Executive Onboarding

Executive Onboarding
PREFACE
The actions undertaken by executives during their first three
months in a new job will largely determine whether they succeed
or fail in the long run.
In the United States, every year, more than 25% of the working
population experience career transitions. 1 Unfortunately, a large
proportion of these transitions are unsuccessful mainly due to
ineffective onboarding processes. In fact, when it comes to
leaders, research indicates that 40% of hired senior executives
either fail to achieve the desired results, quit or are pushed out of
the organization within 18 months. 2 Based on thousands of hires
in Denmark and Europe, it is our experience that a lack of
structured support to newly externally hired executives from
their new employer during the onboarding phase, combined with
these executives not performing the necessary in-depth due
diligence prior to signing the employment contract, is among the
key contributors for executives failing to transition into new
roles.
When it comes to transitioning internally hired executives to their
next career level, the tendency is similar. In fact, research
indicates that nearly 40% of internal job moves made by people
identified by their companies as “high-potential” end in failure. 3
For one reason, indicated by research, is that inflated appraisal
systems for the identification of future leaders have caused up to
1 Rollag, K., Parise, & Cross, R. (2005). Getting new hires up to speed quickly, MIT Sloan
Management Review, 46, pp. 35-41.
2 Masters, B. (2009). Rise of a headhunter.
3 Martin, J., & Smith, C. (2010). How to keep your top talent. Harvard Business Review.
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