The New Leader's 100-Day Action Plan

1. Start early: Your job begins when you accept the offer

"Like it or not, a new leader's role begins as soon as that person is an acknowledged candidate for the job and certainly begins at the moment they accept."

Leverage the fuzzy front end. The period between accepting the job and your official start date is crucial for setting yourself up for success. Use this time to:

• Determine your leadership approach based on the context and culture
• Identify key stakeholders up, down, and across the organization
• Craft your entry message using your best current thinking
• Jump-start key relationships and accelerate your learning
• Manage your personal and office setup
• Plan your Day One, early days, and first 100 days

By starting early, you create time to prepare thoroughly and hit the ground running on your official start date.

2. Craft a compelling entry message and manage first impressions

"Everything communicates. Everything—even the things you don't do and don't say send powerful signals to everybody in the organization observing you."

Control your Day One. Your first day sets the tone for your entire tenure, so plan it meticulously:

• Choose the right day to be Day One
• Make careful choices about your Day One plan
• Be deliberate about the order in which you meet people and conduct activities
• Have a clear message, but have a bias towards listening
• Be aware of the signs and symbols you're deploying

Remember that people will form lasting impressions based on your initial interactions. Ensure that every aspect of your Day One communicates your intended message and sets the right expectations.

3. Co-create a burning imperative within 30 days

"The burning imperative is a sharply defined, intensely shared, and purposefully urgent understanding from the team members of what they are 'supposed to do now' and how this works with the larger aspirations of the team and the organization."

Align your team quickly. The burning imperative is the centerpiece of tactical capacity. To create it:

• Determine your organization's core focus (design, production, delivery, or service)
• Co-create with your team through a facilitated workshop
• Include components such as headline, mission, vision, values, objectives, goals, strategies, plans, and operating cadence
• Ensure the imperative drives purposeful action and is aligned with long-term purpose

By co-creating the burning imperative, you gain buy-in and create a shared understanding of priorities, enabling your team to act decisively and cohesively.

4. Drive accountability through milestone management by day 45

"Milestones are the building blocks of tactical capacity that turn a burning imperative into a manageable action plan."

Implement a rigorous follow-up system. Effective milestone management involves:

• Capturing clear milestones for each key initiative
• Assigning single-point accountability for each milestone
• Conducting regular milestone update meetings (weekly or bi-weekly)
• Following a structured process:
  1. Update milestones before meetings
  2. Review updates individually
  3. Report headlines in meetings
  4. Prioritize discussion topics
  5. Problem-solve as a team
  6. Close the loop with clear next steps

This process ensures that your team stays focused on priorities, collaborates effectively, and delivers results on time.

5. Deliver early wins within 6 months to build credibility

"Early wins are all about credibility and confidence. People have more faith in people who have delivered."

Overinvest in quick successes. To build momentum and confidence:

• Select 1-2 early wins from your milestones list by day 60
• Choose wins that make a meaningful external impact
• Ensure the wins are achievable within 6 months
• Allocate more resources than you think necessary to guarantee success
• Charter a team for each early win, clearly defining objectives, context, resources, guidelines, and accountability
• Celebrate and communicate the wins widely when achieved

Early wins demonstrate your ability to deliver results, giving your team and stakeholders confidence in your leadership.

6. Build a high-performing team by day 70

"Getting the right people in the right roles with the right support is a fundamental, essential building block of a high-performing team."

Move quickly on talent decisions. To build your team:

• Define the right structure and roles to execute your mission
• Assess current team members' performance and role fit
• Make decisions about who to keep, move, or replace
• Acquire new talent as needed to fill gaps
• Develop existing team members' skills and capabilities
• Encourage high performance through clear direction, support, and rewards
• Plan for future talent needs and succession

Remember that different roles may require different types of leaders: interpersonal, scientific, or artistic. Ensure you have the right mix of leadership styles to achieve your objectives.

7. Evolve leadership, practices, and culture by day 100

"By Day 100, you own the team. Once you own the team, the problem children become your problem children."

Continuously adjust and advance. After your first 100 days:

• Assess your own leadership effectiveness and create a development plan
• Evolve your team's capabilities through ongoing development and succession planning
• Enhance practices around milestone management, long-term planning, and program management
• Intentionally evolve the culture to support your strategic objectives
• Be prepared to adjust to inevitable surprises and changes in the business environment

Use this time to solidify the changes you've implemented and set the stage for long-term success.

8. Navigate special circumstances: Board management, M&As, and turnarounds

"Boards of directors provide oversight, approve the most material decisions, and advise, whereas management has accountability for strategy, operations, and the organization."

Adapt your approach to unique situations. When dealing with:

Boards:

• Build relationships based on mutual respect, trust, and support
• Use the "Board Two-Step" approach: consult first, then seek approval
• Manage expectations and communication carefully

Mergers and Acquisitions:

• Start with a clear investment case and due diligence
• Focus on cultural integration early
• Plan for success with a focus on customers, people, and costs—in that order
• Manage the politics and communication carefully

Turnarounds:

• Move quickly and decisively
• Overcommunicate with all stakeholders
• Overinvest in innovation and necessary resources
• Reset strategy, reorganize for success, and intensify operating cadence

9. Lead through crises with a 100-hour action plan

"Leading through a crisis is about inspiring, enabling, and empowering others to get things vaguely right quickly, and then adapt along the way—with clarity around direction, leadership, and roles."

Respond rapidly and flexibly. In times of crisis:

• Prepare in advance by establishing protocols and training crisis teams
• React quickly to events, leveraging your preparation
• Bridge gaps in the situation, response capabilities, and prevention measures
• Follow a disciplined iteration process:
  1. Clarify direction and roles
  2. Get a quick, flexible plan in place
  3. Overcommunicate
  4. Solve problems and make decisions
  5. Coordinate and control
  6. Improve continuously

Remember to keep the ultimate purpose in mind, ensuring that crisis responses align with your long-term vision and values.

Last updated: January 23, 2025