7 Steps to Maximising Success and Reducing Risk in the First 100 Days in a new CXO role:
- Review your personal career strategy and write down how your decision to take the role fits with it; if it fits well, great; but if your decision was expedient because you need a job, that’s fine too but make sure that you are not pretending otherwise. Don’t kid yourself.
- Review the strategy of your new organisation and how it is inter-dependent with your role; be very precise in analysing this. At CXO level, business strategy is inter-dependent, not just linked, with personal strategy.
- List your key relationships in your First 100 Days, starting with yourself and your Family and then your boss, peers, direct reports, clients, stakeholders etc.; don’t miss any out.
- For each relationship predict in a short sentence what a good and bad outcome could be in 100 Days within the context of your personal strategy and that of the business.
- Track each relationship status using Red-Green-Amber on a weekly basis.
- An amber and red status for at least one relationship is almost a certainty within the term so when it happens use FEEL-NEED-DO (see Fenton Model) to slow down your response and ensure you start as you mean to continue in how you manage relationships under stress.
- During your First 100 Days listen more than you speak and never ever use email on an important matter: PICK UP THE PHONE!