Digital adoption can be intimidating for organizations. There are many technology considerations to wrestle with, but that’s not the whole story. Dana Landis, Leadership Talent Assessment and Evaluation at Google shares her views with us on ensuring the right leadership is in play. It’s a critical lever for executing your digital strategy. This interview is part of an ongoing series that offers real perspectives from real leaders on the ubiquitous topic of Digital.
Dana leads leadership talent assessment and evaluation at Google. She previously held roles at Korn Ferry, as VP of Talent Research and Analytics and Director, Global Search Assessment.
Audrey McGuckin (AM) – Dana can you tell me about your role at Google?
Dana Landis (DL) – I oversee leadership assessments for the Learning and Development team that focuses on senior leadership talent.
AM – What are the most prevalent trends that you’re seeing from a digital perspective?
DL – There are so many digital trends that I’m seeing but one area that is top of mind for me right now is recruiting and onboarding digital leaders into a tech environment.
AM – Can you share with us what you’re experiencing Dana?
DL – I’m seeing a trend where organizations that were previously famously not digital are now trying to mimic tech firms, which poses some interesting questions around the hiring strategy. What does it mean when you hire leaders from ‘born digital’ companies into more structured traditional organizations? What does it mean when you hire leaders from more traditional organizations into ‘born digital’ companies? These can be tough transitions.
I think about banks, financial institutions and highly regulated industries. They’ve certainly used technology in their businesses for some time, but may not have a mature digital strategy. As they evolve toward a bigger digital footprint, more traditional organizations look to fill critical leadership roles with implants from the tech industry. While executive on-boarding is always a challenge, it’s important to consider the significant culture shift between those two very different environments, and how that impacts the success of an incoming executive.
AM – Can you share some of the traits of what you term ‘Born Digital’ v’s ‘Going Digital’ Dana?
DL – Sure. What I’ve experienced is that executives in ‘Born Digital’ companies are used to environments that value deep technical skills. Leaders who’ve grown up in tech are comfortable working in highly ambiguous environments that change quickly, and allow for a lot of independent decision-making. Even in large tech companies, operational infrastructure is often playing catch-up with the company’s pace of growth, which results in highly matrixed environments. On the flip side of the coin, executives in more traditional industries have had to navigate more hierarchy and structure through relationship building and influencing. People skills and emotional intelligence play a more central role in navigating such environments.
AM – So what advice would you have for a ‘Going Digital’ company looking to onboard a leader in tech?
DL – One step they could take is to help a new leader navigate the internal network system and ensure they’re in front of the right people by drawing a map of the social network. I would definitely recommend investing in coaching to help digital leaders navigate a new environment. A good coaching focus could be helping them identify the levers for strategy implementation and identify the centers of power. New digital leaders may also need help understanding and clarifying organizational context before jumping too quickly to execution.
AM – What’s been your experience with this prior to Google Dana?
DL – I’ve seen this in many corporate contexts. New executives are put under a lot of pressure to make bold moves, and generate a strategy and direction really quickly. At the same time, they aren’t given a lot of time to evaluate their new context (talent, business, culture). More often I’ve seen the downside of moving too quickly. New execs can flip into high gear and head right into a brick wall they didn’t know was there. I’m an advocate of slowing down and asking a lot of questions and engaging in dialogue with people from all levels in the organization. A coach can be enormously helpful around onboarding, as a new exec seeks to strike that right balance between the expectations of senior management, and their own need to learn the environment before they start making broad-based changes. Tech execs may be particularly sensitive to time pressures, and could wind up moving too quickly, possibly underestimating the social and political complexity of their new context. For ‘Going Digital’ companies who are hiring senior leaders out of tech, my advice is to pay attention to the contextual factors, particularly social networks, and make sure the new executive is given time to acclimate and clear guidance around how to navigate the socio-political landscape.
According to Fortune magazine, about 40 percent of executives changing roles fail in the first 18 months. Strategic transition and on-boarding programs can help improve the odds of success for these digital executives. Easy to say hard to do. To learn more about our tried and tested Executive On-Boarding Blue Print contact us at www.audreymcguckin.com or call us at +1727 793 4236.