8-Point Plan for the First 100

Days
 Rough Timeline for the 8-Point
Plan
Several of the steps occur simultaneously and many take place continuously

Following our 8-point plan, we will help you create the conditions for great
long-term performance.

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Point 1:
Prepare Yourself During the
Countdown
Action Items Comments
Plan effectively; get set to learn. Do your homework; review company,
industry and competitor press, financials
and marketing materials.
Determine what questions to ask key The best questions yield the best answers.
constituents and meet with the smartest
observers possible.
Meet with top management, your boss, Lay the groundwork for strong relationships
employees, alumni, customers, suppliers, with your key constituents and future
analysts, trusted confidantes and investors. colleagues and gather valuable input.
Construct your first 100-day plan with tasks Once you start your new job, the rush of
and rough timing. information and activities will make it
difficult to think and plan.
Assess your own knowledge, skill or Determine what functional expertise or
experience gaps. specialized training you will need to
succeed in the new job.
Prepare family and your personal support Minimize personal disruptions within your
base for the intense ride ahead. control; create the ability to immerse
yourself in your new role in the first 100
days.

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Point 2:
Align Expectations
Action Items Comments
Truly understand your boss and the Make sure you find common ground about
company’s objectives for the position you key goals — both during the hiring process
are coming into. and throughout your early days.
Introduce yourself to the management Prepare to answer these questions: Who
team: Most employees will be wondering, am I? What’s my background? Why did I
“Is this new boss going to be good or bad join? What do I hope to accomplish? How
for me?” do I hope to work together? Be CONCISE.
Communicate your management Use your early management meetings to
philosophy, professional background, do more than meet and greet; set the tone
operating principles and expectations. for weeks to follow.
Ask a lot of questions. Don’t be a know-it-all. You cannot have all
the answers on day one or throughout the
first 100 days.
Create an agenda for active listening; Be a receiver as much as a broadcaster —
engage in one-on-one meetings to pose listen and learn. People appreciate being
key questions. listened to and heard. Do not go into
“broadcast mode.”
Synthesize learnings and provide feedback Begin developing your agenda by sharing
to the organization and those with whom what you have learned through memos,
you’ve met. presentations and social media.
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Point 3:
Shape Your Management Team
Action Items Comments
Determine whether you have a strong Establishing a strong team is the best first
enough management team to reach your step a manager can take toward
aspirations. implementing and executing the strategic
agenda.
Build a team of people with similar values The composition of the team should match
and passions, but with complementary the company’s challenges, enable you to
skills. do your best, and reflect the values and
standards that you want to prevail
throughout the enterprise.
Unless the company is in utter crisis, avoid Recognize that people have enormous
making critical personnel moves capacity if you give them a chance; set
immediately. clear expectations and hold them
accountable.
Cultivate a partner or confidante. You will need someone trustworthy,
discreet and with superior judgment with
whom to brainstorm.
Articulate objectives and desired outcomes; Your early team meetings will set the tone
encourage frank and open conversations. for the meetings to follow.
Recognize the power of your predecessor; While it may be tempting to push out or
acknowledge and, in some cases, embrace denounce your predecessor for the
your predecessor. challenges
PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL. you’ve inherited, doing so will
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likely create unnecessary ill will.
Point 4:
Craft Your Strategic Agenda

Action Items Comments

Build the strategic agenda in a joint effort Find the right balance between creating a
with your team versus in a silo. Limit the compelling picture of where you want the
number of themes and priorities so they organization to go and not becoming
can be easily remembered by the prematurely locked into a plan.
organization.
Diagnose the company’s problems starting Use this diagnosis and your constituents’
with the customer perspective and feedback to start building your short-term
continuing with a grounded view of what strategic agenda; make sure to under-
the company stands for. promise and over-deliver.
Define the operating mechanism/process — Incorporate these processes and build an
the meetings, documents and report explicit plan to address cultural issues and
formats to conduct the day-to-day barriers to change.
business.
A strategic agenda is by definition a work in Expect pushback on your agenda but,
progress; use it to help you and the rather than resist, coalesce that input in a
organization make decisions, see how they positive way to maximize buy-in.
work and make adjustments as needed.
Secure some early wins. Look for flaws in the organization and fix
them quickly to establish your credibility as
a leader.
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Point 5:
Start Transforming Culture
Action Items Comments
Identify how “things work around here.” Many new leaders fail because they could
Work to understand the culture of the new not make headway against an intransigent
organization and diagnose how great of a culture, pushing too hard in the wrong
change is required. ways.
Go on the hunt for the knowledge networks, The place to start assessing a culture is to
key influencers, decision-making protocols look for physical evidence, then listen and
and the unwritten and unspoken learn — within most appearances and
conventions that are the nervous system of generalizations there lies an inner core of
any organization. truth.
Solicit views about the culture from As you learn more, keep sharpening and
members of the board, the management improving your questions.
team, employees, customers and industry
analysts.
Create the conditions for cultural Be sensitive to the fact that even when you
transformation: adapt measures of have a change mandate from your board or
success; set new expectations; create new boss, it may not be enough. Understand
operating processes; empower change where other sources of power lie.
leaders; and lead by example.
With a truly obstinate culture, you may Make your first moves count. In your early
need to make structural and people days, people are the most open about
changes, but do so with the bought-in change, but remember that too much
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support of the key power center and change can break the culture — so pace
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Point 6:
Manage Your Boss
Action Items Comments
Understand the stated and unstated It’s not just about building shareholder
motivations of your boss. value, it’s also about their reputations and
schedules.
Initiate an “onboarding” process with your Sit down with your boss and determine the
boss, similar to what can be done with new most critical issues and what he/she is and
managers. Establish priorities with your the board are looking for.
new boss.
Establish your credibility by having a sound Understand how your boss really works.
strategic agenda, being on top of the Tailor your communications and
details of the business and by establishing management style accordingly.
an effective communications protocol.
Listen and learn from your boss. Establish the discipline of regular feedback.

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Point 7:
Communicate!
Action Items Comments
Know your audience so you can tailor your Tell stories to establish an emotional
message and your style to their readiness connection to your point; be concise.
and to what they care about.
Effective communication is more than Be conscious of the signals you are
promulgating a message, it is a continuous sending. In the early days, every move you
give-and-take in which ideas are explored, make is being closely watched — both
assimilated and adapted. explicit messages and implicit signals will
have an impact.
Use and re-use your communications in This will reinforce your message and
various forums and formats. maximize your time.
Know the communications settings that you Communicating is intimately intertwined
are most comfortable in and play to your with corporate culture; the way you present
natural strengths. your message will affect the culture.
In a crisis, get the information out as Acknowledge the challenges of the
quickly as possible. situation to establish credibility; act as a
“shock-absorber” between uncertainty and
employees’ desire for stability.
Having all the answers is usually the wrong While this requires significant time
answer; get direct input from the field. investment, it will pay back multiple-fold in
enhanced credibility, trust and stakeholder
engagement.
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Point 8:
Avoid Common Pitfalls

Action Items Comments

Don’t set unrealistic or unsustainable Serious problems arise when the targets
expectations; in the end, you will be judged against which you are measured are not
by your results. rooted in reality.
Don’t allow yourself to suffer from analysis Overly cautious behavior eats up time and
paralysis; don’t be a know-it-all and make sets the example of risk aversion; know-it-
rash decisions. alls typically don’t know what they don’t
know.
Don’t fail to let go of your past identity. What’s past is prologue. Leaders who
Don’t stifle dissent. smother discord cut themselves off from
correcting problems before they arise and
create an environment of fear.
Don’t misread the true sources of power Gauging the true sources of power is
and don’t pick the wrong battles. critical during the early days. Select the
right priorities; little things may turn out to
be not so little after all.
Don’t succumb to “the savior syndrome” You are not the embodiment of the
and avoid “dissing” your predecessor. institution. You are not above the rules that
bind everyone else. Be respectful and
sensitive regarding your predecessor’s
position and tenure, regardless of how you
feel.
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