As a new CEO, your first 90 days are critical for setting the tone, gaining credibility, and establishing a foundation for long-term success. This period is about learning, building relationships, developing a strategy while aligning your leadership style with the company's culture and goals and understanding why the company exists. Here's a roadmap for your first 90 days:?
Phase 1: First 30 Days – Learning and Listening
1. Understand the Company's Culture and History
- Observe the culture: Understand how things get done, how decisions are made, and how people communicate. Immerse yourself in the organization's norms and values.
- Review the company's history: Learn about past successes, failures, and major turning points to understand what has shaped the company.
- Align with the board's vision: Meet with the board of directors to clarify their expectations, the company's strategic direction, and long-term goals.
2. Conduct a Listening Tour
- Meet with key stakeholders: Engage with the leadership team, employees, customers, suppliers, and investors to get their perspectives. Ask questions to understand their challenges, goals, and what they need from you.
- Listen before making changes: Avoid rushing into decisions. Focus on gathering insights and building trust with your team and stakeholders.
- Ask critical questions such as What's working well and what's not? What are the company's most significant opportunities and challenges? And how can you, as the CEO, help make things better?
3. Review Financial and Operational Data
- Analyze financial performance: Study critical financial reports, including income statements, balance sheets, cash flow, and budgets, to understand the company's current financial health.
- Understand key metrics: Identify key performance indicators (KPIs) used to track success and learn what matters most to the company's growth and sustainability.
- Assess risks: Identify immediate risks (financial, operational, or competitive) that could require early attention.
4. Build Relationships and Trust
- Connect with your leadership team: Establish trust and open lines of communication with your executive team. Understand their strengths, challenges, and how they view their roles.
- Engage employees: Show accessibility and approachability by interacting with employees at all levels. Walk the floors, visit different locations, and listen to their concerns.
- Reassure stakeholders: Meet with key external stakeholders (investors, customers, partners) to understand their expectations and reassure them about the leadership transition.
?Phase 2: Days 31-60 – Developing a Plan
1. Refine Your Understanding of the Business
- Review the strategy: Study the current business strategy and determine if it aligns with your vision for the company's future. Examine market positioning, competitive advantages, and industry trends.
- Identify key opportunities and challenges: Based on your learnings from the first 30 days, identify the most significant areas of opportunity (e.g., new markets, product development, operational improvements) and any critical threats (e.g., competition, market shifts).
- Assess the talent and structure: Evaluate the leadership team and organizational structure. Determine if the right people are in the right roles and the structure supports the company's goals.
2. Begin Formulating Your Strategic Vision
- Clarify your short—and long-term goals. Define where you want the company to be in the next 1-5 years. What will success look like, and what will it take?
- Align with the board: Share your early vision and insights with the board of directors. Get their input and make sure they are aligned with your direction.
- Prioritize initiatives: Identify key strategic initiatives that should be prioritized, whether innovation, cost reduction, market expansion, or operational efficiency.
3. Communicate with Transparency
- Set expectations with the team: Communicate your early findings and direction to the leadership team and broader organization. Ensure that everyone understands your goals and the reasoning behind them.
- Encourage open dialogue: Foster an environment where people feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and concerns. Show that you are receptive to feedback and willing to adapt.
- Promote a culture of accountability: Set performance expectations for your leadership team. Encourage data-driven decision-making and accountability for results.
?Phase 3: Days 61-90 – Taking Action and Executing
- Address urgent issues: Identify any immediate risks or challenges in the first 60 days, such as cash flow problems, key personnel issues, or operational inefficiencies.
- Achieve early wins: Look for small, impactful changes to improve morale, show progress, and build credibility with your team and stakeholders.
2. Finalize and Communicate Your Strategic Plan
- Refine your vision: By now, you should have a clearer sense of the company's direction. Finalize your strategic plan, which should address key areas such as growth, innovation, talent, and financial performance.
- Communicate the vision: Share your strategic vision with the entire company. Inspire your team by explaining how their roles contribute to the company's future success.
- Engage stakeholders: Please continue communicating regularly with external stakeholders (board, investors, customers) to ensure alignment with your strategic direction.
3. Evaluate the Leadership Team and Organization
- Make necessary leadership changes: If needed, restructure the leadership team or bring in new talent to ensure you have the right people to execute your vision.
- Build a high-performance culture: Begin fostering innovation, collaboration, and accountability. Recognize and reward those who embody the values and drive the company forward.
4. Focus on Execution and Accountability
- Establish execution plans:?Work with the leadership team to create clear, actionable plans for implementing your strategy. Set milestones and timelines to ensure accountability.
- Track progress and adjust: Implement a system for regularly tracking progress against the strategic plan. Be prepared to adjust as needed based on new information or changing conditions.
5. Strengthen External Relationships
- Build customer and partner relationships: Meet with key customers, partners, and investors to strengthen relationships and ensure ongoing support.
- Monitor industry trends: Monitor the broader market landscape and adjust your strategy to stay competitive and relevant.?
While it's vital to show action, making uninformed decisions early on can damage your credibility and negatively impact the organization. Take time to understand the business and its challenges. Setting unrealistic goals or expectations early on can lead to disappointment if they aren't achieved. Be thoughtful about what you commit to in the first 90 days. Balance your attention between operations, people, strategy, and external factors. Focusing too much on one area can leave others needing to be addressed. Your success as a CEO largely depends on your relationships with your team, board, and external stakeholders. Make relationship-building a priority from day one. By focusing on learning, relationship-building, and setting a strategic direction, you can lay a solid foundation for success as CEO in your first 90 days. This period is critical for establishing your leadership, earning trust, and setting the tone for your long-term vision.
Hello, I'm Stuart - a CPA, CA, TEC Chair, and former financial executive turned business strategist, executive coach, and networker. If you found this insightful, consider sharing it and connecting with me for more engaging content.
