62% of consultants say 100-day action plan most effective in improving new CEO’s results

Corporate executives understand how challenging it is to step in to a new top level position and immediately be effective. Yet according to a new survey by the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC), few companies are formalising the process of preparing executives to deliver better results faster and reduce their risk of failure - a practice known as ìon-boardingî. The survey, conducted 9 January ñ 8 February 2007, was sponsored by PrimeGenesis, an executive on-boarding and transition acceleration company.

ìCorporate executives intrinsically understand what on-boarding is and the importance of having a new CEO hit the ground running. It still surprises me that so few companies have formalised this process. Why not give a new executive all the tools and information he or she needs to be immediately successful?î said AESC President, Peter Felix.

According to the survey of 44 top executive search consultants, 62 percent say that creating a 100-day plan for the new CEO or executive is the most effective tool for on-boarding. Yet only 11 percent of the respondents said that the majority of their clients have formal on-boarding programs. An overwhelming majority ñ 81 percent ñ say that fewer than half of their clients have such programs, with 43 percent noting that these numbers have not changed much in five years.

The survey also revealed that formalised on-boarding significantly improves speed of assimilation (36%) and retention (30%). The most effective components of a formal on-boarding program include creating a 100-day action plan (61%); an assimilation QandA between the new executive and leadership team (51%); and a milestone management system (41%). Respondents were able to choose more than one category. In addition, 65% of respondents said that the HR department was responsible for initiating on-boarding programs in their client companies.