100 days
Coaching for a successful start
Congratulations on your new leadership role! Perhaps you already have a plan. Perhaps you are still working on it. There will be no lack of input, as there is an overwhelming number of books and recommendations on the subject of leadership change. Most of them have the same message: in the first 100 days you need to have set the course and make successes visible. Otherwise you are doomed.
Fortunately, the reality is different: The majority of new managers need far more than this period of time to reach full performance – at least six months. This was the finding of management consultants McKinsey. Managers brought in from outside generally take longer than managers recruited from within the company.
Like in an aquarium
In your first 100 days, you will be eyed like a fish in an aquarium. Whether you like it or not, more is read into every appearance you make, every meeting, every speech, every memo and every announcement than you probably intend.
There are many questions that need to be answered: What will the new manager do differently? What does it mean for me? Is there something else behind it? What is changing? Does he or she have a hidden agenda?
For some, they trigger hope and a new beginning, for others fear and uncertainty. In any case, people will learn a lot about you in your first 100 days. No matter what you do, your demeanor these days sets the tone and will likely set the tone for how you are perceived throughout your time as a leader in this role.
A unique opportunity
The first appearance is a unique opportunity to position yourself, because the first impression is always decisive for us humans. Our brain is constantly evaluating, but it also makes it easy for itself, because the second impression primarily tries to confirm the first. So you make it much easier for yourself if the first impression is right. Then it will also be the second. And the third. The fourth, fifth and … Yes, you already know what happens next.
It can be perfect
As a new manager and especially as a new CEO, you are under constant observation. The expectations are high. From everyone: employees, customers, boards, investors, analysts and the media. And great expectations need to be fulfilled. That’s why the first days of the new manager’s life are also the most exciting for everyone, because expectations and the pressure to succeed come together.
Your communication skills are the key factor for your success in the first few days. You will not make an impact through an internal memo with quotes, but through your personal appearance. Your presence and eye contact show genuine interest, your smile expresses confidence even in difficult situations, clear messages provide orientation and an open ear shows your interest in people.
This is how you shape your first impression and how you shape your leadership style!
Of course, it’s not about making yourself popular with your employees. It’s about building mutual understanding and trust. Setting clear expectations and providing orientation. They should not present themselves as the best friend, but should be seen as likeable, trustworthy, fair and honest.
There’s not much that can go wrong – it’s more of a missed opportunity if you don’t prepare your communication properly.
Your most important instrument
As a manager, you set the course. Communication is the instrument through which your employees find out where things are going. And your personality determines how willing your employees are to follow you.
Communication is therefore probably your most important and most frequently used management tool. They delegate, set targets, conduct critical discussions, sell services, negotiate contracts, convince investors, recruit specialists, discuss with political representatives, answer journalists’ questions and discuss budgets.
Especially in times of upheaval, uncertainty and the increasing complexity of tasks, your orientation and confidence are important motivating factors. You can only provide both through presence and communication.
How do you work? Are your messages getting through? Do you come across as likeable as you imagine? Do you seem authentic? Does your counterpart sense a genuine interest?
Communicating well means leading well
There is no doubt that communication skills are one of the most important skills of a good manager today. This applies in particular to the first 100 days and to all subsequent days. Good communication provides orientation, motivates, guides, sells and maintains the share price. As long as people communicate with people, this will not change.
The best of our range
SPARKPOINT’s 100-day training combines all the topics that are particularly important for a manager’s first 100 days. It is a kind of concentrate with the best training content:
Presentation training: For a lasting convincing appearance in front of the team, staff, customers, committees, investors, analysts, elected representatives and business partners. On site, via video or stream.
Media training: Apart from a good media interview, there are few events with which you can achieve a great deal in a short space of time. However, there are also few events with which you can cause more damage in a very short time. With the most important learnings from the SPARKPOINT media training, you will stay in control even in critical interview situations and protect your career and the reputation of your company and yourself.
Professional conversation management: You can conduct conversations. Otherwise you would not be where you are today. Our valuable impulses for your next talks will help you get to where you want to be tomorrow. This involves, for example, listening properly, showing sincere appreciation, active leadership, acting in delicate situations and dealing with negative emotions correctly.
Storytelling training: Imagine you are introducing yourself. What will your audience remember? The stages of your training? The individual steps of your career ladder? Point 4 from your action plan? It’s more likely to be an anecdote from your life. We work together to find the right story and develop the storyline so that the story has the best possible impact.
Speech training: In a company, it is the manager who sets the tone. And we take that quite literally. Because it
is above all your voice with which you work. You vguesses much about you and like You itself feel. When You them well under Control have, become You so speak, that it one Joy is, You to listen.
Now it’s your turn
No matter how much great content your 100-day training course is made up of, a SPARKPOINT training course always combines the latest knowledge and experience from over 25 years of consulting work with quickly implementable options that directly and sustainably improve your appearance and your communication skills.
What are you waiting for?
100 days of all things!
Click on the gentleman with the cap to find out what this is all about and what role Napoleon plays.
“All these books about the first 90 days are kind of rubbish in many ways. You have to have a plan. You have to stick with it. You have to modify it at times, but every day you’ve got to get up and play hard.”