Leadership Takeover Presentation

You’re to make a presentation pretending you are making your first speech to the team you are now supervising. Here’s the elements of the presentation I’m looking for:

1) Determine if you are promoted into the supervisory role, or hired into it.
Depending on whether you are hired into the role, or promoted from within, you will be encountering different challenges. If you are promoted into the position, your team will likely see you as a “rising star.” You’ll likely have established amongst your peers a reputation of superior performance. The people you are supervising will see you as someone who “knows their stuff.” What they will have a hard time adapting to, however, is the change of role and relationship. You are now “their boss.” Some will resist this. Some will see you as a “sellout” or “now you’re full of yourself.” Your first presentation should address how your relationships have now changed under your new role and what you expect.

If you are hired into a management position, the opposite is true. The team you are now leading are likely to see you as “the new boss” and less likely to question your authority. They are, however, going to be convinced that you “know your stuff” – the industry, the company, the techniques. So, you will want to ensure the team, first and foremost, of your willingness to listen and learn, and emphasize your work ethic (“I plan to be the first to arrive and the last to leave.”

2) Describe your vision

My favorite definition of leadership is “the ability to describe a vision of a preferred future in a way that makes people willing to invest themselves personally in making it a reality.” So, you need to describe what you see as possible if everyone pulls together. You might start with the company mission statement, and reconnect with the motivation that led your team to enter into this industry in the first place (Simon Sinek’s “Why”)

3) Describe your values/culture

What will be the cornerstones of success/culture/value. Do you want a team that is fun-loving, willing to take risks, by the book, detail-oriented… What are the values that will serve as foundations for success?

4) Describe the process that you will use to take over the role.

Usually, this includes things like one-on-one interviews, workshops, retreats, etc…. This is a period of change. Change is scary. Reassure people that nothing drastic or major is going to happen right away (unless there’s some emergency) and that you will open, inclusive in the decision-making, and transparent, every step of the way.