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As you enter the second half of your 100-day program you are moving from understanding to laying out directions. A mix of tuning and larger changes. A lot of the foundation for the changes take place in the window between day 46-60.

Revise your goals for the second of your plan

Set clear goals for the second half of the 100-day plan. You rarely have a sharp enough view up front and you need to align the team around the focus for the second half. One of the most important activities in your plan for the second half.

A hypothesis of your revised objectives & strategy

Your understanding of the business and your Strategy SWOT is the foundation for setting a revised strategy.

The starting point is an understanding if you have a strategy or an execution issue. If you conclude you have a strategy issue plan for a larger shift. If you face an execution issue plan for smaller or no modifications. If you face both issues start with execution and deal with strategy changes down the road.

Tied to strategy you should set up a hypothesis of the objectives. Sometimes good strategies lead to poor execution due to lack of suitable objectives.

A hypothesis of the operational metrics

Great execution starts with clarity on how you measure success. The existing balance score cards often cover a large variety of metrics. Your challenge is to raise the importance of the ones making a difference. And adding 1 or 2 you need to start driving change.

A possible trap is a too strong dependency on lag metrics with lead metrics playing a secondary role. You are dependent on lead measures, when driving change. Allowing you to track changes in behaviors and results early.

A hypothesis of your new structure

Your manager, your team and your peers expect the activity to define a new structure. It is a critical activity that requires both quality thinking time and comparison of options.

New leaders often implement major structural changes. With the pendulum moving from possible end-states between leaders. Moving between functional and project/program bias. Moving between centralized and decentralized decision making etc.

As we move into set-ups shaped by lean thinking the structure of the boxes become less important. What make a big difference is your thinking around the business critical flows.

A hypothesis of your business critical flows

The perhaps most important aspect of a modern organization is to review the business critical flows. As your organization become more and more digital the structure of your flows become more important. With digitalization of transactions in your flows considered a key consideration. Expect to spend a lot more time on this subject than you did 5 years ago.

Great questions to ask yourself

1. What are your revised goals for the second half of your plan – wait until late in defining them.
2. What framework are you using for developing your hypothesis – leverage structure and proven templates.
3. Which areas do you want to attack around strategy and objectives – start by formulating a hypothesis.
4. Which metrics will support you in improving execution – add 1-2 to change the game.
5. Which flows are central to business execution – focus on defining flows before organizational boxes.
6. Which cornerstones will you build your new structure around – design for the mission it need to support.

Additional reading suggestions

• Your first 60 days as a leader [BOOK] – by Richard Hall
• The number one thing you should do during your first 60 days at a new job [BLOGPOST] – by Idealistcareers
• When starting a new mid/senior-level role, what should be one’s focus, priorities important do/don’ts in the first week and first month? [BLOGPOST] – by Quora
• The myth of the first 90 days [BLOGPOST – by Deloitte University Press