The criticality of success within the "First 100 Days" is not limited solely to Presidents or CEOs of major organizations. It is a critical time for anyone stepping into a leadership role.
Making your way within the administrative environment has a unique, and sometimes steep, learning curve. This curve, made up of both the new role uncertainty, as well as the unspoken expectations for business skills and acumen, has been a stumbling point for many physicians who are venturing into leadership for the first time.
The importance of being prepared for this learning curve, and doing what you need to do ahead of time (as well as during the first few weeks of your transition) cannot be underestimated. You need to ensure that those critical first few months position you for success as you continue in your leadership role.
So how do you do that? What are the steps you can take to make sure that you have the most successful “First 100 Days” in your new role as possible?
Here are some ideas:
Step 1: Get Ready - Optimize the Period Prior to Your Transition into a New Leadership Role
One of the most important things to recognize is that your first day shouldn't be “day one” where you’re getting up to speed on your new role. It is critical that you’ve spent time preparing yourself for the transition prior to the actual change, so that when you do arrive on the job you are ready to hit the ground running and make your initial days a value-added time for all involved. It is critical that you’ve thought of, and planned for, all of the elements that will start you off in the best way possible. These should include:
Doing your “homework” on the key players, current efforts, critical success factors for the role
Meeting with initial team members and stakeholders to lay the groundwork for strong relationships and to gather valuable input up-front
Preparing your family or personal support base for the intense time (and hours) ahead, in order to help them recognize the additional workload demands that you will be facing and to minimize personal disruptions wherever possible
Assessing your own knowledge, skill or experience gaps, to determine what functional expertise or specialized training you will need to succeed in your new role – particularly where it comes to the “unspoken expectations” of business skill / acumen that are a given for your administrative partners
Step 2: Starting Off Right
When starting a new leadership position within a new environment, you have a unique window of opportunity to establish yourself and to mold peoples’ expectations of you as well as set your own foundation for the work ahead. You want to ensure that you are as successful as possible as you begin this new professional phase. During those early days it is critical to establish yourself as a learner, an active listener, and someone who is prepared and organized as you enter into this new space. Things to consider as you make your way:
How you introduce yourself – to colleagues, team members, administrative leadership – and how you set expectations of yourself, your working style, your ability to partner
Spending time to learn about, understand and shape your team
Crafting your own “personal strategic plan” for the first three months, including your goals, milestones and your desired outcomes
Spending time to fully understand your organization's administrative culture (and how it may be different from where you're coming from) , and your place in it
Establishing a productive relationship with your colleagues, supervisors and administrative partners
Making sure you listen more than talk, and using effective communication as questions / issues arise
Step 3: Thriving in Your New Role
Once you’ve gotten yourself well-entrenched in your new role and are feeling comfortable that the initial learning curve is behind you, you will still need to make sure you are mastering the critical success factors for effective leaders. Pay attention to how well you are:
Avoiding Common “New Team Member” Pitfalls - things such as talking more than listening, trying to impress by having all the answers (often before getting all the facts), stubbornly relying on what has made you successful in the past, setting unrealistic expectations of yourself, etc.
Being an Effective Team Player - e.g., knowing how/when to defer to others, knowing how/when to delegate, taking leadership when appropriate, being accountable, sharing credit, knowing how to utilize complimentary skills for a common goal / outcome, etc.
Knowing What To Do When You Don’t Have the Answer - not an easy one for physicians who are used to being required to have the answer! This includes, avoiding the temptation to think you must have immediate answers and/or over-promising on things you may not be able to deliver, creating a process for reviewing the issue and inviting others to participate in getting the answer.
Running Effective and Impactful Meetings - things as simple as crafting an effective agenda, keeping discussion on-track, guiding and tracking feedback, and starting and ending the meeting on time
Staying Accountable - knowing how to take criticism without deflecting blame, "owning" your work and any dependencies that others may have on it, delivering things on-time or appropriately escalating issues that impede progress.
Being an Expert Facilitator and Presenter - knowing how to engage your audience and deliver impactful presentations, being able to communicate data and information in a way that your audience understands, being able to facilitate other peoples' process to a common end.
Delegating and Trusting Your Colleagues - being a true team player not only in words but in action, trusting others' follow-through, having a highly honed sense of collegiality and collaboration.
Being a Highly Effective Communicator - having strong interpersonal skills, being able to mediate conflict, being clear and unambiguous in your words, being highly effective in both written (i.e., email) and spoken communication.
Starting off well in a leadership role is not always an intuitive process. You need to be intentional in how you transition into your new role, how well you listen and learn in the initial days and weeks, and how well you apply the principles of effective leadership as described above. It takes time and effort, but the dividends far outweigh the short-term costs and will help you thrive in those critical first 100 days, and beyond.
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