First 100 Days As An Executive
A Hopeful Beginning
The biggest thing that is never taught in school is that life is full of first days. Whether it’s your inaugural day in 5th grade, the first day of marriage, the dawn of parenthood, the commencement of college, or, most recently, your initiation into a job – the internal excitement and anticipation mirror the eagerness of a child awaiting the arrival of that garishly yellow bus.
Whether it be catching your morning bus or monthly financial reports you are accountable for, the first day jitters and the overarching stress of a good first impression linger over you like a cloud on a rainy day. The remedy? Foresight! A good executive will worry about their first day on the job and making a good first impression, a GREAT executive will worry about building a great team and making an impact in their first hundred days.
A Promising Start–Establishing your Objectives
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and your status as a leader won’t be either. What is the fastest way to do that? A masterful plan with detailed objectives. But …In addition to understanding growth priorities and setting a clear plan, the main three objectives a great executive should be looking to achieve are encouraging work relationships, establishing a growth mindset across your team, and identifying the top three areas to apply the mindset to.
Encouraging Your Team to Develop Work Relationships
Work relationships–that might look like weekly coffee, water cooler chats, or perhaps email threads full of unexplainable inside jokes. However, the lasting impact of what might seem like an insignificant aspect of a job is truly undervalued. Long Standing relationships are one of the most effective ways to reduce turnover. However, this benefits an executive, as healthy work relationships can not only increase productivity, but also employee engagement. As a leader, it should be in your best interest to encourage consistent collaboration, quality conversations among your team, and also create opportunities for the team to bond in a natural way. Whether that be organizing team socials, having weekly brainstorms, or having a 20 minute check-in each week, it is crucial to not only bond as an office, but as a team!
Building a Growth Mindset Across Your Team
Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. As often as a company is compared to a “well-oiled machine”, the fact of the matter is, it isn’t! A company is operated by people, and therefore, is inherently flawed. Therefore, a leader who is well versed in patience and obtains a growth mindset every step of the way sets a great example for their workers. Not only will this minimize a lack of patience and errors among the workers, but also sets them up to be patient with the leader when they make mistakes!
Determining Growth Mindset Factors
As mistakes are in fact unavoidable, especially as we innovate, it would be futile to expect them to be nonexistent, no matter the skill level of the team. However, taking preventative measures, ensuring the team is learning and identifying where there is a weakness in the team atmosphere is another trademark of an exceptional leader. Being able to apply this methodical growth mindset to the team is what creates a strong and well run company or organization. Strengthening a team means giving them the proper tools to combat doubt, not outlawing weakness!
Perhaps you are someone who still feels like that energetic little kid waiting for the bus, every day, every week, or maybe JUST on that first day. The truth is, that first 100 days, you are driving that bus. The only question left is, where will you take it?
