CRA Inc

27 Sep 04 @ 11:30 am

Communicating During The First 100 Days

Since the Reagan administration, corporate leaders have been attuned to a presumed need to communicate during the mystical “first 100 days” in a new leadership role. I was recently asked by a client to compile our thoughts on the topic, and I thought the general thesis would be of interest here.

The first several months of a leader’s tenure are important because that leader’s constituents hold a set of expectations for the leader and the role that are, for the most part, malleable. People take a “wait and see” approach to new leaders–and this is equally true of a familiar leader in a new position. Employees and stakeholders–while familiar with the leader–are unfamiliar with how that leader might execute his or her new role, and with the expectations the leader will have of others as he or she does so.

The bottom line is that for the first few months people are on the fence. The naturally optimistic temper their hopes with a bit of caution, and the naturally cynical suspend a bit of their judgment. Constituents, whatever expectations they may hold, are looking for the leader to either confirm their expectations (doing what they expect) or disconfirm their expectations (doing what they did not expect, be it better or worse than their expectations).

It’s an important time because the research demonstrates that it’s a much easier persuasive effort to convince an “undecided” than it is to change the mind of someone who’s mind is already set. So this suspension of expectations represents an opportunity for a new leader–but it’s a necessarily short-term opportunity. With time, constituents will interpret the leader’s behavior and decide if the leader is or is not who they thought, making up their minds as they do.

The key issue is that constituents will do this whether a leader actively communicates during that time frame or not, so the point of a cogent and aggressive communication approach during the first several months of a leader’s tenure isn’t just to get the word out; it’s to frame constituents’ understanding of the leadership conversation–the expectations, the corporate direction, the leader’s character–during a time in which constituents are necessarily more likely to be amenable and persuaded.

As such, we think leaders should view communication in the first three months as a persuasive activity–the leader is trying to get key audiences to believe, know, do or feel what he or she needs them to believe, know, do or feel, and is trying to do so during a window in which they’re more likely to be receptive to those objectives.

So what should the communication agenda be for the first three months? We suggest the following:

Establish and build credibility: Even for a leader who is familiar to constituents, in a new role it’s important to establish and build that leader’s credibility in that new role. We describe leadership credibility as having two primary components: perceptions of the leader’s competence and perceptions of the leader’s character.

Perceptions of competence involve the extent to which constituents believe the leader has the requisite skills to execute their role, not just to a standard level, but often, to an exemplary level. Perceptions of character involve the extent to which constituents believe the leader is a person of admirable standing and values, someone whom constituents can trust, and in particular someone who is willing to back his or her commitments with action (”walk the talk”).

Further, for very senior leaders, there’s a complicating factor regarding credibility: given the very little contact most constituents have with senior leaders, a leader’s credibility among many constituents derives almost entirely from perceptions of character: Constituents simply don’t have the line of sight to the leader’s day-to-day, nor do they truly have the professional context, to appreciate the competence of a CEO or President. Indeed, competence is often simply presumed: “You have the job, so you must be good.”

As a result of these factors, character becomes very important to judgments of credibility, and giving constituents plenty of opportunities to see a senior leader and receive reassuring character impressions is extremely important. A good “100 day plan” makes a leader very visible, and takes every opportunity for constituents to see, test, and establish that leader’s values and character attributes.

Set direction: Nearly from the moment a leader is named to a new position, the people beneath and beside that leader begin to seek clarity as to that leader’s operational priorities for the business or function. It’s extremely important that a leader use the first 100 days to clearly articulate the strategic message hierarchy noted above:

# The leader’s view of the organization’s mission, stated as “why we’re in business.”
# The leader’s vision for the organization’s future, stated as “what we want to become.”
# The leader’s view of the organization’s values, stated as “how we work.”
# The organization’s strategy, stated as a strategic message that describes “how we’re going to get there” or “what we’re doing and why” (where “why” is the vision).

Further, the leader should devote significant time to helping constituents clarify the strategic message and encouraging managers to translate that strategy into local contexts and activities for their direct reports.

Set expectations: In addition to seeking clarification of the leader’s intentions for the direction of the organization, the leadership population will also quickly want to establish the leader’s expectations in terms of their performance and the performance of their business units. These expectations include:

# How the leader will judge managers’ performance.
# How the leader will judge managers’ embodiment of the organization’s values.
# How the leader will behave in terms of their operational scope–what decisions he or she will make and what decisions he or she will delegate.
# How the leader will interact with managers, including frequency of meetings, how they should communicate, whether the interaction will be formal or informal, should they challenge the leader, etc.

Finally, as a new leader seeks to establish and build credibility, set direction, and set expectations in the first 100 days, he or she should do so with two different types of equally important audiences:

Key mass audiences: The large groups of employee or constituents with whom the leader must establish the issues above.

Key audiences of one: The key stakeholders with whom the leader must have productive relationships to be effective. These individuals are either gatekeepers, who either through budget control or voting power hold sway over the leader’s ability to execute, or opinion leaders who through their significant credibility hold sway with large masses of constituents.

In the first 100 days it’s extremely important that as a leader seeks to establish and build credibility, set direction, and set expectations, he or she does not focus only on the mass audiences. Indeed, as a new leader attempts to establish and implement an agenda, it’s very often the stakeholders–those key audiences of one–who mean the difference between success and failure.

posted in category(s): Coaching Points