Life Coach - Step 20 of 100 - 30, 60, 90 day plan after taking over the unit

One of the first things I advice a new CEO / CXO is to construct a 30-60-90 day plan on taking over an organization.

So here is my recipe for your takeover for first 90 days.

• First 30 days work from 6 am in the morning to 10 pm in the evening.
  
• Next 30 days work from 6 am to 8 pm.
  
• Last 30 days work from 6 am to 6 pm.
  

Why?
In the first 30 days the idea is to get a thorough understanding of the unit. If you have already worked in the unit prior to commanding the job actually becomes tougher :)

Question time
Why does the job become tougher when you have prior knowledge of the unit?

Let us take the harder option and you are commanding an unit where you have at least served twice before. The first 30 days is to baseline everything - AS -IS baselining. Do not change anything. Understand how things work.

How do you do that?

• Ask for briefings from every commander in the unit / any individual handling any role
• When they brief you, ask questions - the stupider the questions the better. For example what is the form for demanding FOL. How is the demand calculated? Who signs it? Where does it go?
• You do not want to learn the process, you want to ensure that the person who is handling it is aware of the details
• The person will falter. Let him prepare a second time in greater detail and present again
• No one should be spared
• Touch the holy cows too - call the Punditji, Paiji, ask them what they do, how do they function, ask the SM, ask the gardener what he plants and when. No one is small if they know what they have to do and do it well
• Get the coy cdrs on a leash - ask them details - how many NCOs are awaiting promotion, how many ORs are there in list of next LN cadre, how many overweights are there in his company, how much overweight are they
• MTO - how many vehicles, vintage, what were the inspection results, why, have corrective actions been taken, who comprises the pool of drivers, how have their leaves been planned, check if the maintenance books show tire rotation, battery charging
  

The point I am trying to make is ask questions - when I was doing my engineering in CME, I only had 2 questions for the instructor - why and how for everything. Some instructors called me after lunch to clarify my doubts. I went and asked more questions. KVSN Murthy Sir called me in the evening at 6.00 pm to explain particle in box theory. I went and asked more questions. I considered myself as an average intelligence guy. But I had two friends - why and how.

Ask questions seek answers, do not change anything in first 30 days. Give people at least 3 chances to answer all your questions. Do not judge anyone. People will rise to your expectation if you respect them and let them rise inspite of failures.

At the end of 30 days you will have people who know all the answers. As I said before, you do not need to know the answers. You only need to know who has the answers.

In consulting I rarely have answers to my client's questions. But I know where I can get the answers from. That is all that is required.