Earlier this year, I moved from one part of the company I worked in to another. I wanted to understand how to make sure I hit the ground running in the new role, so I bought The New Leader’s 100-Day Action Plan to see if I could get some tips. When buying the book, I noticed that Your First 100 Days in a New Executive Job was available for free as part of the Kindle Unlimited program which I am a member of, so I got that too.
When I want to learn about a topic, I often find myself getting two or three books on it. I find (or am afraid) that a single book will only provide a one-dimensional view and I like gettting second and third opinions.
The The New Leader’s 100-Day Action Plan feels the more comprehensive of the two books. It’s organized into four parts:
- Become the Best Candidate for the Job
- Discover Your New Role
- Take Control of Your Own Start
- Implement Your 100-Day Action Plan
As mine was an internal move, parts 2 and 3 were more relevant for me. Overall, I found a number of useful ideas - for someone coming in at a very senior executive level, I’m sure the concepts laid out in the book would be extremely relevant. For someone like me at a slightly less elevated level, there’s more constraints on how many of the ideas you can usefully implement. Your First 100 Days in a New Executive Job has a reasonably similar approach to The New Leader’s 100-Day Action Plan. It has more stories and anecdotes than the latter
MODELS
Core Ideas (Bradt et al)
- Get a head start
- Position yourself for success
- Levearge the fuzzy front end
- Manage the message
- Take control of Day One
- Embed the Burning Imperative
- Exploit key Milestones
- Invest in Early Wins
- Build the team
- Secure ADEPT people in the right roles
- Evolve people, plans and practices.
Core Frameworks (Bradt et al)
- People-Plans-Practices High-performing teams and organizations are built of people, plans, and practices aligned around a shared purpose.
- Tactical Capacity bridges the gap between strategy and execution, ensuring that a good stragegy doesn’t fail because of bad execution.
- Building Blocks of Tactical Capacity
- Communication
- Burning Imperative
- Milestones
- Early Wins
- Roles
BRAVE Model of Organizational Culture (Bradt et al)
- Behaviors
- Relationships
- Attitudes
- Values
- Environment
You need to decide whether to Assimilate, Converge, Evolve or Shock the culture.
ADEPT Model for People management (Bradt et al)
- Acquire: Recruit, attract and bring onboard the right people.
- Develop: Assess and build skills and knowledge.
- Encourage: Direct, support, recognize and reward.
- Plan: Monitor, assess and plan career moves over time.
- Transition: Migrate to different roles as appropriate.
The 3 Fundamental Interview Questions (Bradt et al)
- Strengths
- Motivation
- Fit
STARS Model (Hargrove)
Which business situation are you in?
- Start Up
- Turnaround & Crisis
- Accelerated Growth
- Reinvention
- Sustaining Success
START Model (Hargrove)
How to approach your first 100 days
- Start with Due Deligence, Assess Your Situation
- Teachable Point of View & Strategy to Match
- Aact on an Impossible Future, Go For Quick Wins
- Rreframe Thinking and Attitudes, Shift Culture
- Together a Breakthrough