Today’s job transitions are more rapid, unsettling and varied than ever. The good news is that there is an increased array of helpful tools and resources available to help.
The more complex the situation and orientation and the more urgent the transition, the more intrusive the intervention should be. Internal mentors are the least intrusive, and appropriate when all the new leader needs is on the job knowledge sharing. The next step up is transition coaching where behind the scenes leadership development is useful. In those few, most complex situations, hands-on, operationally experienced transition accelerators may be necessary.
Analogies help here. Professional golfers have coaches AND caddies. Their coaches serve as behind the scenes advisors between tournaments. Their caddies, like harbor pilots, white water rafting guides, operating room nurses and mountain climbing sherpas, certainly do provide advice and counsel, but their real value is in their on-the-course, in-the-boat, in-the-room, on-the-mountain tangible contributions. They accelerate progress through what they do as well as what they say. In the most complex transitions, that extra leverage can make all the difference.
