The First 90 Days - Expat Style
Hit the Ground RunningMichael Watkins wrote the book on adapting to a new role, “The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter”. In the Amazon advertising page he points out, “While transitions offer a chance to start fresh and make needed changes in an organization, they also place leaders in a position of acute vulnerability. Missteps made during the crucial first three months in a new role can jeopardize or even derail your success.”
If this is true for people transitioning into leadership roles at home, how much more vulnerable are those transitioning into expat roles where not just the role or the organization is different but also the background culture, underlying systems and unwritten rules of relationships?
In any leadership role the new leader needs to prepare him / herself. As Watkins says, adopt a learning approach, devise the most appropriate strategy, aim for early wins, build critical relationships with the new boss, new team and the new cohort and keep his / her balance while achieving results.