Services and Expertise
New Leader Assimilation
Executive turnover can represent a tremendous cost to an organization's bottom line, with some estimates as high as 500 percent of total compensation costs.
Creating stability is a key organizational imperative during leadership transitions. From the minute a new leader arrives, the race is on to learn about that leader, to test expectations, values, and hot button issues. People need help to acclimate to the new leader’s style, and the new leader, in turn, wants to create a transparent platform for working together and leading his/her new team into action.
Crossland’s new leader assimilation process is an accelerated, non-threatening way to get answers to important questions and openly address concerns the team may have. It‘s an interactive, facilitated process that fast-tracks learning, enhances early bonding, and reenergizes the team. In effect, the assimilation process becomes the first engagement with the new leader, where team members simultaneously experience his/her leadership style and core values.
“Teri made the transition fast and smooth. The challenge the first year could have been figuring out what the gaps were. Instead, we were able to immediately jump right into them because the foundation was made so clear by the Crossland team.”
-Chinwe Effiong, President,
Junior Achievement Africa
"Learning about your team is critical in the first months of tenure ..."
Catharine Howard Taylor is the vice president of the Center for Health Services (CHS) at Management Sciences for Health.
"Joining a new organization as a senior leader requires a steep learning curve and is a risky endeavor. As a new leader, you have to understand the organization's business, as well as critical aspects of the organization's culture, its ability to change, and above all, the team's expectations of the new leader. As part of my onboarding, I undertook the
New Leader Assimilation Process (NLAP) lead by the Crossland Group. It was invaluable.
Crossland conducted interviews, meetings, and discussions with the team—some of which I was present at, others at which I was not. This two-pronged approach enabled the staff to discuss how they felt about the team and its role within the organization, but also what their initial impressions and expectations were of me. Crossland then collated the team's responses and was able to identify themes that formed the basis of my personal objectives. I now use these objectives as part of my dashboard for monitoring my progress.
I would certainly recommend that any new leader undertake this process. Learning about your team is critical in the first months of tenure, and the NLAP is a very good and safe way to do so. In addition to helping me as a new leader, the team also felt valued and respected having been part of the process. This had a really beneficial effect on how I was able to operate in the early days of my role when people were still learning to trust me."
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Photo Credit: Kevin Dooley
