Manage transition well, and you’re home free

“The First 90 Days”
By Michael Watkins
Harvard Business School Press, 2003

As the dust of battle settles after bruising bouts in the just concluded national and local elections, the neophyte winners are confronted with the question: How do I deliver on my campaign premises, and thus fulfill the people’s mandate (again, that overused word)?

As for the President-to-be (is it the incumbent?), she is given 100 days – not 90 -- to prove that she was the right choice – and she really should be “hitting the ground running,” the fighting phrase of former President Fidel V. Ramos. It’s also a featured phrase in this book, “The First 90 Days,” sub-titled “Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels.”

This book is actually addressed to a CEO – and, yes, any other leader at any significant level. He (she) has just been hired for, or promoted to, a new position – and he is expected to show results in the next three months.

“The First 90 Days” is actually a sequel to an earlier book, “Right from the Start,” featured in February 4, 2001 in Sunday Biz -- right after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo GMA) took over as President from Joseph Estrada. It is quite uncanny that this new book came to our attention virtually on the eve of her proclamation (?) as President to serve for a full year term of six years.

Thus, the new book dwells on familiar themes of “building coalitions,” and “securing early wins.” And yet, author Michael Watkins has many new things to offer with this book. The book has been structured to deal with promoting yourself, accelerating your learning, securing early wins, negotiating success, achieving alignment – and keeping your balance.

It has a lot to say about how one should “manage the transition” between the past (when the post was held by someone else) and the present (when it is you “on the saddle”). The book offers many heartbreaking stories too --of failure and missteps – only to use such tales to draw lessons.

One executive, wrongly diagnosing the problem, brought in new machines and installed new systems – only to bring down productivity to unprecedented low levels. Another executive, eager to show success quickly, rode roughshod over others -- causing widespread demoralization.

This book is strong in table and charts – which effectively reinforce points raised in a not-so-heavy text. A good example is the chart on “Key Transition Milestones,” which can be any leader’s guide in planning his first 90-day stewardship of his new job.

Another fine model is a table on the “Challenges and Opportunities of Transition Types.” The author devoted lengthier analysis to these transition types – which are “Start-up,” “Turnaround,” Realignment,” and “Sustaining Success” (with STaRS as acronym).

He explains: “In a Start-up, you are charged with assembling the capabilities to get a new business or project off the ground.” You are starting fresh with a virgin “land,” and you have a free hand with a tabula rasa (a blank sheet). In a Turnaround transition, the author says, you take on a unit or group that is recognized to be in trouble and “work to get it back on track.” You are a turnaround artist (remember, don’t mistake this with “turnabout” – when the board members who hired you would change their minds oh so suddenly).

The third transition type is Realignment, says the author, and your immediate challenge is “to revitalize a unit, product, process or project that is drifting into trouble.” In a sustaining-success situation, you are supposed to have the responsibility for preserving the vitality of a successful organization and taking it to the next level. The last is a “tough act to follow,” if your predecessor is topnotch.

The STaRS model is any newcomer’s guide to pinpoint what he should do first in the next 90 days. And the book walks you through a mix of initiatives so that you can successfully navigate the transition. And thus keep your job.

Yes, it isn’t easy to be placed in position of great responsibility – but this book is saying that there is method in fail-safe preparation and successful tour of duty in 90 days – and beyond.

Another useful tip in this book is the chapter titled “Negotiate Success.” Does it mean that you want the board or your boss to so lower your targets that you can easily achieve them hands-down? Far from it. It is saying this: “Negotiating success means proactively engaging with your new boss to shape the game so you have a fighting chance of achieving desired goals.”

“Designing organizational architecture,” a section title in the book, is not just a fancy phrase; it is one of the key functions of a CEO or a top leader. It means that you should design a new organization that fits your strategy. You are not advised to overhaul the entire organizational bureaucracy. But you can use some “elbow room” to create “project management teams,” have access to new advice from a “pool of consultants,” and get results from highly mobile groups to introduce changes.

The book wants you not to miss this advice: Build coalitions. And it introduces the “coalition-building cycle” to make sure you don’t rush headlong into making changes in a landscape that could be full of landmines – without getting support from people of influence within your organization. The policy is simple: Manage the 90-day transition well – and you are home free.