Swimming into Change

The President has 100 days; you have 90.”  This is the premise for an interesting book on transitions titled The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels by Michael Watkins. I came across it while sitting in the natatorium (love that word) watching my daughter do length after length of the backstroke, crawl, butterfly, and breast stroke, While there, I struck up a conversation with one of the other swimming dads who is working on becoming a leader in his organization. This book was his personal homework.

Transitions certainly are an essential part of everyone’s lives as they change careers or move along in life and they should not be approached lightly. When you make a transition into a leadership role, you must also realize you are creating a change for those around you. Your new co-workers are figuring you out as much as you are figuring out them. The difference is that they know the invisible networks and the institutional culture, the edges of the pool, so to speak. You, as the new member of the team, will inevitably bump into some walls.

It is funny how we all find ways to test out the culture and reach out to find the walls and sharp edges. I use humor. I heave learned some jokes that worked in Tucson fail miserably here. We learn, sometimes the hard way, where the walls are. I used to use that analogy for my students when I was teaching high school. You toss them into the big pool that is society and encourage them to figure things out. Oh, and did I mention the lights are off?

They flail about in the dark, in a crowded pool, uncertain where the edge of the pool is.

“Marco!”

It is only natural that they will reach out and push the limits of their space.

“Polo!”

How else will they find the walls, the edges of the pool, the other swimmers, and the deep end? I tell jokes. Others quietly observe. My students push and bend the classroom rules to see where the limits really exist.

“Marco!”

Still others dive into the fray, impose their will, and summarize the damage when it’s all over. I am figuring out my own colleagues, their strengths, their weaknesses, and their patterns of interaction just as they are figuring out mine.

“Polo!”

I think my 90 days has just ended and, coincidentally, that was just about enough time to figure out the basics.

Comments

[Michael Watkins]

Hi Michael,

Thanks for this. I like the "learning to swim" allusion.

Best regards,

Michael Watkins

[Patrick]

Michael,

Great post and analogy. I am going through this very shift right now, having taken a leadership position in a school district I have worked in for a few years. Not only am I trying to figure out where the walls are, but my colleagues are trying to figure me out in a new position. I have some terrific guidance around me, however, and that is helping me make the transition.

Watkins' book sounds like a great winter read.

[Steve Poling]

Michael,
I hope all is well with you in your new job. We miss you in Tucson:)

Thanks for the tip on this book. It looks great!

Happy New Year!