Accelerating

Your Time
to Impact
Four Keys to a Successful
Leadership Transition
Confidentiality and Intellectual
Property
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without the prior approval of CEB. CEB retains any
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CEB is not able to guarantee the accuracy of the
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Table of Contents
Executive Summary 4

Introduction 6

Where Transition Support Often Falls Short 7

How to Engineer a Successful Transition 9

1. Fit: Improve Your Organizational IQ 11

2. Focus: Gain Consensus on and Clarify the Role 13

3. Future: Proactively Shape the Future 14

4. Friends: Form Connections and an Active Support Network 16

Conclusion 19

How Effectively Are You Managing Your Leadership Transition? 20

CEB’s Leadership Transition Support 22

About CEB 23

Contact Us
LTS@executiveboard.com www.executiveboard.com
to Learn More

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Executive Summary
Four Key Drivers of a Successful Leadership Transition

Fit: Improving Organizational IQ Focus: Creating Role Clarity

Identifying Key Industry Driving Forces Clarifying Performance Goals
Aligning Leadership Style Understanding Transition Risk
Understanding Functional Trends Planning the Transition
Assessing Functional Performance Obtaining Transition Feedback
Evaluating Team Competencies

Improving Creating
Organizational IQ Role Clarity
Fit Focus

Forming Shaping
Connections the Future
Friends Future

Friends: Forming Connections Future: Shaping the Future

Understanding Team Objectives and Achieving Quick Wins
Concerns
(Re)defining Strategic Priorities
Meeting Business Partners’ Expectations
Managing Change Initiatives
Engaging Critical Stakeholders
Driving Functional Performance
Source: CEB analysis.

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Executive Summary (Continued)
Transitioning into a new leadership role can be
one of the most stressful career milestones for an
individual at any level of the corporation—and a
disruptive event for an organization and its people.
Getting transitions right is critical.
You have the skills and experience to succeed
in your new role. Here’s what you need to know
about context, culture, and community.
A well-engineered transition process accelerates
a new leader’s success and creates more value
for the organization. New leaders with effective
transition planning and execution reach their
potential nine months faster than those with
average transition processes. And successful
transitions not only accelerate time to impact but
also improve team performance and engagement.
Direct reports of successful transitioning leaders
are 15% more effective and 21% less prone to
attrition than the average direct report.
Although transitions affect organizational
performance and occur regularly, new-to-role
executives do not receive the support they
need. Nearly 70% of peers and managers are
underprepared or unavailable to provide
the support new-to-role leaders need. HR
departments are prepared to help, but often their
support is mistimed (too narrowly focused on
the first 100 days) and misdirected (too narrowly
focused on the transitioning leader, not the
transition community).
Accelerating Your Time to Impact
© 2014 CEB. All rights reserved. NPD8518614SYN
New-to-role leaders often navigate their transitions
alone, onboarding themselves while trying to
establish a new vision for their organizations
and quickly execute high-impact projects. New
leaders face an overwhelming number of tasks
during their first few months in seat. What should
they prioritize? We asked that question in a study
comprising data from nearly 6,000 leaders and
hundreds of interviews with recently transitioned
leaders at large organizations. We identified the
controllable actions leaders can take to dramatically
boost the likelihood of success. These actions focus
on four critical areas:
1. Fit—Understanding and adapting to the
organization’s culture, business model, and
capabilities
2. Focus—Gaining consensus on the new role
from stakeholders who will be affected by
the transition
3. Future—Defining strategic priorities and
scoring quick wins
4. Friends—Identifying and forming a support
network of key stakeholders
This white paper presents our proprietary
framework of action steps that can accelerate your
time to success in a new leadership role by up to
nine months.
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5
Introduction
Whenever a high-profile leadership transition
takes place, industry watchers and media pundits
analyze enthusiastically. Does the new executive
have the right experience for the job? The right
skills? Can he or she turn the company around—or
continue its successful course? Can this successor
clean up the debacle left by a predecessor—or
measure up to the legacy of a beloved and wildly
successful one?
Within the organization, the new leader’s peers,
managers, and direct reports ask the same
questions. In essence, does this individual have
what it takes?
These are all valid questions, but they miss the point
that the transitioning leader’s success depends not
only on individual skills and attributes but on the
actions the leader takes to:
§§ Understand the organizational culture,
§§ Gain consensus on and clarify the role,
§§ Define strategic priorities and score quick
wins, and
§§ Earn credibility with their teams and
stakeholders.
Performance of New-to-Role Leader’s
Direct Reports
∆ = 15%
Underperforming Effective
Transition Transition
Source: CEB analysis.
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6 Accelerating Your Time to Impact
Everybody in the organization—not just the
transitioning leader—has a stake in a smooth and
successful transition. A well-engineered transition
process accelerates a new leader’s success and
creates more value for the organization. New
leaders with effective transition planning and
execution reach their potential nine months
faster than those with average transition
processes. And successful transitions not only
accelerate time-to-impact, but they also improve
team performance and engagement. In fact, direct
reports of successful transitioning leaders are
15% more effective and 21% less prone to attrition
than the average direct report.
If you are preparing for a leadership transition or
are in the middle of one, what can you do to achieve
these results? What actions should you prioritize?
We found some surprising answers based on
data from nearly 6,000 leaders and hundreds of
interviews with recently transitioned leaders at
large organizations.
First, let’s look at what makes transitions difficult
and risky for many leaders—and why new-to-
role leaders must proactively and systematically
manage their own transitions.
Intent to Stay of New-to-Role Leader’s
Direct Reports
∆ = 21%
Underperforming Effective
Transition Transition
Source: CEB analysis.
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Where Transition Support Often Falls Short
We found three key reasons many leaders struggle
during the transition period, even when they
have all the requisite qualifications. Typical
transition support does not prepare leaders to face
ever-growing expectations; this support is typically
mistimed (focusing on the first 90 or 100 days)
and misdirected (focusing too narrowly on the
transitioning leader, not the transition community).
1. Increasing expectations require better
leadership transition support.
Compared to just a few years ago, corporate leaders
face more pressures and expectations in a more
complex and fast-changing environment. In a global
survey of 23,000 senior leaders and managers, we
discovered that:

80%
have been given more
responsibility.

76%
are being asked
to achieve more and
broader objectives.

65%
must deliver business
results faster.

54%
have had frequent shifts
in job responsibilities.

50%
have a more global role.

Source: CEB 2013 The Rise of the Network Leader:

Reframing Leadership in the New Work Environment.

These result show it is now harder than ever to

impress the top executives—or to be one.

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Where Transition Support Often Falls Short
(Continued)
2. Transition support is often mistimed and
focused on the short term.
HR teams offer transition support mainly during
the first 100 days of a leader’s tenure, as research on
leadership transitions almost universally identifies
this period as a critical, make-or-break time for
the leader’s future at the company. You’ll find a
lot of publication titles like “The First 90 Days” or
“The New Leader’s 100-Day Action Plan” when
browsing topic support.
Although the first 100 days represent a critical
adjustment period, the actual transition period is far
longer than that; new senior leaders often plateau
after six to nine months. Leading organizations
support transitioning leaders well beyond—and in
some cases before—the famous “first 100 days.”
Perhaps these newfound approaches focus
too much on the leader and not enough on the
surrounding network. HR teams traditionally
focus on developing the competencies of the
transitioning individual, but we found that the
transition community has equal influence on the
leader’s success. Unfortunately, this community
does not receive the guidance needed to support
leadership transitions, and of the people tasked
to support senior leadership transitions, less than
one-third successfully perform the job.
Less than one-third
of the people tasked to support
senior leadership transitions can
effectively do so.

3. Transition support is often misdirected and

focused too narrowly on the individual.
Research shows that leaders spend millions
of dollars each year on books, trainings, and
consultants to identify solutions to transition
challenges. There is always a new theory or
approach du jour that promises to solve the
challenges new-to-role leaders face. Companies
spend millions implementing new approaches
while the old ways are discarded as obsolete, and
yet the problems never fully disappear. 1

Source: CEB analysis.

1 Steven V. Manderscheid and Peter D. Freeman, “Managing Polarity, Paradox, and Dilemma During Leader Transition,”
European Journal of Training and Development, 42(2), August 2012.

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How to Engineer a Successful Transition
New-to-role leaders must often navigate their On the principle that “it takes a village,” our
transitions alone—onboarding themselves while proprietary leadership transition framework
simultaneously establishing a new vision for the focuses not only on individual actions but also on
organization and quickly executing high-impact activating a transition community—arming peers
projects. New leaders face a daunting number of and managers with the resources to facilitate your
tasks during their first few months in seat. What success.
should you prioritize?
For each category, the framework sets forth actions
We identified the controllable actions you can take and resources that focus on the individual, as well
to dramatically boost the likelihood of success. as other steps that target your managers, direct
These actions focus on four critical areas: reports, and other stakeholders. The steps outlined
1. Fit—Understanding and adapting to the way here will jump-start a successful transition and
the organization does business, including help you understand, connect to, and mobilize the
organizational culture, business model, and transition community.
current capabilities
2. Focus—Clarifying role expectations with
direct reports and peers who will be
affected by the transition
3. Future—Defining strategic priorities and
carrying out transition initiatives
4. Friends—Identifying and connecting with
key stakeholders

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How to Engineer a Successful Transition
(Continued)
Four Key Drivers of a Successful Leadership Transition

Fit: Improving Organizational IQ Focus: Creating Role Clarity

Identifying Key Industry Driving Forces Clarifying Performance Goals
Aligning Leadership Style Understanding Transition Risk
Understanding Functional Trends Planning the Transition
Assessing Functional Performance Obtaining Transition Feedback
Evaluating Team Competencies

Improving Creating
Organizational IQ Role Clarity
Fit Focus

Forming Shaping
Connections the Future
Friends Future

Friends: Forming Connections Future: Shaping the Future

Understanding Team Objectives and Achieving Quick Wins
Concerns
(Re)defining Strategic Priorities
Meeting Business Partners’ Expectations
Managing Change Initiatives
Engaging Critical Stakeholders
Driving Functional Performance
Source: CEB analysis.

Our proprietary leadership transition framework focuses not only on individual action but also on activating
the transition community—arming peers and managers with the resources to facilitate your success.

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1. Fit: Improve Your Organizational IQ
Most new executives say they understand the
politics and dynamics of the organization, but many
fall into one of four culture-clash traps. They will:
§§ Assume their title and reputation are enough
to gain support and influence.
§§ Resist making the personal changes necessary
to fit into the existing culture.
§§ Press too hard in their effort to be change
agents and alienate those who prefer the
status quo.
§§ Drive to get things done without forming
alliances with those they have no authority
over.
Real-Life Situation
Situation:
Peter Lewis joins a major services organization
as a senior sales executive. Coming from an
individual-focused organizational culture, he
has been socialized to compete with others
and sees conflict as a positive stimulus for
development and progress. His new company
follows a collectivist orientation: Executives
dislike social disagreement, and conflict is
regarded as anything but healthy. Maintaining
interpersonal relationships and harmony is key.
Peter’s previous career experience shapes his
behavior, and he fails to adjust to the culture of
the new organization.
Result:
As Peter does not take time to understand
the culture of his new company, his colleagues
perceive him as over-competitive and
combative. They do not support Peter, and
he cannot achieve his goals. His tenure in the
company lasts six months.
Accelerating Your Time to Impact
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Our research shows that initial cultural
misalignment between transitioning leaders’ values
and those of the new organization can decrease
the likelihood of leadership transition success by
up to 15%. To avoid this misalignment, you must
understand the most pertinent dimensions of the
organization’s culture. For instance:
§§ Is the organizational structure layered, with
multiple levels of decision making—or is it
flat?
§§ Are workflows, processes, and policies loosely
defined or highly structured?
§§ Does the company strive for incremental
improvement or breakthrough innovation?
§§ Does the company prize trial-and-error
experimentation, or is it risk averse?
§§ Are new strategies evaluated at a high-level or
in comprehensive detail?
§§ Does the organization look internally or
outwardly for ideas?
“In order to understand and adjust to a new
organization’s style, new-to-role executives must
proactively pressure-test what they hear to uncover
the true corporate culture,” said Peter Nolan, former
European head of Sales and Marketing at Electrolux
and a transition mentor for CEB members. “This
pressure testing can happen through conversations
with key ‘knowledge agents,’ by always having
ready probing questions, and by comparing what is
said to what is done.”
“Take what you’ve learned in your discussions
and compare that to how the company actually
works. The gap between how a company thinks
it works and how it actually works can often be
the gap between success and failure.”
Peter Nolan
Former head of Sales and Marketing
Electrolux
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11
1. Fit: Improve Your Organizational IQ (Continued)
Once you get a better understanding of your new
organization’s culture, you need to understand
whether you are being asked to fit into the culture
or change it. Cultural values can then be translated
into behaviors and built into an action plan that
embodies those values, rather than one that tries to
counteract or overturn them.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Action Steps in CEB’s Anatomy of a Leadership Transition

Identify key industry forces, such as competitive positioning, that affect the company’s
business.
Understand and achieve alignment between your personal style and the corporate style.
Understand how functional macro trends affect your role and practices.
Assess your function’s performance, and understand its strengths and weaknesses.
Define the competencies that drive high performance, and measure your new team
members against those competencies.

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2. Focus: Gain Consensus on and Clarify the Role
Research shows that leaders need more time “The successor’s hands are tied. If he pushes
with their managers to establish clarity in their too hard, he alienates the CEO; if he doesn’t
push hard enough, his performance doesn’t
accountabilities and to see what success looks like.
warrant a promotion to the top spot.”
The collective plea of leaders sounds like this: Help
me understand what success looks like in my new The Successor’s Dilemma
role, show me with examples, and help me think Dan Ciampa and Michael Watkins
differently so I can contribute to the development Harvard Business Review
of my people and appropriately influence the
While the transitioning leader cannot forestall
organization. 1
human nature, the savvy leader will analyze and
In addition to understanding performance understand its effects. It is critical for new-to-
expectations, new leaders must understand role leaders to gain consensus on and clarify their
transition risks, such as possible envy from others performance goals; their stakeholders must buy
who were passed over for the role. A 10-year into and support their objectives. Furthermore, it
research initiative studying hundreds of executives is important that leaders get feedback on transition
shows that regardless of the economic climate, processes to understand how new stakeholders
people at all levels of a firm are vulnerable to view and receive their actions.
envy. This feeling intensifies in times of economic
crisis. As losses mount, employees worry their
jobs are in jeopardy, and their resentment to
successful colleagues also increases. Envy damages
relationships, disrupts teams, and undermines
organizational performance. 2

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Action Steps in CEB’s Anatomy of a Leadership Transition

Gain consensus on and clarify performance goals for the short, medium,
and long term.
Understand transition risks and where you might need support.
Develop a transition plan that accounts for your situational and cultural risks.
Get focused, 360-degree feedback on your performance, and adjust as needed.

1 Matt Paese, PhD, and Simon Mitchell, “Leaders in Transition: Stepping Up, Not Off,” Development Dimensions International,
May 2007.
2 Tanya Menon and Leigh Thompson, “Envy at Work,” Harvard Business Review, April 2010.

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3. Future: Proactively Shape the Future
As new-to-role leaders clarify expectations about
their role, they also must start defining their new
strategic priorities for the team and scoring quick
wins. A quick win reassures the leader’s superiors
that they made the right promotion decision.
It inspires credibility and confidence in team
members, and it signals to peers that a capable
equal has joined their ranks—one who is up to the
task of proactively shaping the future.
CEB Learning & Development Leadership Council
surveyed 5,400 leaders new to their roles and
their managers to find patterns that distinguished
thriving leaders from struggling ones. Most of
the high-performing new leaders had indeed
managed to secure a quick win—a new and visible
contribution to the success of the business, made
early in their tenure. This was a relevant but
unsurprising find. Management experts often
advise newly promoted executives to put points on
the board fast.
What is most surprising is that leaders’ desire
to demonstrate success as quickly as possible in
their new roles led to toxic behaviors that harmed
their performance in the long term. These toxic
behaviors include jumping to hasty conclusions,
not recognizing others’ contributions, quickly
dismissing others’ ideas, and micromanaging
direct reports. Adept leaders recognize that their
enthusiasm for a quick win may be matched by
their new team’s wariness—and that success will
depend on actively engaging team members rather
than hoping for their acquiescence.
Adept leaders recognize that their enthusiasm
for a quick win may be matched by their new
team’s wariness—and that success will depend
on actively engaging team members rather
than hoping for their acquiescence.
1 Mark E. Van Buren and Todd Safferstone, “The Quick Wins Paradox,” Harvard Business Review, January 2009.
Table of Contents
14
Quick wins should not be about your personal
scoreboard or pet projects but rather your
management of a group of individuals. A focus
on collective quick wins ensures your work as a
leader is a success. The collective quick win also
accelerates the leader’s knowledge about his or
her team. No amount of one-on-one or group
get-to-know-you conversations can substitute for
the knowledge gained from leading your team in
action. Working toward a collective quick win
gives you a unique opportunity to learn about the
strengths, weaknesses, motivations, and dynamics
of your group. 1
Real-Life Situation
Situation:
Loretta Walsh is promoted from store manager
to manager of a newly formed district.
Worried that some colleagues might question
her readiness, she is eager to prove herself.
Previously she had increased sales with in-
store displays and advertising, and Loretta
decides to replicate that success at the district
level. She devotes herself to understanding
each store’s color scheme, amount of open
counter space, and square footage available
for window ads.
Result:
Because Loretta personally attends to all
details, her team members see no role for
themselves in this effort. She ignores many of
the performance issues her team considers to
be higher priorities. Within nine months, traffic
increases in a few stores, but year-over-year
sales drop in most of them. Loretta eventually
moves into a non-management position.
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3. Future: Proactively Shape the Future (Continued)

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Action Steps in CEB’s Anatomy of a Leadership Transition

Identify early wins that enlist the full participation of your new team.
Define (or redefine) a long-term strategic plan that aligns with corporate vision.
Manage change initiatives through plans that address communication, buy-in, and
minimizing conflict.
Encourage stretch performance, using defined metrics to track and drive the function’s
performance.

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4. Friends: Form Connections and an Active
Support Network
A review of literature on leadership transitions
suggests that both academicians and consultants
tend to consider the transitioning leader in
isolation. But having a network of colleagues and
peers who can provide feedback, guidance, and
insight is essential to a successful transition.
Research shows that because few companies have
built-in systems to facilitate leadership transitions,
successors must create their own support networks
to navigate their transitions. This is especially
acute in a CEO transition: Most boards of directors
disappear once the successor is hired and only
check in periodically. Similarly, most HR teams
find it difficult to support the new CEO, primarily
because they cannot position themselves as the
trusted mediator necessary between the CEO and
his or her designated successor. 1
“Relationships are critical for getting things
done….One potential pitfall is assuming that
‘knowing someone’ equals ‘relationship.’ New
leaders can overestimate the strength of a
relationship or over-rely on their reputation to
establish credibility with peers and others.”
Stumbling to the Top: The Challenge and
Complexity of Internal Leadership Transitions
RHR International (2010)
You greatly increase your odds of success when
you establish a support community that includes
your new manager, previous manager, peers, and
direct reports. Organizations should equip these
people with the tools and resources to participate
in making your transition successful—and you
must know how to activate that network. There
are different benefits and interaction styles at each
level:
1 Dan Ciampa and Michael Watkins, “The Successor’s Dilemma,” Harvard Business Review, Nov-Dec 1999.
Table of Contents
16
§§ Managers (previous and new) can provide
business perspective and ongoing feedback
on your ideas and strategies from a corporate
vantage point.
§§ Peers can improve a new leader’s
performance by up to 20% by sharing ideas
and action-oriented solutions through lateral
coaching.
§§ Direct reports should engage in upward
coaching and share candid information
about the team’s strengths, weaknesses, and
challenges.
Conventional wisdom focuses on the
importance of the competencies of the
transitioning individual. Finding the most
qualified individual for the leadership role
is only part of the picture. We found that
leading organizations significantly emphasize
understanding and mobilizing the transition
community as active transition partners for the
new leader.
Do not wait to see if this support materializes.
Identify your critical internal and external
stakeholders, understand their perceptions and
expectations, and proactively engage them in your
transition. Change them from passive observers to
active transition partners.
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4. Friends: Form Connections and an Active
Support Network (Continued)
The Transition Community’s Influence on a Leader’s Success Equals That of
Candidate Competencies

Focus of the Typical

Leadership Transition

Executive
Competencies
and Activities

Situational Support

Additional Components
of the Most Successful
Active Transition Community Leadership Transitions

Repeatable Transition Process

Source: CEB analysis.

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4. Friends: Form Connections and an Active
Support Network (Continued)

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Action Steps in CEB’s Anatomy of a Leadership Transition

Understand direct reports’ concerns and objectives through open discussion and team
exercises.
Understand business partners’ top priorities and how you will be graded against them.
Identify critical internal and external stakeholders, and know how to activate them
as a support network.

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Conclusion
Your organization used rigorous methods to
identify a high-performance candidate for the
leadership position—you—but is the environment
conducive to enabling you to perform to your
potential?
Place a Maserati in rush hour traffic on a Los
Angeles freeway…or a potholed back road…
or a school zone on a weekday afternoon, and
you will never get a chance to see its potential.
The most high-performance vehicle cannot
truly perform if the environment won’t allow it.
Success is driven not just by your actions and
talents as a leader, but by many other elements of
the work environment. Getting those elements
right requires a systematic process—enabled by a
broader transition community and mobilized by
you.
The effort is worth it. Research proves that a
well-engineered transition significantly boosts
your success—and helps you achieve it up to nine
months faster. Leaders who effectively manage
their transitions have teams that are more engaged,
Accelerating Your Time to Impact
© 2014 CEB. All rights reserved. NPD8518614SYN
stay engaged, show more discretionary effort, meet
performance goals, and ultimately strengthen
revenue and profit.
The payback makes a compelling case for
rethinking the transition process: Shift away from
a narrow focus on individual attributes to broader
consideration of the context and community
around your new role. Do not allow stakeholders
to act as passive observers; instead, guide them
toward an active transition partnership role.
“…Both individuals and organizations stand
to gain tremendously by taking a closer
look at what it means to make a leadership
transition and to abandon the traditional
sink-or-swim mentalities and practices that
have characterized past environments. Simply
acknowledging that leadership transitions
represent a far more significant career event
than may have been recognized in the past is
a start.” 
Leaders in Transition: Stepping Up, Not Off
Matt Paese, PhD, and Simon Mitchell
Table of Contents
19
How Effectively Are You Managing Your
Leadership Transition?
Assess Your Effectiveness at 16 Key Transition Actions

1. Identifying Key Industry Driving 2. Aligning Leadership Style 3. U

 nderstanding Functional
Forces Trends

I understand the key driving forces
impacting my company's business.
Potential Impact on Transition Success
I understand how my leadership I understand how macro trends are
style aligns with my team's affecting my function’s role and
preferences and the styles of my practices.
peers.
Potential Impact on Transition Success Potential Impact on Transition Success

1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5

Current Effectiveness Current Effectiveness Current Effectiveness

1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5

Personal Self-Assessment Instructions

16. Engaging Critical Stakeholders
Using the scale in the table below, assess the importance of each activity to your
personal transition and current effectiveness. Then locate each activity on the
I have identified my critical internal table to identify your most urgent challenges.
and external stakeholders and
know how to engage them.
5 = Very High

Potential Impact on Transition Success

Potential Impact on

URGENT
Transition Success

4 = High
1 2 3 4 5
CHALLENGES
Current Effectiveness
1 2 3 4 5 3 = Moderate

2 = Low
15. Meeting Business Partners’
Expectations
1 = No Impact
I know how well my function is
achieving my business partners’
3 = Adequate
5 = Superior

2 = Marginal
most important priorities.
4 = Strong

1 = Weak
Potential Impact on Transition Success
1 2 3 4 5

Current Effectiveness Current Effectiveness

1 2 3 4 5

14. Understanding Team 13. D

 riving Functional 12. M
 anaging Change Initiatives
Objectives and Concerns Performance

I have discussed with my direct I have defined metrics to track and I have a plan to communicate our
reports their objectives and improve functional performance. change initiatives, obtain buy-in,
concerns. and minimize associated conflict.

Potential Impact on Transition Success Potential Impact on Transition Success Potential Impact on Transition Success
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5

Current Effectiveness Current Effectiveness Current Effectiveness

1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5

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How Effectively Are You Managing Your
Leadership Transition? (Continued)

4. A
 ssessing Functional 5. Evaluating Team Competencies 6. C
 larifying Performance Goals
Performance

I have assessed my function’s I have defined the competencies My manager and I agree on my
performance and understand our that drive high performance and personal performance goals at the
strengths and weaknesses. measured my staff against them. short, medium, and long term.

Potential Impact on Transition Success Potential Impact on Transition Success Potential Impact on Transition Success
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5

Current Effectiveness Current Effectiveness Current Effectiveness

1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5

7. U
 nderstanding Transition Risk

I have a precise understanding

of my transition risks and where I
need support.

Potential Impact on Transition Success

Improving Creating
Organizational IQ Role Clarity 1 2 3 4 5

Current Effectiveness
Fit Focus
1 2 3 4 5

Forming Shaping 8. P
 lanning the Transition
Connections the Future
Friends Future I have developed a transition plan
that accounts for my situational
and cultural risks.

Potential Impact on Transition Success

1 2 3 4 5

Current Effectiveness
1 2 3 4 5

11. (Re)defining Strategic 10. Achieving Quick Wins 9. O

 btaining Transition Feedback
Priorities

I have defined a long-term I have identified early wins that I receive focused, 360-degree
strategic plan for my function that enlist the full participation of my transition feedback to adjust my
aligns with our corporate vision. new team. progress, as needed.

Potential Impact on Transition Success Potential Impact on Transition Success Potential Impact on Transition Success
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5

Current Effectiveness Current Effectiveness Current Effectiveness

1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5

Table of Contents

Accelerating Your Time to Impact 21

© 2014 CEB. All rights reserved. NPD8518614SYN

CEB’s Leadership Transition Support
We offer best practice guidance and diagnostic,
planning, and execution tools to help you navigate
your leadership transition and accelerate your time
to impact.
CEB advisors can create a relevant action plan
to support you as needed. Visit our Leadership
Transition Support website to access all of our
resources.

Our Resources

Fit: Improving Organizational IQ Focus: Creating Role Clarity

Transition Risk Diagnostic: Examine areas of

 Senior Leader Goal-Setting: Use our tool to

potential cultural misalignment and learn how obtain the right input to set performance goals.
to address them. High-Impact Leadership Transitions: Learn

Functional Knowledge Maps: Explore
 about the key drivers of transition risk.
information on key functional trends and best CEB Transition Plans: Prioritize transition

practices. activities, taking into account the transition
context.
Anatomy of the Function: Assess function

capabilities against best practices. AcceleRATE: Capture transition feedback

from peers, direct reports, and other key
Functional Skills Diagnostic: Assess critical skill
 stakeholders.
and competency gaps across your department.

Friends: Forming Connections Future: Shaping the Future

Establishing a Foundation for Success:

 Quick-Wins Research: Prioritize projects based

Get step-by-step guidance to conduct a team on their impact on performance and team
exercise to discuss team objectives, identify engagement.
risks, and determine solutions.
Function Strategy Insight: Gain insight on

Direct Report Transition Resources: Help
 developing a strategic plan that responds to
direct reports interact with and support leaders evolving business conditions.
during their transition.
Driving Change Research: Communicate

Business Alignment Insight: Compare the
 change initiatives during a transition.
stakeholders’ and team’s perception of
Performance Management Resources:

functional priorities and performance.
Learn how to design individual and
Stakeholder Mapping and Action Plan: Identify
 departmental performance metrics that
critical stakeholders, and prioritize engagement support the achievement of corporate
accordingly. objectives.
Becoming a Great Global Leader Through

Influence (E-Learning): Learn to influence in a
global leadership role.

Table of Contents

22 Accelerating Your Time to Impact

© 2014 CEB. All rights reserved. NPD8518614SYN

About CEB
Founded in 1983, CEB provides authoritative data
and tools, best practice research, and peer insight
to senior executives. The company has more than
10,000 member organizations in over 110 countries
and includes 78% of the Fortune 1000, 85% of the
FTSE 100, and 76% of the Dow Jones Asian Titans.
Through this network, more than 300,000 business
professionals have access to thousands of corporate
best practices, benchmarking datasets, and
analytical tools to promote faster, more effective
decision making across all major disciplines and
areas of business.

Practices

Our areas of expertise span leadership roles in large corporate, midsized, government, and financial
services organizations worldwide. Our membership model delivers insight, tools, and advice that lead to
transformative outcomes for your team and company. Our practice areas include the following:

Finance Innovation & Strategy

Financial Services Legal, Risk & Compliance
Government Marketing & Communications
Human Resources Procurement & Operations
Information Technology Sales & Service

Services

We help our members take on today’s critical issues and realize greater business impact in three distinct ways:

Best Practices and Tools and Solutions Integrated Talent

Decision Support Management Services
Membership-based access to Tools, technology solutions, Services that address the
research, tools, and services and advisory services that entire employee life cycle,
that help executives and their enable executives and their helping executives improve
teams set direction more teams to apply best practices business performance by
confidently and move forward in operations and core realizing the value and
more effectively across a workflow processes potential of their people
wide range of management
challenges
Offerings Include: Offerings Include: Offerings Include:
■■ Leadership Councils ■■ Analytics and Planning ■■ SHL Talent Measurement™
■■ Market Insights Solutions
■■ Learning and Development
■■ Workforce Surveys &
Analytics

Please visit our website to learn more about our practices and services.

Table of Contents

Accelerating Your Time to Impact 23

© 2014 CEB. All rights reserved. NPD8518614SYN

CEB

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The Netherlands | New Zealand | Norway | Singapore | South Africa |Spain | Sweden | Switzerland | United Arab Emirates | 
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© 2014 CEB. All rights reserved. NPD8518614SYN