The first 90 days in a new leadership role are some of the most important. Decisions made, relationships formed, and patterns established during this period often determine whether someone succeeds or struggles for years afterwards. Yet organisations frequently underestimate how challenging these transitions are and how much support can help.
Research consistently shows that leadership transitions are high-risk periods. Studies suggest that 40-60% of executives fail within the first 18 months of a new role. The costs, including recruitment expenses, lost productivity, damaged relationships, and strategic delays, are substantial and often preventable.
Transitions are difficult
Even experienced leaders face a loss of competence when starting new roles. They don’t know the organisation’s history, relationships, unwritten rules, or politics. Information that would have been automatic previously must be consciously learned. This creates genuine discomfort for accomplished people accustomed to feeling confident and capable.
New leaders must quickly establish credibility with multiple stakeholders, including their team, peers, senior leaders, and external partners. Each relationship requires different approaches, and misreading them can create problems that persist. Meanwhile, they need to understand the business, identify priorities, and make decisions with incomplete information, often while dealing with urgent issues that won’t wait.
Perhaps most challenging is the identity shift that comes with significantly more senior roles. What made someone successful previously may not serve them now. Letting go of old approaches while discovering new ones is psychologically demanding work.
Transitional coaching can help
A transitional coach offers an objective perspective without organisational politics or hidden agendas, allowing leaders to think through decisions with someone who has only their best interests in mind. This external viewpoint becomes particularly valuable when leaders are still learning who to trust internally.
Coaches help new leaders identify what they most need to learn quickly, who to build relationships with first, and where to focus limited attention. This accelerates the natural learning process, helping leaders avoid common pitfalls.
Leadership transitions are emotionally taxing. Having a confidential space to acknowledge doubts and work through the psychological challenges of transition helps maintain equilibrium rather than pretending everything is fine while struggling internally. This emotional processing isn’t therapy; it’s practical support for navigating a genuinely difficult professional challenge.
Finally, coaches help leaders identify behaviours that served them well previously but may not work in their new context, then develop approaches better suited to expanded responsibilities. Making these shifts consciously is far more effective than hoping they’ll happen naturally.
Supporting evidence
Research published in The International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring found that executives who received coaching during role transitions achieved proficiency significantly faster, showing up to 60% reduction in time to full effectiveness.
A study in the Journal of Organizational Behavior examined executives transitioning into senior roles and found that those who received structured support were significantly less likely to derail or leave within their first year, while also reporting higher confidence and job satisfaction.
Common transition challenges
Many new leaders feel pressure to demonstrate impact quickly. This can lead to making changes before adequately understanding the situation or damaging relationships by appearing dismissive of what came before. The irony is that moving more slowly initially often produces faster results overall.
Another common challenge is bringing old solutions to new contexts. What worked brilliantly in a previous organisation may not suit the new one’s culture, capabilities, or strategic position. Effective transitional coaching helps leaders adapt their approaches rather than simply transplanting them.
New leaders often focus their attention upward and outward, impressing their boss and understanding the broader organisation, while inadvertently neglecting their direct reports. This creates team dysfunction that undermines everything else they’re trying to accomplish.
Senior roles can also be lonely. Leaders may feel they should have all the answers and struggle to admit uncertainty. Good coaches help leaders recognise that seeking input isn’t a weakness; it’s wisdom that builds trust and surfaces valuable information.
Organisational benefits
Leaders who receive coaching typically reach full productivity months earlier than those who don’t, directly impacting business results. They make fewer costly mistakes during their early months when decisions often have long-lasting implications. They’re also significantly more likely to stay and succeed.
Providing transitional coaching signals that organisations value people’s development and success. This creates positive cultural messages about how the organisation treats its leaders, which influences whether talented people want to join and stay.
Given the high cost of executive failures, often 150-200% of annual salary when accounting for recruitment, severance, lost productivity, and strategic delays, even modest improvements in success rates deliver substantial return on investment.
Making it work
The most valuable transitional coaching starts early, ideally before the new role begins or within the first few weeks. It follows a structure while remaining responsive to specific situations as they arise.
Effective transitional coaching is action-oriented, with sessions that result in clarity, informed decisions, or actionable steps. It typically runs for 6-12 months, long enough to cover the critical transition but not so long that it creates dependency. Throughout, complete confidentiality allows leaders to discuss doubts and vulnerabilities without concern.
The first months in a new leadership role shape everything that follows. Organisations that invest in helping their new leaders navigate this critical period successfully create advantages that are felt for years.
At The Thrive Team, we offer transitional coaching that helps leaders become effective in their new roles faster. Our coaches bring extensive leadership experience and understand the specific challenges of transitioning into senior positions. For candidates we place through our executive search service, this coaching is included as part of our commitment to sustainable success.
Are you interested in supporting your leaders through transitions? Contact us on 01243 957667 or email Ali, our Director of Coaching and Training at [email protected]
