Pillar Leader Check-Ins for New Hires
A pillar leader can hold 30-day and 90-day conversations with new hires across a department, even when those employees don't report directly to that leader. These scheduled connections keep leadership in contact with individual contributors and give employees a direct way to feel heard and visible.
A pillar leader may manage the overall organization rather than directly manage the employee. That person might not even be the manager's manager.
Who Can Serve as a Pillar Leader?
A pillar leader can be the executive at the top of a department or organization who wants visibility into the teams below. That leader doesn't need to be each employee's direct or second-level manager.
Customer success shows how this works. The organization shown places Customer Ops, Customer Success, Support, Account Mgmt, and Implementation under the Chief Customer Officer. Account managers and relationship managers can roll into customer success as well.
The chief customer officer may want visibility into everything happening across those teams. The role sits above individual reporting lines while maintaining contact with the people doing the work.
How Do Check-Ins Connect Leaders and New Hires?
The chief customer officer can set up 30-day and 90-day check-ins with individual contributors across the organization. In ChangeEngine, this is set up as a connection for people in the New Starters (incl. upcoming) segment. The draft screen also shows Manager and Manager's Manager as subject connections.
The example timeline includes:
- Day 30: CCO and new IC, “How is it going so far?”
- Day 60: Manager coaching growth conversation
- Day 90: CCO and IC, 90-day pulse and survey
- Day 180: Pillar leader skip-level coffee
Once the connection is set up, leadership stays close to individual contributors without someone scheduling each check-in. That contact builds the relationship and gives the leader an overall pulse on what's happening across the organization. In a very large global organization, a direct conversation with a pillar leader helps individual contributors feel heard and visible to the person leading the department.
Frequently asked questions
What is a pillar leader?
A pillar leader is someone at the top of a department or organization who wants visibility across the teams below. In customer success, that could be the chief customer officer overseeing customer operations, customer success, support, account managers, and relationship managers, even without being an employee's direct or second-level manager.
How can a chief customer officer stay connected to new hires?
They can set up 30-day and 90-day check-ins with individual contributors throughout the organization. The example sequence uses a 30-day “How is it going so far?” conversation and a 90-day pulse with a survey, giving the leader direct contact even when the employee reports through other managers.
