How to Diagnose the Situation You Inherited
Turn what you heard into a diagnosis others can challenge. Name the situation type, read the people and the causes behind the current state, mark what must be protected, and present the written diagnosis for pushback before you act on it.
Developing
Start here. Build the foundation.- 1
Early in the role, name whether the area is a start-up, turnaround, realignment, or sustaining-success situation, because each calls for a different pace. Most areas are a blend, so name the dominant one anyway. You have it right when the type explains how fast you should move.
- 2
Form your own read of each direct report from results and observed work rather than reputation or the last leader's verdict, and hold each against what the role needs next. Keep this read in a restricted place until you act on it. It holds when it rests on evidence you could show, not a first impression.
Proficient
Build consistency and rhythm.- 3
Before changing anything, write down the strengths, people, and in-flight commitments you will deliberately leave alone, and write this protect list before any change list. It makes restraint a decision rather than an afterthought. It is complete when a reader can see what you chose not to touch and why.
- 4
Before judging a process or result, find why it was set up that way and what has already been tried, and separate the two or three real causes from the many symptoms. Write each cause with its evidence, and label an unevidenced cause a hypothesis. You are done when fixing your named cause would change the outcome.
Mastered
Operate at the highest level.- 5
Once the read holds together, present the written diagnosis to your boss or leadership team and ask them to challenge it directly. Revise where their pushback holds and note what changed. It becomes a shared reference when someone who pushed back can see their point in the revision.
Common Pitfalls
Avoid the common failure modes.- Running a realignment as if it were a turnaround. Manufacturing urgency a team cannot see breaks trust, and moving too slowly on a real turnaround wastes the window. Match the pace to the situation type you named.
- Letting a private read of a leader leak before you act on it. A judgment that leaks becomes a public one you did not choose to make. Keep the talent read restricted until you act.
- Writing the change list before the protect list. Skip the protect list and early changes break what already worked. Name the strengths, people, and commitments that must stay first.