Originally published in LSJ - Law Society of NSW Journal Career Coach December 2021
I’ve been asked to take on a new leadership role. It’s a role that a number of people have held over the years and no one seems to have been able to make it work. Do you have any tips to increase my changes of success?
Every now and again there is a role that person really makes their own. Their success becomes linked to the way a role is performed and it can make it hard for the people that follow. Stuart Sidle calls these roles "haunted" in his review of research into the downside of leaving a legacy. The "ghost" in this case is the expectations that linger about the way the role must be done. Inheriting a legacy is one thing, finding a ghost is quite another. Here are some tips to ritually cleanse your role and set yourself up for success.
Start by learning as much as you can about the creation of the role, the person who made it their own and the others who have lived in the haunted house before you. Look for key attributes or important decisions that were made at a critical point. These provide a pathway to success or a situation to discuss with your stakeholders. Give particular focus to the context and circumstances the firm or organisation found themselves in. The first GC may well have made an heroic contribution that is not appropriate for today's challenges or the first COO of a firm was part of decisions on a size and scale that isn't needed today.
Make friends with the ghost by acknowledging their contribution and finding one or two characteristics that align with your leadership style. Next add a tweak or a change on the past to indicate how your approach will be both respectful of the past and future focused. The goal is to position yourself as similar in some ways and different in others. Those who knew the past leaders will have long and strong memories of their contribution - and the people before you who didn't befriend the ghost.
Get ready to be scared by those who were successful in bring down others that followed the original person. If a set of tactics have worked in the past there may be a temptation to use them again. Internal politics, factions, back stabbing and undermining are just some of the scare tactics. Be ready for them and see them for what they are - expressions of loyalty to the past and the actions of people who feel threatened. This is a good time to draw on your own sponsors, the reasons why you took on the role and the legacy that you would like to leave.
A final word of caution. As your time in the role comes to an end remember these challenges and set your successor up for success - don't leave a ghost of your own. Bringing up a successor who flourishes is the best legacy.