An executive I had worked with in the past recently accepted a larger, more challenging role as a Go-to-Market (GTM) VP reporting to the Chief Revenue Officer.

The company is a 500+, pre-IPO start-up, on the cusp of escape velocity.

The stakes are high. Success in a revenue role like this could produce a life-changing payout if the company goes public.

She wanted to get the best start possible and signed up for my First Hundred Days & Beyond program.

Around her 50th day on the job, the CEO asked to meet with her to get her observations on the opportunities and challenges. 

When she sat down, he said, "Before we begin, I just want to say, the way you landed at this company is the best start I've seen in my entire career."

"The way you landed at this company is the best start I've seen in my entire career."

My client is enormously talented. 

But make no mistake, by leveraging the best practices and step-by-step structure of my program, she orchestrated that landing. 

You can too. 

Getting off to a great start in a new executive role is not a mystery. You don't need to tell friends to wish you luck.  No prayer cushions, incense, or incantations needed.

It's a repeatable process. 

I've coached nearly a hundred clients through some portion of their first hundred days.  They all systematically built trust and confidence in the people they worked with and steady momentum for the change agenda they were developing. 

After their 100th Day, it's almost a guarantee they will tell me: "That's the best start I've ever had."

What makes great landings possible?

The short answer is structure. 

It's a real head scratcher, but most executives start new jobs with no idea of what can go wrong, no structure for what to focus on and when, and no thought of what might be a better approach. 

Their game plan, if you want to call it that, is "I'll just be charming, do some interviews, figure out the challenges, and start trying to execute."

But trying to figure out the strategy, the execution roadblocks, the culture, and the diverging stakeholder positions, while also deciphering the unique aspects of how to enter for a particular organization can prove overwhelming, even for talented executives.

The countermeasure is having a step-by-step approach with checklists, customizable templates, and 'work samples' other executives used during their transition for how to:

• start before you start
• introduce yourself in a way that delivers a message not a ramble
• turn the tsunami of new information coming at you into a manageable flow
• meet your team with a structured approach instead of the meeting being a "jump ball"
• evaluate your team's individual capabilities and ability to work together
• make sure you and your boss are "seeing the same game" right from the start
• align stakeholders
• communicate in general, and specifically, about your change agenda
• benchmark progress vs normative milestones other executives accomplished
• capstone your 100th day with a subtle, symbolic action that sets you up for success for Day 101 and beyond

Structure and tools like this eliminate the typical ;hunt & peck" approach and all but ensure a great landing.

An Easy Way and a Hard Way

As the saying goes, there is an easy way and a hard way.

The "hard way" is hard, not because of the effort expended, but because the approach creates such feelings of uncertainty. 

For example, you can walk in with the "interview-others-get-a-strategy-try-to-execute" game plan.  Many do. Sometimes that works.

Others buy a book about how to show up during the first three months.  Of course they are trying to read it while wrapping up their last job and taking a vacation with the family. 

Getting through even a few chapters would be better than the many who never open it.

But the most successful executives, like the most successful athletes who want to win, look for sources of edge that can make them 10%, 5%, or even just 1% better. 

In the case of athletes, that might mean hiring a functional medicine specialist, a masseuse, a trainer, or a personal chef.

In the case of executives, edge can come in the form of hiring a transition coach who knows the terrain and uses a structure that's imbued with the learning from other executives that have put it to the test.

"We might translate the Greek word 'zelos' as 'emulation' today.  It is where we get the word zeal in English.  It’s that feeling you get when you see someone doing something great and it inspires you to imitate.” Alex Petkas, A Bible for Heroes---Plutarch’s Parallel Lives.

When there is a lot at stake and little margin for error, the "easy way" is to emulate others who, like you, needed to "stick the landing."

And did.

Dennis Adsit, Ph.D. is an executive coach, organization consultant, and designer of The First 100 Days and Beyond, a consulting service that has helped hundreds of leaders get the best start of their careers and given them tools and templates for continued success long past their First Hundred Days.