The U.S. Military is a leadership laboratory to grow yourself and your team. Its personnel system, by design, promotes leaders out of position and across organizations. Controlled change breeds innovation and progress. But, change can also bring discomfort and anxiety. Fear not – here are some steps you can take to transition well and establish yourself in a new organization.

This post was originally featured on Joe Byerly’s Blog, From the Green Notebook.

Over the course of my first seven years in the Army, I served in six billets across four different battalions. In that time, I worked for six different battalion commanders. In one 3 year period, I transitioned between three different battalions within the same brigade. These transitions were difficult, but rewarding. I’ve learned and tested a myriad of techniques over this time. Some were successful and others were not. Here are four that worked best:

1. Be Humble.
2. Have a Plan.
3. Change Your Plan.
4. Own It.

Be Humble

Unless your move was a rehabilitative transfer, chances are you did well in your previous billets. You likely demonstrated the potential for promotion. Congratulations! However, as harsh as it may seem, your new organization is not as concerned with what you DID as compared to what you WILL do.

No organization wants the new guy who has all the answers. Sure, they want a problem-solver who is motivated and takes initiative. But, do so with humility.

• Just because your new organization does things differently doesn’t mean they are wrong.
• Approach perceived shortfalls, capability gaps, and inefficiencies with care and tact.
• Assume there is more than you initially see by asking disarming questions.
• Readily admit what you don’t yet know. It will endear you to those around you and show you are there to be part of the team rather than a critic of the organization.

A few practical steps for putting this into practice:

1. Ask inquisitorial questions rather than accusatorial ones, e.g. “I am sure we have a system for this, and I have looked all over, but just can’t seem to find it. Could you please explain how we accomplish _____?”  Disarm, demonstrate a previous effort to find the answer, and empower the other party to show their own knowledge. If there is a sufficient answer – great! If not, find the solution and share it without seeking credit or fanfare.
2. Use inclusive pronouns rather than exclusive ones. We, our, and us will serve you better than I and me. Using inclusive pronouns helps promote a team first identity.
3. Your past experiences are important, but beware of referencing them ad nausea. “In my last unit…” quickly becomes overused. It is natural to believe – due to personal revisionist history and the immediacy of our current struggles – the best unit we ever served in was our last one and the worst is our current one. Instead, flip the script – go in believing the best organization is the one you are in and if it is not, then what are you going to do to make it so?

Have a Plan

 In his bestselling book, The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter, Michael D. Watkins advocates for identifying quick wins. Watkins discusses the importance of identifying popular changes that are easily implemented. These quick wins unite your organization behind the future plan of action and ease them into changes to come.

Having a plan to transition is one of the most critical steps toward success in any change. Before you take over, have a deliberate strategy for the first 30, 60, and 90 days of your transition. Prioritize these steps, starting with easily implemented popular change and graduating to more difficult evolutions of the organization. Consider the importance of buy-in when creating your plan. Here are a few easy steps you can include in your plan:

1. First 30 Days

• Introduce yourself to your team by cohort (by rank/position) so they can get to know who you are and what you expect as a leader. Make sure to include what they can expect from you.
• Bring in your leadership team and create your organization’s shared values as the foundation. Then build a collaborative vision, creating buy-in for where you are going. Shared understanding of who you are as an organization (shared values) and where you are going (vision) empower leaders to take initiative.
• Pick one easy change that will garner support from all levels of the organization, reinvigorate subordinates, and build trust in your vision for future changes.

2. Second 30 Days (60 Days)

• Having surveyed the organization, developed shared understanding, and created buy-in you can now transition to making some more impactful changes. Capitalize on the trust built in the first 30 days. Implement a more long-term strategy. Center it on your primary vehicle for building culture. Time is a finite resource. Don’t get bogged down with an over-developed priority appetite. Pick one vehicle for culture change/development (e.g. a fitness program, a leader development initiative, etc.).
• Execute a team building/family event. Make it inclusive and a hit. “Losing” your first team event makes it difficult to gain momentum for future ones. This can be a barbeque, a potluck, or a fitness event that incorporates competition and builds esprit de corps.

3. Third 30 Days (90 Days)

• Vision leaks. You are now a month to two months separated from when your team initially set its vision. It is leaking out of the minds and the hearts of your team. Vision leaks and requires constant refilling. Similar to the parent who says something so many times their children mockingly repeat it, your vision and your message should be connected to you in the minds of those you lead. If your top priority/primary message is not tied to an impression or impersonation of you that your team can readily whip out, you are probably coming up short.
• Take the next logical step in your primary initiative, building on previous gains and the trust earned from your organization. Inspect the communicated standard, correct deficiencies through coaching, and reward success. Search every day for someone doing the RIGHT thing. Sometimes, we focus too much energy on what isn’t going right.
• Reassess your plan and, as we will discuss next, be prepared to change it.

Change your Plan

As the adage goes, “plans means nothing, but planning is everything.” You dedicated countless hours building the perfect plan for your first 90 days in a new position. You considered all known factors and applied a strategic approach to the change you wish to create. Now crumple that plan up and throw it away…just kidding. But, be prepared to change your plan. Unseen factors, changes in the organization, and other forces will always have a vote.

This does not negate the importance of your plan. You need to HAVE a script before you can go OFF script. The two greatest pitfalls in this regard are:

1. Developing a plan only to put it away in a folder or binder and never revisit/reevaluate it.

2. Fighting the plan, through unwavering adherence, and not fighting the evolving problem-set.

Your plan is important, but it needs to change and evolve with the situation. Similar to running estimates in the Military Decision Making Process, you need to review your plan weekly or even daily. Assess its feasibility and consider changes in the situation. Determine that which you will not sacrifice – usually aligned with your primary change initiative and tied to building culture – and be willing to cut or change the rest.

Own It

It’s easy to blame the last guy – don’t do that. The minute you take charge, you own it. That means they are YOUR people – you are charged to care for them, to love them, and to prepare them. Get to know them. Take every engagement as an opportunity to learn about and grow your team. When problems arise, don’t shift the blame on the previous team. The problem may have carried over from them, but now it’s yours to fix. As it was said above, the best unit in the Army is the one you are in; love the one you’re with. Maximize every opportunity, because you will be transitioning again before you know it.

And Remember…

Transitioning organizations is never easy. We are naturally inclined to sedentary complacency and take comfort in consistency. But, transition means change and change means growth. Every opportunity to impact a new organization, growing its systems and its people, is an opportunity to invest in human capital and grow yourself. Employ these four steps to enter with an open mind, achieve quick wins, remain flexible, and make it yours.

What steps have you used in the past? Did they work? Comment below and continue the discussion.

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