The First 100 Days for Female Leaders

(Photo by iStock/Rawpixel)

A new executive stood in front of hundreds of people, introducing herself to front-line employees at her nonprofit organization for the first time. While speaking, she looked down and suddenly noticed a text from her nanny: The dinner the executive had left for her children was inedible. “I actually stopped what I was doing and said, ‘You guys will laugh at this because I’m sure others have done this before... I put raw meat in the crockpot this morning and didn’t turn it on, so it’s been sitting on the counter [all day].” The crowd laughed, completely disarmed. “Someone approached me after and said, ‘That really helps us when we see people like you are like us.’ The reason people want to follow people that lead is because they see something in that person that they can connect to.”

As everyone from career professionals to presidents knows, the first 90-100 days of a new position can be crucial for new leaders. Your first quarter at an organization is your chance to demonstrate who you are, to set the tone for your tenure, and in the most cartoonish sense, to come roaring in with changes blazing, forcing through as many of your priorities as possible before the glow of newness fades. The first few months are imbued with a sense of possibility, the excitement of what’s to come, a clean slate ready for the brave to leave their marks.

And yet, such transitions are also a time of severe risk, as leaders attempt to reconcile conflicting expectations with the realities of their organizations, while figuring out their team’s capabilities and challenges. According to one estimate, nearly half of executives who take new jobs perform below expectations at some point in their transitions. Relatively few organizations have formal supports for those beginning new leadership roles. Thus, leaders are often left to chart the territory themselves, perusing a burgeoning literature about how to handle the first days of a new job, which now boasts dozens of books and articles.

As a female completing a doctoral program that aims to build leaders, I wondered how these ideas might apply to women in particular. While three-quarters of jobs in the nonprofit, education, and social sectors are held by women, just 22 percent of large nonprofits have women at the helm according to one estimate. In other words, starting off well in a new position can be especially important. What must women starting a new executive job do within the first 100 days to set themselves up for long-term success? How is this the same or different from what men are expected to do? Based on confidential, unstructured interviews with 28 women who had taken new executive jobs across the nonprofit, health care, education, and business sectors in the past three years, there is no single answer. Below are some of the frequently raised themes, with light edits for clarity.

1. Learn the terrain before doing too much digging. Nearly all participants recommended understanding the landscape before making any major changes. “I think the expectation for men is that they're going to make big decisions in those first 100 days and do something relatively dramatic,” said one executive. “I think there should be no expectation [for big changes]—it should be an assessment.” Added another participant: “It’s tempting to think, ‘I should prove to everyone why they were so smart to hire me. [But] talk less and listen more.”

Respondents suggested learning the culture, who has influence, how decisions have been made previously, and how teams interact. Many reported watching other leaders move too quickly: “I witnessed a senior leader totally mess up in the beginning by wanting to change so much so fast—and failing to communicate the need for change,” said one. “She never recovered.” Added another: “People get angry or resentful... They may sabotage or withhold information or not engage and make change more difficult.”

2. Fix what’s broken, and start to set strategy. Multiple respondents who had served in CEO/executive director roles or come into troubled organizations warned that some fires will need extinguishing immediately. “The caution to [listening] is, you can’t wait too long to get into decision-making mode. If something is obviously wrong, you have to be strong enough and decisive enough to make the change,” said one. Added another: “After the listening phase, there is an action phase... You’re taking all of the data [and] you have to make decisions.”

Respondents recommended getting a handle on what areas are growing, what’s not going as well, and developing a view on where you’d like to take things. One CEO enters new roles with a 90-day plan, which she shares with those who hired her and her team on Day 1. “I say, ‘Look, this may not happen at all, but let’s check in every 30 days and see,’” she said. “Honestly, it doesn’t matter if 30 days later, you throw the whole thing out. It lets you test ideas, get feedback, and gives people confidence, even if you’re pretending.” 

3. 100 days may be too soon for major changes, but what can you do? Many of the women interviewed emphasized the value of finding quick wins. “Understand what is ready to move, what are the low-hanging fruit victories that just need your leadership or your position to push them over the finish line,” said one leader.

Other steps include developing a personal brand and finding opportunities to become known in your organization. “You have to communicate a vision for how you will uniquely shape the future of whatever you're leading,” said one participant. “One of the things I had to do was differentiate myself from the prior leader... I had to make opportunities to get in front of people, mostly to listen to what their concerns were but also to communicate what I saw as the potential future that we could go after together.”

Multiple women raised the idea of showing strength and taking informed chances early on as a way to establish yourself as the leader and set the tone for your tenure. “Particularly as a woman coming into a department that had been run by a man for [decades], I think it was important to demonstrate willingness to do the hard stuff, like fire somebody,” said one. “I think that's something that may be unique for women, to have to demonstrate decisiveness while at the same time [listening] and not appearing to be deaf to what's going on.”

4. Protect your space to lead. Several leaders pointed out the importance of not letting listening undermine your leadership. Said one executive: “Especially as a woman, you can never undercut that you know what you’re doing. You start with, ‘I know a lot, but I don’t know the nuance [here]. I need to learn from you—we’re in this together.’” She continued: “I think a lot of women get themselves in trouble because they give the impression this is going to be a democracy. You’re being inclusive on the input, but ultimately, you’re the person in charge and you’re going to make the decision.”

A second respondent concurred: “Men get more time, more forgiveness, and more faith that they're going to be successful. Women have a shorter window to earn respect.”      

A third executive recommended an approach called tempered radicalism, coined by Stanford professor Debra Meyerson: “Those who want to see progressive change, you conform enough to get the job and be successful at it,” she said. “But you slowly move things in a progressive way—you create the change you want to see, rather than being the thorn in the side of the institution.”

5. Build a network. “There is already a built-in, very privileged network that men have that they don’t even realize. If you don’t establish that as a woman you will get eaten alive,” said one executive, who said her organization could be cutthroat. “People will leave you to die on the vine unless you continue to go back and communicate.” Another added that building strong, trusted relationships is “reassuring to people. [It says that] at the end of the day, this is about us working together to, as best we can, further the mission of the organization.”

6. Watch your blind spots and design your team to fit them. “Coming into the job knowing, ‘Okay, this is my pattern. I tend to have this bias, or that challenge, or whatever it might be.’ With that in mind, I enter [a] new job with the intention to explicitly work on it,” said one participant. “I’m a super hard introvert, so my first hire is always the person who is going to be the heart of the team... [who] makes everyone feel loved every day,” added another. “Because I know when things get busy, as much as I love my team, I will be head-down working.”      

Others similarly noted how it’s important to assess your team and make sure they fit your needs: “The old leadership team was optimized for the old leader,” said one respondent, adding that as a CEO or executive director, “you can’t not trust your general counsel. You can’t not trust your CFO... Those are the people who are going to keep you from ending up in jail.” The assessment can involve many aspects, said another: “Do they have the right skillset? Do they have the right attitude and aptitude? Do they fit in your culture? Is there chemistry with you and the relationship that you have with them?”

7. Prioritize demands and set boundaries. Many respondents reported not sleeping enough; one was almost hospitalized. “I wish I had taken time out for myself,” explained one leader. “In a male-dominated [space], you want to... impress and show, ‘Wow, she adds value and she’s on top of things.’”

Another respondent recommended “[taking] time to get back in the right headspace or you’re not going to learn as well--you’re going to miss important nuances.” A third stressed only taking on “the problems that literally no one else is able to do,” she said. “That’s why they’re on your plate. Understanding that is your role now and being guarded with your time is critical.”

8. You may hear disparaging comments. Lastly, nearly half of women mentioned hearing subtly (or not so subtly) belittling comments during their tenures, a number of which made women second-guess themselves. “The CEO introduced me as the ‘nicest’ of all [executives],” said one. “I thought, ‘If I were walking in as a man, would I really have been introduced [that way]?” Another was told by her boss that her work, which was high-stakes and high-profile, was easy compared to that of a male leader: “It brought tears to my eyes.”

Others were accused of being aggressive: “I’m direct—respectful but assertive... In a senior leadership meeting, [a man] referred to me as ‘chippy.’ I sat back like, ‘I think he just insulted me.’”  

Multiple women talked about sometimes using humor to diffuse tricky situations, from tense meetings to flirty coworkers, when possible. Another who was challenged repeatedly at the start of her tenure chose to let many of the comments go—until someone questioned her dedication to the organization’s mission. “I shut that down immediately,” she said. “Because without our mission, why do we exist? That’s a battle worth fighting to the death, but a lot of it’s not worth [it].”

***

So what does this all mean? Some of the themes are straightforward: If you’re new to an organization, you should cultivate relationships with others who are more established and build a network of supporters ready to vouch for you. You should find ways to communicate your vision and values. Protect against your weaknesses, and especially if you’re in a turn-around organization, find the fires you must put out quickly.

And yet, some of the suggestions are more complicated. You should listen, but not so much that it undermines your authority. Assess your team’s effectiveness while, ironically, demonstrating your own value to earn their respect. This dance, many participants reported, is more challenging than what is expected of men, and many companies lack structures to help level the playing field. “Women are expected to do more, know more, and show success more quickly than men,” one executive said. “That is true especially in senior positions.”

Perhaps, then, there are two major takeaways: First, right or wrong, the expectations of women can be different, and new executives need to prepare for that. Second, that preparation takes time—and can start long before your official Day 1. Before your tenure formally begins, you can hold unofficial meetings to build connections and gather insight about what exactly you’re stepping into. You can begin planting seeds of what values you bring to the role. And you can be honest with yourself about what you’re willing to shoulder and what you aren’t. As one participant put it: “The minute you say you are potentially interested in the position and [start] having conversations, you are preparing for those first 100 days.” She smiled. “Whatever happens on Day 100, I probably had it in mind on Day -200.”

Read more stories by Liz Perry.