Dear Leaders, Recently I asked what leaders would like to read on leaders' letters to help them specifically.
Here is the first instalment, what should you do for the first 90/100 days or three months in a new leadership role. Thanks to the three leaders who asked this.
As ever, this will be broken down into the focus mantra = performance (strategy) and people (culture).
If people and performance are not directly connected you will not win the short or mid-term battles.
In most leadership roles in most good businesses you will be onboarded before the first day, you will likely be supplied documentation and insights to help you shape your thoughts.
For those who don’t do this and those who are a little nervous, here are the steps I recommend you take
The steps to take for a successful 100 day:
Days 1-5
Get settled, onboard properly with HR, your direct colleagues and get comfortable for the first 48 hours.
Meet as many people as possible, remember one fact or snippet and note it down if need be. People first performance second in the first few days
Start to understand the tools the company uses, the cadence of updates and ask what are the most important tools.
Take notes and revisit every morning
Ask for the company wide strategy, not the strategies, be deliberate in understanding the metrics and the build of the strategy
Understand the company culture, what roles people play and what role leaders play here
Understand if the company is hippo led - if yes, build relationships around this
Ask for a glossary of internal terms - if this doesn’t exist create one. Internal language is often so entrenched they do not know they are using it. Being able to speak the internal lingo is often a leap to success
Understand what communication works best within the business
Understand how the business actually makes money and what is the current state of play
Understand the known knowns and etiquettes, what behaviours are rewarded, which are considered negative and those which are just wrong inside the business. What is rewarded in your last place might be punishable in this.
Set out how you work with your department - how you like to work, how you like to communicate, how you best work, give a few strengths and weaknesses. Plan a speech if need be, often they are sprung on you
Find out if your company is in crawl, walk, run, stagnation phase. If you are entering a startup understand how mature they are, if you are entering a large company, understand if you are entering a business that is actually stagnating. If you are in a company at run phase from the outside but really is struggling internally the job is very different
Connect with HR and set up monthly meetings
Set up your 1:2:1 with your boss, set up what works for you both, monthly might hinder you if your first two months are not going well from their perspective
Days 5-15
Get to understand the unknown knows - what is the business hiding or is under the surface but not discussed or addressed
Ask for department leads to take them through their annual plan and performance so far
Get to know the people in your department, groups activities and one to ones. Make time, find time, don’t move these slots and meetings for others.
Set up 1:2:1’s cadence - be consistent, be there, be prepared and don’t cancel them!
Set out your expectations on meeting requests and how people want to use your time
Understand the team's abilities and shortcomings and create a team SWOT (include your own), and then integrate into your 1:2:1’s and their grow plans
Get to know how decisions are actually made with the business and within your teams. You will be surprised
Build a GANTT or equivalent to map out your first 100 days, this helps you stay on track and drive change. Evolve this for the first month
Understand what your department leads need from you, a coach, a mentor, a manager, a micromanager (yes some want micromanagement) and importantly if some need a fresh start.
Day 15-50
Find out what has worked, what has not worked, what could work via the recent ideations sessions
Understand the current cadence of management team meetings, what format has worked and what hasn’t. If you are operationally smart you should look to optimise the meetings after 4-5 weeks / meetings. Never allow management teams to be a time drain or unproductive
Understand the performance of the business and the momentum and recent performing months/quarters/years. If there is a theme step up and discuss this openly.
If you go in a department leader develop your department hierarchy and build out your supporting team. Find your co-pilot quickly
Understand if your role is a rebuilder role and build accordingly, understand the business need, the pain points and the problems you have to solve for the internal and as important the external customer.
Create grow plans for your team and the team members
Build your open-plan (open roadmap to all to see) - what you are going to be doing and the needles you will be moving
Plan the hiring budget and hiring business case, you may have been promised a number, however, these plans change quickly
Involve the existing team in hiring and the hiring plan. Bring into interviews and develop their hiring skills
Be proactive - Book time to get to know the leadership team. If they do not come to you, go to them, especially in leadership roles
Find out the internal influencers, the secret weapons, the hidden leaders and understand the dynamics at play
Befriend the CFO / FD, despite what you think this is often the most important relationship, trust by relationships and performance
Day 50 +
Hire for the right long term roles not for the pain points or just the skills gap
Set up internal mentoring sessions for your team
Build cross-functional connections and arrange time slots for team leads and unofficial leads to collaborate (informally or formally)
Look to invest time into other departments and the up and coming team members, this information shouldn’t be hard to find
Gain feedback as often as possible
Develop out your longer-term plans, look to develop the 365 plan
These steps should help you make the most out of the first quarter of your new business and will help guide you into the following quarters.
If you have any specific requests for leaders’ letters please do hit reply on this email.
Thanks and have a great week.
Danny Denhard
BTW this long-form article - the questions to ask about company culture has been trending on the site this week and might well be worth the read.