While working with a poster child of leadership job search AND wanting to up the odds of her getting the job and starting successfully during those critical first 90 days, I looked for a kickstarter.
The tool I chose was Pam Fox Rollins’ 42 Rules for Your New Leadership Role: The Manual They Didn’t Hand You When You Made VP, Director, or Manager.
I met Pam in Toronto at a corporate coaching conference in 2002 where we were both passionate about coaching and psychological type (MBTI®). Afterwards she initiated a Type and Coaching leadership teleconference series which she led for five years and which still continues today. Each year she introduces new type and coaching ideas at conferences, in her writing, and at her company, IdeaShape Coaching and Consulting.
Her two decades of experience coaching senior leaders, helping executive teams craft strategy, and guiding Stanford MBA’s led her to write this set of 42 Rules for those who didn’t get a manual when they made VP, director, or manager.
In each Rule’s two pages, Pam has distilled the essence of what to do. The Rules are embedded in one of seven parts of coming onboard successfully in your new position:
1 – Set Yourself Up for Success
2 – Map the Terrain
3 – Show Up Wisely
4 – Start Your Wins
5 – Create Your Management System
6 – Stay Smart
7 – Set You and Your Team to Thrive
What I found especially helpful was her linking within the Rules to other relevant Rules. At the end she provides appendices, each including selected helpful Rules:
A – For Job Seekers
B – Hiring? How to Use this Book
C – For Executive Coaches
D – Myers-Briggs® and More [helpful assessments]
E – Online Resources [at her website]
QUESTION:
What has helped you be successful when taking on a new leadership role, either in a new or your current company? What were some of the strategies and tools you used?
Well said Mary Charles! Great action plan!