The First 100 Days for
New Team Leaders
Rita J. Nicholas, MBA, Dip. Psych,
FInstLM, MABP, MCMI, MBTI©
Practitioner
Rita is a leadership development
coach, mediator, and facilitator.
She works with a wide range of
charities, public and private sector
organizations in the United Kingdom
and internationally. She specializes
in developing new and established
managers who aspire to enhance
their personal and professional
development in leadership and
communications.
© Business Expert Press 978-1-94784-311-0 (2018)
www.businessexpertpress.com
How to Make a Successful Transition in 100 Days
and Beyond
Rita Bailey Nicholas
T
he first 100 days is a short time to make your mark
in the new role. It is an exciting time full of huge
possibilities for professional recognition, personal
growth, and development. It is a time savvy team leaders
realize that they need to plan for a successful transition
into the role, establishing themselves as credible leaders.
These 100 days are also a time of high expectations from
the organizations’ teams. Every move and every decision
made is spotlighted to the point where small mistakes
become exaggerated.
This practical guide outlines the steps toward making
a successful transition. Whether you are preparing for a
first leadership role or are newly promoted and do not
have a plan in place, avoiding the risk of failure and get-
ting yourself up and running successfully is paramount.
This guide will show you what to pay attention to and do
step by step in the first 100 days and beyond. It will help
to enhance any new team leader’s readiness.
Abstract: Stepping into a new team leadership role can
be daunting and exciting at the same time. These first 100
days of your leadership will be critical to your future suc-
cess as they provide a golden opportunity to make the
impact you want to have for now and in the future. It is
also a time of great scrutiny by senior managers and your
own team as these stakeholders will be observing for signs
of success and failure. To ensure a successful transition,
new team leaders need a plan for this period and beyond.
Keywords: career development, employees, first 100
days, first 90 days, leadership, management, new
promotion, personal development, teams, transitions
Introduction
Stepping into a new team leader role is exciting. Whether
you are promoted or recruited, your performance
during the first 100 days is vital to your future success.
Expert Insights
1
 The First 100 Days for New Team Leaders
The first 100 days in a leadership role are
symbolic. It started with the evaluation of
early days by Ducasse and Lutz (2003) of
the American presidency of Franklin D.
Roosevelt and what he achieved during
­ in this new role?
the same period of his first historical 100
days in office. Even in more recent times,
presidents such as Obama and Trump were
evaluated on their achievements Watkins
(2001). The concept of 100 days is now very
popular in business as it still refers to the
initial 3 months of a new leader appoint-
ment and how that particular individual
performs during that period. In business,
the first 100 days represents an exciting
and daunting time for new leaders in any
context or industry.
These days will be crucial to your con-
tinued success in this particular role as
well as to your future career moves. Senior
managers and your own team will be
observing for signs of success and failure.
Being under this spotlight while famil-
iarizing yourself with the role can seem
harsh. The level of scrutiny is high for any
new team leader. Yet this time also pro-
vides a golden opportunity to make the
impact any leader would want to have now
and in the future. With this in mind, it is
important to consider having a robust plan
for success so that you’ll be seen as cred-
ible, confident, and effective. In order to
deliverearly results, you need to be clear
about the areas in which you should make
a positive impact with your line manager
and team in the first 100 days and beyond.
You also need to be aware of the pitfalls
and challenges that can get in the way of
your building a platform at this new level.
The majority of newly promoted team
leaders we coach have a range of initial
questions they ask, as they recognize that
having a more strategic, planned approach
will help handle challenges and set them-
selves up for success. Furthermore, if they
are committed to having a plan in place,
this means they have considered what
is required for this new role. These key
questions provide an opportunity to start
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considering your own role and context.
Some of these questions are as follows:
■■ How best do I approach my first 100 days
■■ What should be my key priorities over the
next 3 months and beyond?
■■ What sort of things do I need to achieve
quickly that will help me to be a success
within the same period?
■■ What will be my boss’s expectations of me?
■■ What will be my team’s expectations of me?
■■ How do I make a positive impression on
other key stakeholders I need to know?
■■ What are the pitfalls and challenges I need
to be prepared for?
It is with these questions in mind that
this guide encourages new team leaders in
adopting an approach that works, which
is also considered best practice in sup-
porting successful transition of new team
leaders. Indeed, what you are seeking to do
is to close the gap in knowledge and under-
standing. Devising a plan will support
savvy new leaders to anticipate and close
any gaps quickly.
This initial phase of your new role is
often equated to a roller coaster. It puts new
team leaders under the microscope. The
people who hired you or promoted you and,
of course, your team are observing your
behavior, your personal habits that confirm
whether you are the right person to be pro-
moted or hired to become their team leader.
A few questions they would ask about you
that you need to be aware of are “will you
deliver?” and, ultimately, “can we trust you as
a leader?” Individuals internal and external
to your organization such as colleagues,
peers, clients, and suppliers will continu-
ally be forming views about who you are,
what your leadership style is, your priorities,
and your values. Such scrutiny during this
time provides a unique opportunity to make
the impression you want to make. It will be
worth considering the following questions:
How do you want to lead your team?
What priorities will you want them to pay
Expert Insights
 The First 100 Days for New Team Leaders
attention to? How do you want to motivate
them? What sort of short-term decisions do
you want to make over the next 100 days,
and are there any long-term decisions you
may need to highlight very much earlier on
regarding the direction in which you want
to move your team and your services?
Your team is responsible for delivering
as individual contributors and collectively.
Any alterations to how each person or the
team is working or delivering will be evalu-
ated. It will certainly become a reflection
on the impact of your leadership style. If
you as a new leader fail to lead and moti-
vate your team, show a lack of thought or
direction, and a shortsightedness and inde-
cisiveness regarding service challenges,
then leading your team will become more
challenging in the future. But if you suc-
ceed in making a positive impression and
impact, you can expect, as a savvy team
leader, greater opportunities for yourself
and your team.
To assist in successfully transitioning and
enhancing readiness for the first 100 days
and to maintain a clear focus and attention,
it is important to consider the following
key requisites:
1. Adopting a leadership mindset
2. Understanding the context and chal-
lenges of your organization
3. Meeting stakeholders’ expectations and
building relationships that work
4. Getting to know your team, your ser-
vices, and clients
5. Creating a 100-day action plan
6. Building personal credibility and avoiding
pitfalls
For each of these areas, we have drawn
from successful team leaders who attend
our programs and who have been sup-
ported by our coaches to build confidence
and credibility where and when it matters
the most. Taking action in each of these
areas in the first 100 days will help team
leaders to thrive; it will also support them
to be well prepared.
© Business Expert Press 978-1-94784-311-0 (2018)
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Adopting a Leadership Mindset
Succeeding as a new team leader offers
great benefits: it increases your reputa-
tion, influence, impact, experience, and
over a period of time prepares you for your
future promotion. To achieve this level of
impact, Kourdi and Edwards (2006) state,
“Understand what you offer, what you have
achieved, and why you were the best person
for the appointment.” Goldsmith (2008)
provides timely advice to leaders, namely,
that behavior and action that made them
successful in prior roles are no guarantee
for future success in this new role. This is
not to devalue any previous experience or
achievements at all, but rather to highlight
why it is critical to prepare for the role,
beyond the job descriptions. It is shifting
your thinking, and aligning your behavior
with what this team leader role demands.
To enable you to stay balanced, focused,
and confident, take the opportunity to con-
sider what you know so far about the role.
To do this, consider going beyond the role
description. What you know may have
come through various networks, indus-
tries, newspapers, journals, and social
media. It will be important to identify how
you plan to handle this new role. A good
question to ask yourself is: are there any
known challenges? What are the topics
that are commented on or trending as a hot
topic? Consider your own skills, attitude,
and values to ensure that you have a good
idea of what you are great at.
In addition, have an outline of how you
plan to use your strengths in the light of
some of these challenges you have identi-
fied. Undertake your own self-assessment
of your strengths and ensure that you and
your new boss have a good all-round picture.
A wide range of tools can assist with your
own development. Popular validated tools
such as MBTI© and DiSC© with robust feed-
back can place you in a stronger position as
you will be able to use the feedback to fur-
ther your own development and learning.
The new team leader role is demanding
and can involve competing demands and
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