Page 149 - Just Promoted A 12 Month Road Map for Success in Your New Leadership Role

134 Just Promoted!

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE GROUP’S
QUEST FOR VISION
Keep your vision focused on the team’s power to accomplish great things.
Together, we will create a powerful synergy. Two working together have the
potency of three or four working individually. Whole organizations have
almost limitless potential and energy. The dynamics of working together result
in insights, creative ideas, leaps of logic, and associations that one often can-
not attain working alone. New ideas are generated from people building on
each other’s ideas, constructively criticizing each other, competing, joking, and
thinking together. People from different backgrounds, with different per-
spectives and viewpoints, will often strengthen the vision and positively alter
it, much as plant biologists strengthen genetics through hybridizing. Trust the
strength, power, and ability of the group. Trust your process, and others will
follow your lead.

KEY PLANKS IN YOUR PLATFORM
You need to decide early on your key values because they will be the keystones
of your vision. When Bruce was appointed vice president of finance and
administrative services, he immediately faced a number of major challenges.
His new areas had not been managed effectively. Even before he had an oppor-
tunity to delve into the functions, several problems were apparent. Several core
financial and computer systems were out of date, and efficiency was lagging.
There had been several cases of illegal practices and kickbacks in the two pre-
vious years. Lack of effective management and leadership was apparent
throughout his division. There was much to be done.
Because of extensive briefings ahead of time by the corporate CFO, from
the beginning, Bruce had a clear idea of his priorities and the role of his peo-
ple, as viewed by his boss. Three major themes became the foundation of his
early leadership platform. From his first day in the role, Bruce insisted on and
involved his organization in (1) asserting the simultaneous value of individ-
ual initiative and cross-functional teamwork, (2) establishing sound standard
operating procedures, and (3) implementing state-of-the-art information tech-
nology systems. Bruce felt that these issues were the foundation of his leader-
ship platform and the seeds of his organizational vision.
Bruce realized that words alone would not be enough to emphasize his
points, so he combined his written and spoken words with symbolic actions
to communicate his priorities. Within a few weeks, there was no question in