex dynamics that new leaders must address. New leaders are often asked to either correct/improve performance, strategically grow the business and or address cultural and normative issues— a tall order!

If you are a new leader, or will become one soon, we suggest you use your "new leader status" to your advantage. Capitalize upon this unique window in time to review, understand and re-clarify; work unit mission, IPO's / organizational structure, project status, performance measures/trends & scorekeeping process, cultural / normative "rules" and the implications of future challenges on performance.

These can be great topics for you to inquire into and or have structured group discussions about. If you suspect more than minor changes in these areas then try to think first about a transparent / collaborative process for raising awareness, building and implementing the case for change. Making the above discoveries early should also position you to work proactively to request needed resources and negotiate expectations with your boss.

Your new leader status also legitimizes a refocus on relationships, teamwork / teambuilding, revisiting membership and leadership expectations and focus on employee performance and development.

Whenever you transition as a leader you know that from a change management perspective, everyone is EXPECTING some change. This is both the blessing and the curse of the first nine months.

What do you think is an essential step or issue new leaders must address? What other activities do we know need to occur and what are common challenges associated with the transition period?