The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels

It is crucial to get early wins, but it is also important to secure them in the right way. Above all, of course, you want to avoid early losses, because it is tough to recover once the tide is running against you. These are the most common traps that afflict unwary new leaders :

• Failing to focus. It is all too easy to take on too much during a transition, and the results can be ruinous. You can end like Steven Leacock s befuddled horseman, who flung himself on his horse and rode off madly in all directions. ^[2] You cannot hope to achieve results in more than a couple of areas during your transition. Thus, it is essential to identify promising opportunities and then focus relentlessly on translating them into wins.

• Not taking the business situation into account. What constitutes an early win will differ dramatically from one business situation to another. Simply getting people to talk about the organization and its challenges can be a big accomplishment in a realignment but a waste of time in a turnaround . Think tactically about what will build momentum best. Will it be a demonstrated willingness to listen and learn? Will it be rapid, decisive calls on pressing business issues?

• Not adjusting for the culture. Leaders who come into an organization from the outside are most at risk of stumbling into this trap. Having absorbed a different organization s culture, they bring with them its view of what a win is and how it is achieved. In some companies, a win has to be a visible individual accomplishment. In others, individual pursuit of glory , even if it achieves good results, is viewed as grandstanding and destructive of teamwork. In team-oriented organizations, early wins could come in the form of leading a team in the development of a new product idea or being viewed as a solid contributor and team player in a broader initiative. Be sure you understand what your organization does and does not view as a win.

• Failing to get wins that matter to your boss. It is essential to get early wins that energize your direct reports and other employees . But your boss s opinion about your accomplishments is critically important too. Even if you do not fully endorse his or her priorities, you have to make them central in thinking through what early wins you will aim for. Addressing problems that your boss cares about will go a long way toward building credibility and cementing your access to resources.

• Letting your means undermine your ends. Process matters. If you achieve impressive results in a manner that is seen as manipulative, underhanded, or inconsistent with the culture, you are setting yourself up for trouble. An early win that is accomplished in a way that exemplifies the behavior you hope to instill in your new organization is a double win.

^[2] Stephen Leacock, Laugh with Leacock: An Anthology of the Best Work of Stephen Leacock (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1981).