The Great Transition

I was leaving for my new assignment. I asked my mentor if he had any parting words of wisdom for me. He sipped his coffee and mumbled, "Get to know who's who in the zoo. Likability first, competence next."

First it was the Great Resignation

If 2020 was The Great Pandemic, 2021 will be remembered as the year of The Great Resignation. More than 4 million people in US quit their jobs in April 2021 leading people to call it the “Great Resignation” period. Since then, more than 10 million job openings in US are languishing. Every replacement costs 2x of the person being replaced because the newbie takes three months to find and longer to ramp up.

Every team has a number of new hires who may have the skills but lack the context. There is no time to BUILD the context. There is a backlog of projects to be delivered. And several angry clients who are threatening to find other options.

Transition coaching becomes a powerful way for the new hires to navigate the ecosystem. As a client once told me, "I asked for a transition coach because I wanted someone who understands how afraid I am. I know this is a phase and I will succeed. It is during this grey zone that having talking to you helped."

Prepare for THE GREAT TRANSITION

Employers are so customer-obsessed, that the employee becomes a factor of production. The Great Resignation has impacted customer satisfaction. The employers have ramped up the hiring engine. That means there are literally millions of people who are being hired or promoted and being put into new roles, new organisations and in new teams. The new hire is expected to hit the ground running. Investing in making the transition smooth, will help the hordes of new hires gather momentum.

Stress impacts transitions: The stress from the pandemic has made it harder for people to take even basic decisions. Add the stress of a transition and you will know why transition coaching is a powerful investment. Read more

Every new hire is impacting the ecosystem:

While the businesses are all focused on ramping up the hiring engine, there is another storm brewing. I call it The Great Transition.

Many Transition Triggers

Lets take the three big reasons for transitions

1. Different generations different reasons

Millennials and Gen Z change jobs far more frequently. They are unafraid of trying out new sectors and roles that need many different skill sets. That is exciting in its own way. The triggers could be moving to a different location or a job that offers more flexibility.

2. Digital transformation

Many businesses are transforming their business models. Digital transformation means that every job has to be transitioned to a new set of demands. At any given point of time, in every organisation, one out of three executives are in transition. Each role is connected to multiple other roles. With each change the ecosystem undergoes a shock. Read more: Future of Work Trends

Organisational complexity complicates career pathing, providing reskilling and career development support - GARTNER

3. Promotions and lateral moves

A whopping 27% to 46% of executives who transition are regarded as failures or disappointments two years later. Having people managers who are unable to handle the complexity of managing a multi-generational workforce can drive up attrition.

When it comes to onboarding new hires, most businesses prefer to get their newbies put out the fires. The business leaders roll up their eyes when HR wants to design an onboarding program. You can imagine that the internal candidates don't even expect to be onboarded. Almost 49% of people promoted within their own companies are underperforming up to 18 months after the move.

Read: How to design onboarding experiences

Map the ecosystem

A new role is a new ecosystem that needs to be navigated. Internal candidates are rarely provided transition support. They need to discover the informal network of people who are influencers in the new ecosystem. Offering transition coaching to internal candidates is an investment.

Transition coaching helps not just the person and the team, but the 5-12 relationships the person collaborates with the most, also to succeed.

"According to Gartner, the direct reports of a struggling transitioning leader perform, on average, 15% worse than people who report to a high-performing manager, and they are 20% likelier to leave the organization or be disengaged. The productivity of peers, too, suffers if their work depends on the transitioning employee. Read more

Roma Bindroo, VP HR of NourishCo says, "Onboarding is a critical plank to convert a candidate into an employee. Missing it is akin to risking the talent jumping and falling. A hand to pull in towards the new ship is a need, not a choice."

Personal brands need to support the transition

Santosh Desai joined my podcast Dreamers & Unicorns. I asked him to describe in simple terms - What is a Brand. This is what the guru of branding had to say in the video below.

Brands create a pattern of expectations. There were 81, 400,000 LinkedIn users in India in September 2021. Sixty percent of them are in the 25-34 years age group. Another 30% are in the 18-24 years age group. This connected and tech savvy population can very quickly look up the digital footprint about the new leader who has been hired. During transitions, the personal brand needs to be revisited to see if it supports the transition.

Career transitions - how to cope

1. Learn who is who in the zoo : Ask your colleagues (and your new boss) who you should connect with. Learn about their roles, the challenges and skills they have. Building a relationship of trust is the basis of success.

2. Your new job is a prototype of a new service: Think of the transition as a reason to discover the product-market fit of your role. Do not assume that you know what the customers (ie your new stakeholders) want. Build a prototype and keep refining it.

3. Build the network of relationships FIRST: If people do not like you, they will ensure you do not succeed in the new role. You are competing alone against the ecosystem. It is hard to win if the entire ecosystem does not want you to succeed.

If 2021 is the year of The Great Resignation, then make 2022 the year of The Great Transition. You have just sixty days this year to plan for it.

Written first for my newsletter on LinkedIn <Click here to subscribe>