Should You Hit the Ground Running or Take it Slow?

Age-old advice says to hit the ground running, but a recent study says slow it down--it takes 2 years to gain the confidence of your stakeholders. Researchers offer these six pieces of advice. Reprinted with permission from Marshall Memo 1041, June 17, 2024.

1. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. “You need to go slow to go fast,”  they say. “Accepting that idea and pacing yourself accordingly will allow you to steady your efforts and help others develop faith in your leadership.” The key is assessing the culture, scoping out key issues, and projecting confidence that you’ll be around for a while.
2. Pick your battles strategically. “From day one,” say Hildebrand, Baumgarten, and Madhavan, “you’ll find yourself besieged with requests from multiple groups, all expressed with the highest urgency, and as you try to build trust and generate support, you’ll naturally feel pressured to address them all.” Say no to almost everyone, they advise, and carefully select a few initiatives that will garner quick wins and build the confidence of key stakeholders.
3. Align your team. Build cohesiveness among your leadership team, confirm agreement on outcomes, and move forward effectively in support of your plans if you are to gain people’s confidence.
4. Engage stakeholders. Getting to know board members is key, as is learning the ways they prefer to engage. Winning the confidence of all employees is also a priority in the early stages of the marathon. One strategy is holding regular “ask me anything” sessions and gathering data on what’s on people’s minds.
5. Communicate clearly and relentlessly. “Repetition, repetition, repetition,” say Hildebrand, Baumgarten, and Madhavan. “Tell people what you’re going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them. You’ll get tired of this process, but remember: much of what you’ll be saying either will feel new to your audience or will start to sink in only after many repetitions.” It’s also important to use specific data to show progress on what’s improving and make course corrections when necessary.
6. Take care of yourself. Leaders can feel isolated and cut off from people who can give them candid feedback, and can also burn out. It’s important to attend to relationships and personal health, stay up to date on professional reading, and engage a leadership coach. 

This Marshall Memo recap comes from the article, “How CEOs Build Confidence in Their Leadership” by Claudius Hildebrand, Jason Baumgarten, and Mahesh Madhavan in Harvard Business Review, July/August 2024 (Vol. 102, #4, pp. 52-56). Marshall Memo 1041, June 17, 2024.