What we're starting here today is one of multiple videos that will be about
taking senior level executives and helping them on board well into their new role,
their new opportunity, and really giving them the best head start possible.
What we find is that during this time
of transition, which can be Its own challenges,
sometimes the most important things get missed by very smart people.
And at MarketPro ,
we work on very senior level marketing, brand, digital, ecommerce,
product roles, and those C-suite roles that are critical to an organization's success.
But honestly, this applies to any senior level role inside of an organization.
So we hope this helps as many people as possible.
What we generally see is that you've now decided to take a chief marketing officer
or chief product officer role within a new organization.
And it's a crazy time.
You are really focused on transitioning from your current employer in the highest
and best possible way, which is really important.
You ultimately want to leave them in a way that they would always want you back.
They would always be willing to bring you back.
And they're always going to be willing
to give you a glowing reference in anything you want to do next.
And so that professional courtesy,
that professional, respectfulness is extremely important.
And what senior executives
really miss a lot of times on that is the emotional component of that is tough.
Because you're leaving people that you
care about, you're leaving the organization that you've given a lot to.
And that's going to be hard relative
to how you spend your days and interact with those individuals.
The intellectual component is not very hard.
And ultimately, at this point in time,
you're taking work that you've done for a long time, and you're figuring out
how to transition it from your plate to somebody else's plate.
And that in of itself is not that difficult.
So as you're going through this process
and you may leave two weeks notice, you may leave three weeks notice.
We always get asked from senior people
the expectations, they want to leave more time than they need to.
you want to leave enough time to give a very professional transition,
leave your organization in the highest and best way possible.
But also realize that the organization that's hired you have expectations
and business challenges and business needs that you're there to solve and that you're
not solving them during that time, that you're not there yet.
So you want to get there as quickly as possible.
Now, with that said, I also highly recommend taking some time off.
Give it a week is usually probably pretty normal.
What you're going to get away with based
on the challenges of leaving one role and starting a new role.
But starting that new role mentally, physically, very sharp is very important.
Normal would be for you to be in that two
week, three week, four week transition period where you've
decided to go join a new organization and you haven't started yet.
And in that window, typically,
as we get towards the end of that window, so we're within the last two weeks,
you're going to do an onboarding meeting with your manager.
And it's a time to spend an hour talking about where the organization is,
where it needs to go, and how you can hit the ground running.
And it's a great and meaningful conversation.
I would also recommend making sure you ask at that point in time for as much
documentation as they're willing to share around where the business is today,
where the business is looking to go, what the strategy is around your role
and a level above your role so that you can start reading that to prepare for your
first day, your first week, your first month.
In addition, I would request to talk to other people so
that one conversation is great and it may or may not be enough.
If it's all you're able to get based on everything that's going on, that's fine.
But who else can you speak to be their
peers, be they other senior leaders that will help you hit the ground running
and ultimately help you formulate your 100 day plan before you get there.
And that plan will change once you get there.
It will change once you learn more.
It will change once you interact with other people when you're there.
But having that plan fully fleshed out
in as much detail as possible before you arrive, based on everything you learned
in the interview process, everything you learned in your onboarding
conversations and everything you learned through your reading is really important
because then you're just making changes and adjustments.
And it's not one more thing you have to create when you get there.
The other thing that's really critical as
you prepare for this new role and you're walking in your first day is to have all
your questions that you can think of written out.
And what I mean by that is you'll have questions for your manager.
If you're the chief marketing officer
and you're walking in the door, it may be for the CEO.
You'll have questions for the CFO,
you'll have questions for each one of your peers that you want to be able to get
answered the first time that you meet with them.
So keeping a log of those and making sure
that you have those ready for that meeting before you start your first day of work is
a really important part of the preparation.
You may be coming into a senior level
marketing role, and you've got a big agency relationship that's important.
So as you're meeting with the executives from the agency,
what are the key questions you want to ask them about the business,
where the business is, where it's going, and their thoughts?
So you will add to that once you arrive
and you learn more but having as much of that down on paper in a logical format
as possible is another way where you can help yourself hit the ground running
and really prepare for maximum impact in the first three to six months.