What should you do the first 30 days?
There was a question this week in the Exit Five communityabout starting a new job as Head of Marketing and what to focus on in the first 30 days.
Hi: I am starting a new Head of Marketing role at a HealthTech this week. I have a team of 18 who have been without a leader for around 6 months - and they are open and excited about me joining. I report into the CEO and sit on the leadership team.
Any advice on how to make a big impact in my first 30 days short of just jumping in and executing/fire fighting which I am used to doing in previous marketing leadership roles with much smaller teams?
I think the first 30 days is critical, of course. But I think a lot of "what should you do in the first 30 days" advice is too fluffy -- yeah go meet with people, get to know the customers, the market. Of course. But I can guarantee you this: the CEO and others inside of the company are going to start wondering around day 31 what you're doing and once the glow of being the new marketing leader wears off, you're going to have a target on your back like we all do to deliver ASAP. So instead, why wait for day 30? I'm come in and try to make an impact right out of the gate.
Here's what I shared in the community:
Congrats! Hope you get in there and do some awesome work. I think without a leader for 6 months and a team of that size it's important to bring some consistency + routines + systems. Bringing a standard operating procedure could be helpful. Also I would say find "quick wins" in addition to all of your team assessment. The best way to build relationships is not just get to know you coffee meetings, but doing that and finding ways to put points on the board quickly based on what you're hearing. Could be fixing a page on the site, fixing a deck, delivering on something that's been asked for over and over or on pause for 6 months because there's no marketing leader etc. Lead by doing IMO.
What do you think? How would you respond to this? Write a post about this topic and tag me on LinkedIn I'd love to see your response publicly (so others can too) and chime in.
- Dave
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