New leader making an early mark? Be careful

​Question to  the Leadership MA group I was working with on Tuesday:
What examples of poor leadership have you experienced?

The most cited example:
The new leader that made immediate changes for no other reason than to ‘put their mark’ on the place.

I’ve been on the receiving end of this more than once.
It does not feel good because if you make immediate large scale changes as a new leader, you are saying:

“All that you’ve done before is rubbish”.
 
Yes, this is disrespectful and liable to rile your new colleagues who have worked hard under the previous leader. When they’ve bought into a way of doing things their former boss said was game-changing, it’s demoralising if you arrive and tell them it’s not - but your way is.
 
However, you might be right.

There could be employees who are saying:

“Thank goodness for that!”.

Maybe they’ve been waiting for a change to happen.

The best new leaders get a clear idea of the situation and what people think.
Obviously there could be things that need to be seen to quickly.


But don’t be in a rush to ‘make your mark’.

You only get one chance to make a first impression*. Don’t ruin it.
 
*Attributed to Oscar Wilde (and several others)

Bill Lowe 30 Sep 2022