Your first 100 days as a new leader

As a new leader it may be daunting when you’re in the driver’s seat and expected to perform. You may feel pressured to blaze out of the blocks and begin implementing an amazing vision but, hold your horses. With everything in life, strategy is king. What are the key steps that will?allow you to embed your vision successfully by the end of the first 100 days?

There are different factors to consider. For example, it takes time to get others on board with your vision and this can be tricky especially if you’ve inherited teams that aren’t open to change.?

Give yourself enough time to observe this cultural setting, assess how things work, gather information, note how people engage or interact, interview not only team leaders but team members and build rapport that will help you gather critical insights. For instance, you may notice that groupthink is prevalent and if it’s not progressive thinking there may be resistance to change. You’ll need a creative strategy to motivate intrinsic behavioural change. It's true that people change only if they want to. If they buy into your vision they will align their personal values with the company’s strategic objectives. They will change themselves! So, give yourself the time to understand the terrain and present the strategy in ways that will enhance buy-in. You’ll also need strategies to address all other observations that pose a threat to growth. Gaining help from a mentor, coach or more experienced leader, or mentorship programme for new leaders would be helpful. Don’t wait for too long before raising your observations with one of these resource personnel.?It’s very likely they’ve met what you’re observing before and can help you gain perspectives on possible solutions or approaches the help.

Employees won't respond well to drastic changes. So, hold off on major decisions, including hiring or firing until you’ve gathered enough data, met with clients, suppliers, service providers and reviewed the budget. Summarise the situation as objectively as you see it. Prioritise the goals that will be a part of your strategic change plan, engage with all key stakeholders and determine measures of success.?

Close to the 100 day mark, present your road map of what you’ve been hired to do, outlining the timeline, what strategy you propose to achieve the goals as well as obstacles you’ve observed that may hinder progress.

The relationships you built while interviewing teams and interacting will help you to decide what tasks need to be delegated and to whom. Making note of employees strengths, interests and growth aspirations can help you to decide. Clarify the desired results and provide upskilling or supervision where needed.?

To have a shot at making the changes you’ve been hired or promoted to bring about you must first understand what exists, and use that knowledge to help inform your own strategic plan. When you present your road map or blueprint for growth, aka change. You’d have factored in your observations so that things are presented in a way that may allow for more buy-in but, you need to first gather the data that will allow you to build on a strong foundation. When the vision is clear the how can have room for flexibility and input from others.

Take the steps to ensure those first 100 days count, you won’t get to redo them!