For a new leader converging and evolving is generally the right approach to their own onboardign.  Purely assimilating into a new organization is the easiest and safest approach over the short term, but has no impact.  Shocking the system has the most immediate impact, but almost always leads to a systemic revolt against the intruder.  Converging and evolving leads to safer impact over time.

The challenge is figuring out where and how to converge and fit in, and where, when and how to stand out and lead the evolution.

Fitting in

New leaders should fit in with people, plans and practices that are good enough as they are.  These are areas not to worry about, areas that can be leveraged in other ways.

If an organization is used to taking coffee breaks at 10:00 in the morning, but the new leader is used to taking them at 10:30, it’s probably the new leader that should fit in and switch to 10:00.  There not likely any upside to making everyone else switch to 10:30

Standing out

New leaders should stand out and evolve people, plans and practices in ways that can create competitive advantages.

If an organization is used to responding to customers’ calls within 24 hours, but the new leader sees a way to increase customer satisfaction by responding to all calls on the same day they are received, that’s an evolutionary change that may be worth the effort.

Look out

Net, new leaders should look outside the organization for ways to stand out in good ways with customers, consumers and other external stakeholders.  Conversely, new leaders should look out for internal changes that create stress without having any external impact.