Hello,

When organizations invest in finding the right senior leaders—whether through promotion or external hiring—the journey to success has only just begun. The real return on investment comes from how effectively these leaders navigate their critical first six months, establishing the essential foundation for driving sustainable performance and meaningful results.

1. Context determines what your leaders need: Greg Smith, CEO of Teradyne, discovered this firsthand. As Teradyne has grown, they have promoted strong talent into senior leadership roles and hired strong leaders from outside the company. They decided to support all these senior leaders with transition coaching, to help them acclimate to Teradyne’s strategy and culture, build productive relationships, and ramp to effective execution as quickly as possible. You can hear Greg’s perspective here—A CEO’s perspective on the impact of executive coaching – BTS—including how coaching built curiosity and self-awareness in him and his team to ensure they were asking the right questions about their employees and the business.

2. Look beyond the C-suite: While C-suite succession rightfully demands attention, organizations that neglect developing their operational leadership bench risk collapse from within. Effective transition support must extend throughout your leadership pipeline—both building a bench and supporting that bench to ensure readiness. CEO succession: Avoiding the unanticipated Domino Effect – BTS

3. Prevent Predictable Transition Pitfalls: New leaders facing pressure to “hit the ground running” often fall into four common traps:

• Attempting to solve everything themselves
• Neglecting to build critical relationships
• Getting caught in reactivity at the expense of strategic thinking
• Continuing behaviors that do not serve their new context

An executive coach provides a structured partnership that allows leaders to step back from the daily whirlwind and navigate these challenges successfully. 4 Traps to Avoid as You Transition into a Leadership Role

As always, we hope these resources are resonant and are eager to hear your thoughts.

Sincerely,

Your Boda/BTS Executive Coaching Team