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10% of relevant talent is actively looking for a new opportunity at any given moment in time; that means that 90% of suitable candidates are not engaged in active job searches. They have not registered with recruiters, are not perusing job boards, and are not applying for roles. They may not even be unhappy where they are, but they ARE willing to move!

Making a career transition is a challenge for all leaders and can be particularly daunting for those who have been in an organization for a long time and have strong relationships with coworkers. Having coached many leaders through this transition over the years, I have seen specific strategies used to maintain confidence and manage the change. Most recently, I’ve been able to put these strategies to use through my own experience.

There is a familiar scenario playing out in organizations around the world each day and it looks like this:

"Fred has been working for his company for several years a

nd excels at his job; everyone likes him. When a manager position becomes available within his department, Fred is the likely candidate because he’s good at the job, and the assumption is that he will also be a great manager. If only it was that easy…"

An IT leader (new to his team) was recently grumbling about his team members not wanting to participate in a team outing after work. He made an assumptive leap that their lack of interest in getting together as a team meant they did not want to get to know him. In probing further, I asked him to tell me about his team members and he told me about the work they do. I interrupted and asked about them personally—what are their interests and do they have families? He paused and said “I think a couple of them do.” This opened the door for a conversation about how to truly get to know team members.