Your first 100 days
When you land a new job, your initial task is to approach the role with a strong plan for the first 100 days.
You must formulate a course of action, make connections, and establish and communicate a personal management style:
Meet people, establish relationships, understand their needs, wants, frustrations, KPIs
Establish a foundational personal brand of credibility and leadership
Lay the foundations and frameworks for delivery of a quick win strategy whilst mapping out the long term roadmap
This plan will enable you to establish yourself quickly. Each phase includes critical target outcomes, actions and resources, as well as some optional ideas to consider as time and resources allow.
Prepare
Don’t wait until your first day on the job to prepare. Take some key actions before you start to inform yourself, learn about colleagues and staff, draft communications to make a great impression on day 1 and set up meetings with your team and key business and IT leaders. Don’t make the mistake of approaching your new role with ad hoc communications and plans. A few hours of investment in planning before you start will ensure critical preparations are completed. Demonstrating that you understand “how things work around here” is crucial.
Assess
Gain a comprehensive insight into the current state of the organization’s delivery program; what’s working and what isn’t; and the top five challenges that you’ll prioritize for the first three to six months. During your first week, try to spend most of your time creating an inventory of the projects, roadmap, stakeholders, current state, future state, available metrics, financial parameters. Use face-to-face meetings to build a strong understanding of the business and rapport with key stakeholders.
Plan
Turn what you’ve learned into a blueprint for action. Share your vision with your team, line managers and business stakeholders. This is your chance to design and refine your new organization. By now you should have a reasonably accurate picture of your plan and budget, so plan your budget, to the next level of detail for the next two to three months.
Act
This is your opportunity to deliver visible results. Redefine your team; get involved in existing projects; set budgets; establish (or re-establish) the governance processes and forums; and ensure senior management commitment for the charter you developed.
Measure
Start providing evidence of your impact. Develop an executive reporting framework and process; monitor program and project progress; and highlight early wins, successes and challenges. Schedule meetings with your line manager, team leaders and key stakeholders to gather their thoughts on the progress made and challenges encountered during the first 100 days of your tenure.