From Functional Expertise to Systemic Leadership: Rethinking Transitions into General Management

Transitions from functional roles to general management represent an important period for executive careers. Leaders move into totally different areas of responsibility and impact not only for their shareholders but also for society. In this new role, from managing one system, leaders move to synchronizing and managing multiple systems while crafting strategies, convincing multiple stakeholders and coordinating their efforts. This study, by creating a survey of 49 managers from 19 different countries and with interviews with 10 of them in detail, examines if the selection and transition processes are adequate to support the leaders to perform as expected. The findings show that the participants had limited knowledge and preparation for the new roles, few went through assessments, most took the roles with very short handover periods and very few had mentors or coaches during the transition and after the appointment. This study suggests that both organizations and the appointed leaders themselves underestimate the significance of the change. The transitions are considered as an extension of the prior successful functional performances, therefore the learning is pushed to the first period of the new role, during which the risk for failure increases because of the new context in which the interdependencies and dynamics are totally different than before. The study offers practical suggestions to focus on readiness assessment and selection process, early signalling and mental preparation, strong handover process and coaching support during and after the appointment for a successful transition management.