The First 100 Days

As you start a new job there is always an uneasiness that comes from
a very basic question – “Am I doing the right thing?”. Surprisingly, you
are not the only person in the world who has experienced it, and this
phenomenon is known in modern parlance as on-boarding. Every new
presidents, leader and CEO’s of an organisation know that when they
transition into a new role and all eyes are on the new kid.

With many new things flying at you at a million miles and hour – the
very basic question becomes one of survival, adapting and not making too
many mistakes that will be regretted later.

The first mistake that many new executives make is to try and change
the organisation into the paradigm in which they are comfortable with,
forgetting that there is an existing way of doing things. The executive
rationalises this by saying this is what they are employed for and the
organisation often rejects the changes – with the executive not
understanding for.

A good strategy is to

1. Diagnose

2. Enter

3. Deliver

4. Exit

Diagnosis

First map out exactly who does what, understand the macro process
flow and then get into the nitty-gritty. Before making a decision, ask
to understand how a particular process, or phenomena works. Make sure to
check this with more than one person and playback your understanding of
how this works to many people, until you can discern fact from fiction.
A good strategy is also to be building a macro-process map on paper so
as to understand how the big pieces fit together.

A key survival strategy is to “find the grey beards”. There are
people that have been around in an organisation for some time – and they
can explain to you how things work.

As a politician or leader, you quickly need to build up a “kitchen
cabinet” – who are people that can give you sound and honest advice
about your progress, while being candid about what people on the ground
are saying.

You may also be walking into a new arena in which nothing has been
done before. The same strategy applies – first found out exactly what
the expectations are at which level, before starting to swing for the
fences.

A lot of executive look for quick wins or low hanging fruit in this
stage – easy results that can be achieved fairly quickly that will
sustain the challenge. Also if the role is very operational, in the
early stage you focus on ensuring that existing processes run smoothly,
while troubleshooting issues and getting to know the business
better.

Typical duration: 30 – 45 days

Enter

Once you understand how it works, then you can start with systematic
interventions that change things. The key to making this work is to take
things on that you understand and that you can deliver on. Your first
“campaign” is likely to define the nature of the rest of your career
with this organisation – so choose wisely.

Firstly it is important to define where you want to get to. Starting
with the end in mind is one of the most practical steps that you can
ever learn in business. When you know where you want to be – start
writing it down, drawing it out and defining aspects of the end vision.
Your macro process map in the diagnosis phase will help.

In order to define this campaign – you also need to find a coalition
of people that will be interested to support it. To do this – you have
to analyse the stakeholders and understand who is likely to support your
cause and also “how to get to them”. This can take the form of a
stakeholder map and putting together what you know and do not know about
a person and starting to work to find out more.

A key step that many forget is to make sure that your boss, board or
superior is aware of and agrees with what you plan to do. Their buy-in
is very, very, very important. Once they give you the go-ahead and have
an idea of where you are going, the path will be much clearer. There is
nothing more embarrassing than setting out to achieve a result, only to
find out later that no-one is supporting it.

Typical duration: 15 days

Deliver

The next step is to apply yourself to the steps that have to be
followed, start making small changes that lead to bigger parts of your
vision, testing the coalition that is supporting you to make sure that
they see that you are starting to change things and to systematically
work through any objections to your end vision. Reveal portions of the
vision as you go along, so that those that are interested become
custodians of different aspects of the journey.

A key step is to create visibility of your results. Reporting,
messaging and daily communications should highlight what is happening
and how you are moving forward. Don’t over communicate but make sure
that key stakeholders know what is happening and make sure that the
messaging is consistent.

Also keep tracking the issues and risks as you go along. Keep
tracking these religiously and reviewing progress at every step.

Typical duration: 30 days.

Exit

It may seem hard at first but an important question to ask is to
figure out how you are going to end an intervention. Remember that you
had an end state in mind when you started – it is important to look at
that end state and recognise what the elements would be that would be in
place and that would signal an end to the campaign.

Not that you quit then – it is only the beginning – but then your
energy needs to start shifting to initiating one or more areas of change
and sustaining the path that you have set in motion.

It is also important to recharge a bit, while working on embedding
the change. By making others responsible and delegating more authority
to structures you put in place, within the first 80 days, you are
getting to the stage where you need to refocus and ensure

Typical duration: 10 days.

While these are the main steps to making an impact in your new job
there are a couple of guidelines for the new manager

1. Dress well.

2. Always show respect to everyone, you do not know where he or she
   fits in yet. Later show them respect, because they work for you, and you
   need them to do what they do.

3. Document your accomplishments (you will need that for your
   probation review and performance reviews).

4. Don’t threathen to, or fire people in your first few months in a
   company – try to find their strengths and work with them. It may take a
   long time to get a mandate to get new people.

5. Study the company language. Most companies have a special set of
   codes and lingo, get to understand this quickly. Ask someone to explain
   it to you.

6. Link yourself to some mentors and peers early on in the
   process.

7. Don’t always adopt the customs of all the locals.

8. Always be early for meetings. Ask in each meeting when the next
   meeting of this nature will be and ensure that you diarise it.

9. Do any training available. Make sure that you attend any
   induction, training sessions or anything that is available. You need to
   study your new environment and training is usually a place where you can
   learn about the company.

10. Know what the company does. Many executives never take the time
    to get to know what the company does at its lowest levels. Ensure that
    you get to see it – either by going when there is a delivery to a client
    or by having it demonstrated to you.

Conclusion

New challenges often create fear. This fear can characterise a new
executives career, if it is not managed. Before taking on your next
challenge sit down and put together a plan for yourself to manage that
fear through planning the diagnosis, entry, delivery and exit. If you
start with the end in mind, you will quickly find that the fear is gone,
and you are working from a position of strength.

This methodology is not only for the first 100 days on a new job –
but also for getting out of crisis, delivering on new challenges or
taking on new markets.