Avoid getting fired.

Almost 40 percent of executives today find themselves fired from or sidelined in their new jobs within six to eighteen months! Why? They have failed to acclimate to the company, build relationships, and have unknowingly stomped on sacred cows.

What needs to happen?

  • First, get to know your new coworkers and build relationships. If your boss mandates certain changes, make them happen in a manner that doesn’t get you fired. For example, if the boss requires certain people be removed from the organization, request this be completed prior to your first day on the job.
  • Second, be truly clear of expectations. Both C-suite executives and the applicants they interview lie during the interview process! It happens for many reasons; some stretch the truth knowingly and others falsely believe their own rhetoric. Learn how to probe into what is said—don’t be afraid to play the devil’s advocate to assess the truth. Then, talk with your networks, both internal and external, and use a litmus test to determine the veracity, cost and likelihood of succeeding.
  • Third, if you have made a mistake, hire a coach and be coachable! Urgency is the key. Many times executives become lone rangers who are demanding and control others because of their fear of failure and loss of faith in their own abilities. With the right coach, these perceptions can be turned around. If you are coachable, i.e., willing to change your old ways of doing things, you can succeed at interacting with others and working with your boss. You won’t keep your job on your own! (Read more on this topic is my eGuide “Companies and Executives Need to Vet and Onboard Each Other!” http://ow.ly/sEcSN)

(c)Jeannette L. Seibly, 2014

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