Sander A. Flaum

The first 100 days for a new leader of an organization can feel just as tense as a first date. Margaret Exley, the UK chairman of Mercer Delta, in a paper entitled "First 100 Days: The New CEO's Challenge," wrote, "Your formal decisions, informal behavior, and symbolic acts will be closely scrutinized by everyone with an interest in your company: employees, customers, shareholders, investors, and competitors. Everything you do and say will send messages, set tone, establish expectations, and communicate directions for the new leadership group."

The question for me is how can leaders use this period of intense scrutiny as an opportunity to connect with their organizations' people, stakeholders, and customers? And further, how can leaders set the course for a new purposeful direction (that their hiring probably demands) without alienating a group that may have grown attached to the comforts of the status quo? These are complicated questions, and to deal with them I have identified five tried-and-true practices that help the transition be not only smooth but also transformative.

Most people feel that the best conversations are the ones in which they are truly heard. So get out of your nice new office and go sit with your direct reports. Sit with them in their spaces, over lunch or over coffee—anyplace but your space. You want them to be completely comfortable. Ask them what they like and don't like about their jobs. Ask them where they would like to be in the organization in five years and how they plan on making it happen. Ask them what they would do if they were in charge. If they stare blankly at this one, ask them how the organization can become a more meaningful one to work for. Ask them what works about their department and what doesn't. Ask them what changes they'd like to see and how they are committed to being a part of that change. Take notes as you need to, but not at the expense of eye contact and connection.

#2 Get to know your customer and vendors

Do your fieldwork as soon as possible—certainly within the first 60 days. Find out where your products are sold and marketed, and go see for yourself. Get background from marketing reports but don't trust them without doing your own research. Instead, read them to see how your internal staff currently perceives the customer. Don't just look at how your product is treated at locales near your office. Get in a car, train, or plane, and sample how your product is marketed, sold, and perceived in all the regions that you depend on for revenue. Talk to employees close to your product (not just the managers), and talk to the customers interacting with your product. If you see them not buying it, ask why. Go out there and get a feel for things. Allow the competition to come alive—ask customers what they like about the competition. Do research on your vendors—not just their numbers but their missions and ethics. Do your vendors' values align with the kind of company you want to lead?

#3 Learn the cultural landscape of the organization

Study the employee chat room and the company PR style. How are decisions made? Are people valued more than products or vice versa? Do people eat lunch in or out—at their desks or in a communal cafeteria? How do people dress? How are executive assistants treated? How thick is the policy and procedures manual? Ask all of these questions and more—but don't try to change things right away. Just do your best to assess how the culture affects the productivity of the organization.