Executive Seat Warmers

An interesting phenomenon that I have experienced three times in my career is that of the ‘Executive Seat Warmer’.  This is the person who has been acting in the role you are coming into.  In most cases, this person has also applied for the role, but has been overlooked in favour of the skills and experience that you bring to the organisation.  

Sometimes this is purely a desire for ‘fresh eyes’, other times, the ‘seat warmer’ perhaps isn’t quite ready and needs to acquire some more experience or ‘battle scars’ to ensure they are set up for success when they take the next step in their career.

Key Success Tips 1.   Build trust - get to know the person and establish a good relationship

2.   Call out the ‘elephant in the room’ - acknowledge that it may be uncomfortable for the person who had been acting.  Open the conversation in an authentic and non-threatening way

3.   Partner with them on their Career Development Plan - find out the feedback they received following the recruitment process and work with them to put in place a development plan to address the perceived gaps between where they are now and where they want to be in the future

4.   Review the Career Development Plan regularly and provide regular feedback to assist this person to continue to grow into the leader they aspire to be

5. Call out any bad behaviour - if you become aware of any bad behaviour, address it as soon as possible (and involve HR).  These conversations are awkward and uncomfortable, but you are not doing anyone a favour by not addressing the issues as they arise

Below are my experiences of when this has worked well, as well as when it has been an absolute disaster.  Note the names used in the below case studies are all pseudonyms.

Case Study 1 - Jane

This scenario isn’t exactly a ‘seat warmer’ scenario, as this was a newly-created executive role for which I was hired.  However, Jane had been on a career development path for this type of role and was towards the end of her maternity leave when the interview process was undertaken.  She went through the application process and was not successful as I was chosen in the role.

Soon after I started, Jane returned from maternity leave and was one of my direct reports.  Jane challenged me constantly, but always in a respectful way.  It was clear that she was disappointed to have been overlooked in favour of an external candidate. 

We had some very honest conversations and I shared my CV with her so that she could see the breadth of experience that I was bringing to the role.  She appreciated this and it set a good foundation for our relationship going forward.

Following those early open and raw conversations, we worked together very well and achieved many great customer outcomes during my time at the organisation.

Some years later, Jane and I found ourselves working together again (in fact I referee’d her for a manager role at the same time as I was being interviewed for the executive role in the same organisation).  Jane continued to be the strong, passionate leader that was her trademark, but she clearly had passions and capabilities elsewhere and followed those to great success.  I am filled with admiration for this hard-working, passionate leader and feel lucky that we had the privilege to work together and bond after an initial, slightly rocky start.

Case Study 2 - James

Although many years have passed, it still makes me feel warm and incredibly lucky to have worked with James.

James had been acting in the executive role for a few months before it was advertised and I was ultimately successful in securing the role.  James was young, although highly intelligent and very savvy.  He was always going to ascend to great heights, it was just that it wasn’t quite his time yet.

I expected that this could result in some angst or resentment about my coming into this role, but James could not have been more supportive, welcoming or professional right from the outset.

It was a new industry for me and James went out of his way to assist me to settle in and get up to speed as quickly as possible.  I trusted him quickly and he never abused that trust.

We worked brilliantly together and achieved many great outcomes of which I am tremendously proud (whilst acknowledging that he did most of the hard yards!).

As James’ leader, it was important to make sure that he was getting the opportunity to lead key pieces of work that would develop his skills to ensure he progressed to the executive level.  We worked together on this and I strongly advocated for him until he was promoted to an executive role (albeit in an acting position initially) - even though it meant losing him as my right-hand person.  It was the right thing to do and he had earned it.

I have since watched from afar as his career has reached new heights and he is now one of the most influential leaders in his field.

Case Study 3 - Jodie

Jodie had been acting in my role before I was appointed.  It was a big step up for her and she was probably an example of an organisation wanting to be seen to be creating opportunities for women, but promoted them before they were ready.

Jodie had ascended at the organisation through using her femininity and was openly flirtatious with the senior men in the organisation.  One of these men in particular, took her under his wing and it gave her a tremendous sense of power.

This was a new industry for me and I was relying on my direct reports to assist me to understand the nuances and the complexity that clearly existed.  My two other direct reports were very supportive and helpful.  At first, I thought Jodie was as well.  I liked her personality, she was good fun and I trusted her.

Within a few months, Jodie began to show her true colours.  Colleagues from other parts of the organisation would come to be to tell me that she had been running me down around the business.  This was a shock to me and was very disappointing.  I challenged her about the information I had received and gave her a formal warning that such behaviour was unacceptable.  She committed to improve.

Sure enough, within a short period of time, it was happening again.  Interestingly, Jodie had no self-awareness and didn’t seem to realise that she wasn’t well-liked in the organisation, hence whenever she spoke behind my back, the person she spoke with would come straight to tell me.  I addressed the issue again and issued a second warning - once again to a commitment to improve.

When it happened a third time, I had no choice but to terminate her employment.  This was difficult for me, as I believe it is our responsibility as leaders to help people improve and become the best versions of themselves - not just cut them off.  At the meeting with HR when her employment was terminated, Jodie cried and said to me “I’m sorry I did this to you”. 

Maybe I was lulled into a false sense of security after having such positive experiences with Jane and James, but I felt very blindsided by the behaviour from Jodie.  I hadn’t been there long enough for her to dislike me enough to actively undermine me the way she did. I can only assume it came from deep set resentment that I was in the role she had been acting in and a belief that I couldn’t possibly perform the role as well as her.

A learning for me is that I made the assumption that I would have Jodie’s support, when I should have spent more time undertaking steps 1-3 in my ‘Key success tips’ outlined above.  I am not sure if it would have have made a difference in this case, but it is remiss of me to not have at least tried.

Summary

My point in sharing these stories is that we have choices in how we respond to disappointments in our career, and we have choices in how we lead.

As leaders, it is our responsibility to understand the dynamics of the teams we are taking on.  We need to create a safe environment to enable our staff to become the best versions of themselves. Trust is key to this – taking on a new team requires us to put the effort in to build trust and understand the mindset of the people we are leading. 

If you are the person who has missed out on the role in favour of another, it isn’t easy to take rejection - it hurts.  Taking it out on the person for whom you were rejected is never appropriate - it was not their decision.  Those who respond with professionalism and integrity are inevitably rewarded with greater career progression.