From Stabilisation to Perspective:
The first 100 days in a new
Leadership Role

Clear lead­er­ship in turbu­lent times: provid­ing guid­ance from day one

The “first 100 days” in a new posi­tion are gener­al­ly consid­ered a peri­od of orien­ta­tion – and for good reason. As a manag­er, you are partic­u­lar­ly depen­dent on getting to know the people, issues and process­es for which you are now respon­si­ble. Howev­er, the handover does not always take place in calm times. In a recent Lead­er­ship­Im­pulse, we described how calm times can be used as a basis for future success. This today, we are look­ing at a complete­ly differ­ent scenario:

How can you, as a new manag­er, convinc­ing­ly deal with an acute crisis and at the same time gain the neces­sary gener­al orientation?

Lead­er­ship through attitude

The construc­tion and real estate indus­try is facing complex chal­lenges today. High inter­est rates, a short­age of skilled work­ers, supply bottle­necks and gener­al uncer­tain­ty char­ac­terise the situ­a­tion for many compa­nies. Anyone who takes on respon­si­bil­i­ty in this situ­a­tion often has to act quick­ly with­out losing sight of build­ing trust and a long-term perspective.

Good advice on this comes from team sports, where a new coach often has to step in in the middle of a crisis. In “Lead­ing Teams Success­ful­ly”, Mounir Zitouni¹shows how impor­tant and effec­tive a confi­dent, atten­tive and future-orient­ed atti­tude is: if you show confi­dence, open­ness, disci­pline and moti­va­tion your­self, your colleagues and employ­ees will increas­ing­ly reciprocate.

How to stay on course

A convinc­ing atti­tude is expressed above all in clear action. A few guide­lines will help you to combine crisis manage­ment and familiarisation:

• Priori­tise and act
  • Use easi­ly achiev­able inter­me­di­ate steps to spread confi­dence. To do this, draw up a list of prior­i­ties that initial­ly focus­es on quick wins.
  • Where possi­ble, try to involve other stake­hold­ers such as customers, busi­ness part­ners or other depart­ments in the compa­ny in addi­tion to your employees.
  • You don’t have to do every­thing from scratch. Some ideas may already exist and can be imple­ment­ed direct­ly or with minor adjustments.
• Provide guid­ance
  • Commu­ni­cate open­ly, empa­thet­i­cal­ly and with atten­tive listening.
  • Take advan­tage of your status as the newcom­er: don’t shy away from uncom­fort­able truths, but remain construc­tive. Always empha­sise common goals.
• Build trust
  • Be reli­able and make an impact through your actions.
  • Take your employ­ees’ concerns seri­ous­ly and temper exag­ger­at­ed expectations.
  • Iden­ti­fy resis­tance, but only address conflicts if this contributes to resolv­ing the situation.
• Main­tain a long-term perspective
  • Show that you are think­ing beyond the present. Combine short-term solu­tions with long-term perspectives.
  • Talk about where you are head­ed after the crisis: a posi­tive goal makes it easi­er to explain and imple­ment even unpleas­ant measures.
• Recog­nise your own limits
  • Use the momen­tum as new ener­gy, but remain mind­ful of your­self. Do not expect every­thing to always go perfect­ly in the midst of a crisis.
  • Even when you are under time pres­sure, take a moment now and then to pause and reflect on your actions and the over­all situation.
  • Do not be afraid to set bound­aries and seek support if neces­sary, e.g. from a coach or qual­i­fied assis­tant.

100-day roadmap out of the crisis 

Not every crisis can be resolved in 100 days. Never­the­less, start­ing out under such condi­tions can also be an oppor­tu­ni­ty. Through deci­sive action and a clear vision for the future, you can lay the foun­da­tion for last­ing trust and recognition.

The first few days: creat­ing orientation

The first step is to assess the situ­a­tion and stabilise it if possi­ble. This gives you the oppor­tu­ni­ty not only to show your atti­tude, but also to prove your abil­i­ty to act:

• Get an overview of the current situ­a­tion, the caus­es, your options for action, and set prior­i­ties for initial solutions.
• Short, infor­ma­tive discus­sions with employ­ees are often more help­ful at this stage than an exten­sive study of files and analy­ses. Use these discus­sions to get to know each other; a few minutes for person­al matters should be possi­ble even under time pressure.
• Iden­ti­fy key people and form your crisis team.
• Make deci­sions about imme­di­ate measures that will quick­ly yield initial results.

Phase 2: Gain­ing trust

From your fourth or fifth week onwards, you can try to move from pure crisis mode to more order­ly action. Even if exter­nal circum­stances remain unfavourable, you can now strength­en confi­dence in your abil­i­ties and thus ensure stabilisation:

• Talk about how you envis­age future coop­er­a­tion with all those involved – includ­ing for the peri­od after the crisis. A good moment for this is your “offi­cial” debut, for which there should now be time.
• Clar­i­fy respon­si­bil­i­ties and team struc­tures in your area.
• Gain trust through regu­lar status updates and open dialogue with your employees.
• Review the impact of the imme­di­ate measures from phase one. Make correc­tions or addi­tions if necessary.

Phase 3: Devel­op­ing perspectives

After about two months, you should be able to assess the situ­a­tion suffi­cient­ly to devel­op longer-term prospects for the future and thus also strength­en your team’s motivation:

• Show how the current situ­a­tion can be used as a start­ing point, perhaps even as an oppor­tu­ni­ty for new, sustain­able goals, projects or structures.
• Point out initial progress, even if it is small, but also talk open­ly about setbacks and the construc­tive insights you have gained from them.
• Consol­i­date your repu­ta­tion as a forward-look­ing, creative leader who is more than just a crisis manager.

Conclu­sion

Anyone who takes on a lead­er­ship posi­tion in times of crisis will find little time for system­at­ic orien­ta­tion and train­ing; in addi­tion to all the specif­ic tasks, the hope for a rapid improve­ment in the situ­a­tion rests on his or her shoul­ders. At the same time, howev­er, there is also scope for unbu­reau­crat­ic action and new ideas.

Always view your reac­tions to the acute situ­a­tion as an oppor­tu­ni­ty to raise your profile: through deci­sive action, appre­cia­tive commu­ni­ca­tion and strate­gic fore­sight. If you succeed in making this connec­tion, the diffi­cult start­ing condi­tions may even prove to be a stroke of luck for your future work.

Sources

1) Mounir Zitouni, “Lead­ing Teams Success­ful­ly – The Best Strate­gies from Klopp, Rang­nick and Co. for Your Leadership,(Teams erfol­gre­ich führen – Die besten Strate­gien von Klopp, Rang­nick und Co. für dein Lead­er­ship“)” Metro­pol­i­tain Verlag 2024. The author was a profes­sion­al foot­baller, then an editor at kick­er, and now works as a free­lance busi­ness coach.

(Image source: istockphotos.com)