5 Leadership Hire Secrets
Ford Hastings, Birchin Court, 20 Birchin Lane, London, EC3V 9DU
Call: 020 3751 9480
Email: info@fordhastings.com

Contents
● Take Stock - Workshop
● Hire For Team Fit
● Create And Collaborate On A Transition Plan
● Have An Aftercare KPI Process In Place To Support The Hire
● Take Action, Be Impact Driven, And Take A Long Term View
● What Next?
If you have any questions or would like to speak directly to one of
our consultants please call us on:
0203 7519 480 or email: info@fordhastings.com

Take Stock - Workshop
But what do you take stock of…
Leadership hires in private companies are often the result of round table discussion on an
ad hoc basis between Owners, Senior Management Team Members and Advisors. We like
to think it’s more formal, however the reality is often somewhat different.
As a result of some circumstance, whether that’s growth, poor performance, market
diversification, or team members leaving; you seemingly have a new resource requirement
and so go ahead and engage a recruitment firm based on some set role responsibilities, or
even look to hire yourself.
This is a very reactive decision making process that can often mask a more complex set of
considerations that should be taken before deciding on new leadership hires.
That’s why, secret number one is to take stock.
Your personal goals and time horizons
The business goals and time horizons
The current performance and capabilities of the business
The business and its value
The management team
The company culture
If you have any questions or would like to speak directly to one of
our consultants please call us on:
0203 7519 480 or email: info@fordhastings.com
As a business owner, the things to take stock of are:

Take Stock - Workshop
Then you need to get clear about where your business is strong and weak.
Further, it’s important to make sure you have an understanding of your management
team members and the company culture.
Is anyone being held back?
Could team members be more effective in different roles and what are the HR
implications?
Where are the gaps?
What are the important values and principles to uphold that will allow a good team fit
between existing management team members and any new leadership hires?
All of these things help to inform what type of experience you require your future leaders
to have.
This is exactly what we do at Ford Hastings. We do a Workshop with you to establish
your personal and business goals, the business capabilities, the company culture, and
the existing management team capabilities.
We do this in partnership with our expert Associates. All of our Associates have been
involved in the building and selling of businesses, and help you to take stock before
making leadership hire decisions.
To schedule your Leadership Team Workshop call us now
0203 7519 480
You need to get clear about what it is you want out of
your business.
Do you want to sell in 5 years? Do you want to remain
actively involved?
Are you looking to grow, to invest, to raise finance, to
consolidate?
Clarity…

Hire For Team Fit
Why do outside hires fail so often?
According to Harvard Business Review,
the main reason external leaders fail is
because they don’t work well with the
people on their teams.
This intuitively makes sense. If a new
leader doesn’t get on well with her
colleagues, or if there is a clash in work
styles, the new leader doesn’t yet have
strong enough relationships or
organisational power to be effective.
To schedule your Leadership Team Workshop call us now
0203 7519 480
It takes about twice as long for outside hires to become as effective as it does for
internal promotions. In fact, about 50% of outside hires fail within the first 18
months of joining a new Company (Harvard Business Review). The costs associated
with this and the time lost on a bad hire are substantial.
This lack of integration puts the leader at
risk of being isolated from networks, in
turn reducing their influence, and
therefore decreasing their chances of
being successful in the role.
With that in mind, it’s a good strategy to
hire for team fit - how well the potential
hire will fit with the way his or her new
colleagues work. In fact, hiring for team fit
has been shown to be twice as important
as culture fit when looking at leadership
success rates at the two year mark (HBR).

Hire For Team Fit
Therefore, it’s not just important to make sure that any potential leader has the
requisite skills and experience (skills fit) and values and principles (culture fit);
but that their work styles also “conform” with or “complement” the existing
team (team fit).
So when making a leadership hiring
decision, it’s a good idea to
understand the existing team
work-style dynamic and to give them
a chance to interact with any
potential new leader.
At Ford Hastings, our research team
identifies candidates based on key
requirements from our Workshop -
company capabilities and requirements,
potential hire skills and experience, and
integration with the existing team.
We then draw upon our Search and Management Consultancy
experience, together with our Associates (who have all been
involved in building and selling businesses), to further qualify
potential leadership candidates.
To schedule your Leadership Team Workshop call us now
0203 7519 480

Create And Collaborate On A Transition Plan
The de facto leadership hire mantra is to create a 100 day plan. 100 day plans are
effective in order to help the leader make an impact at the new organisation.
However the research says that it takes longer than this for leadership hires to be
truly effective in their new roles, particularly for external hires.
In order for new leaders to transition effectively, it’s important to help get them
up to speed on the following 5 parts of the business (McKinsey):
To schedule your Leadership Team Workshop call us now
0203 7519 480
· Your business or function
The current performance and capabilities
· Culture
The current culture and any shifts required to improve performance
· Team
Do you have the right team, skills, attitudes and structures?
· Yourself (the new leader)
Have you done what it takes to get up to speed? Are you self-aware?
· Other Stakeholders
Do you understand your mandate and the other expectations of major
shareholders?
It’s important to note, being effective
across these five areas is just as much
about what the new leader won’t do,
as it is what they will do. Management
Expert Jim Collins, author of Good To
Great, call this “stop doing lists.”

Create And Collaborate On A Transition Plan
During this phase, helping the leader to get good information across all domains, a
form of “requirements gathering”, will help them to be more successful down the line.
Example activities here include:
To schedule your Leadership Team Workshop call us now
0203 7519 480
Spending structured time with the outgoing leader
Spending structured time with the management team
Interviewing third party experts about the market
Interviewing high performing employees
Spending time with the FD to get a full understanding of the financial
mechanics and risk management of the business
Spending time with key stakeholders to understand their requirements
After requirements gathering, the new leader is able to effectively start to assess
the various areas of the business and work with the management team to put
together some assumptions and action steps.
This might include:
● Analysis sessions
● Strategy Sessions
● Specific Interviews
● Workshops
From this work, the leader is able to put together some specific performance goals
and start to think about the steps necessary to achieve them.

Have An Aftercare KPI Process In Place To Support
The Hire
Hiring a new leader is one stage of the
on-boarding process. We’ve described
above the need to take stock
(Workshops) before making a
leadership hire, and then to
collaborate on a transition plan to help
integrate the hire.
However, being so close to the action,
it’s hard for you to objectively assess
the process of onboarding your new
leader and to them eventually making
a positive impact on the business.
To schedule your Leadership Team Workshop call us now
0203 7519 480
You’ve probably heard countless
stories where new external leadership
hires make strong contributions at the
inception of their new roles, only to fail
a couple of years into their
assignments.
This may be for a number of reasons;
such as team fit, a misalignment with
actual business goals, a misalignment
with shareholder expectations, or you
as an owner or CEO taking your eye off
the ball.

Have An Aftercare KPI Process In Place To Support
The Hire
Accordingly, it's a good idea to have a third party consultant or coach to come in
on a quarterly basis, to help your new leadership hire. The purpose of this is to:
Check in on your new hire to make sure they are okay
Review their performance and provide advice in line with business objectives
Review their performance and provide advice in line with shareholder
expectations
To ensure that the team dynamic is effective
To provide objective feedback to you (owner/CEO) on their performance and
how you and management team members could be doing better
To provide coaching and mentoring to the leader to help guide them to better
effectiveness in their role
For you to have an objective and impartial conversation with the Associate
about any business concerns
To catch red flags that might indicate a problem with future performance
To note green flags that might indicate future exceptional performance
This health check and assessment can be
delivered by way of utilizing a KPI framework,
together with formal and informal sessions.
At Ford Hastings, we use our team of expert
Associates to deliver this After Care Service on
a quarterly basis. The Associate working with
you is the same Associate that collaborates
with you in your Workshop and who assists
with the search process.
To schedule your Leadership Team Workshop call us now
0203 7519 480

Take Action, Be Impact Driven, And Take The Long
Term View
The data suggests that it takes a while for new external leadership hires to be
effective. However, by taking the 4 steps above, you will have identified the right
leader and enabled them to be effective in their role.
After the requirements gathering and
assessment undertaken as part of a
transition plan, it’s time for your new
leader to take some actions.
The key thing here is not to measure
progress by time, but instead by impact.
A good way to do this is to list the five
areas detailed in the transition plan, and
to develop a set of actions to deliver
impact in each of these areas.
With that in mind, you can measure the effectiveness of your new leadership
hire by the impact they are making across those five domains.
Contact us via
Phone: 0203 7519 480
Email: info@fordhastings.com

Contact us to book a workshop : 0203 7519 480
Or
Email our consultants : info@fordhastings.com
What next
The five steps listed above will help to ensure your leadership hire success. By
working with Ford Hastings, you can be confident in implementing that
framework.
We run Leadership Workshops to help assess your business and personal goals,
your business and team capabilities, and your company culture. We do this in
tandem with our Associates, who have all been involved in building and selling
companies.
These Workshops create you a leadership strategy that we then use to find you
the right leadership hire for years to come.
If you want help with a leadership transition plan, we can work in conjunction with
our Associates to do that too.
Finally, we put in place an After Care program with our Associates, to help
measure and coach your new leadership hire to ensure your business success.