If you are starting a new Chief of Staff position, Poppy Johnson shares a plan for the first hundred days to help you focus, structure, and strategize.
Going into your first hundred days with a plan
Starting a Chief of Staff role is exciting, but daunting. You’re stepping into a position that sits at the heart of organisational decision-making.
To help navigate this critical period, I’ve developed a companion tool to structure your first 100 days. This framework follows MECE principles (Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive) to ensure you cover all bases without overlap or gaps. Of course, you might find that your principal has a plan for you already. If so, you can use this framework to structure your own thinking.
Start with your north star
First, always start with your principal’s goals and targets for the short and long term. That’s your north star. Assume that everything you do should ladder up to these objectives – unless you know from the start that you’ll also be owning certain special projects (although these too will of course link back to company strategy).
Schedule dedicated time in your first week to understand not just what these goals are, but why they matter and how success will be measured. Don’t assume you know what your principal wants. Ask directly, take notes, clarify ambiguities.
Important : These templates are for structuring your thinking and approach. Always make your own local, password-protected copy, and don’t input confidential or sensitive information about your organisation, colleagues, or strategic plans. Keep your actual analysis and findings in secure, company-approved systems.
The three-phase framework
Phase 1: Discover – observe and understand
Your first priority is to listen, learn, and observe. Resist the urge to jump in with solutions immediately. The most successful Chiefs of Staff spend significant time in discovery mode, building a deep understanding of the organisation, its people, and its challenges.
This phase can last 30-45 days, but adapt according to your context – and remember that it never really stops, as you’ll always be facing new situations.
Phase 2: Analyse and plan – but remember context matters
Once you’ve gathered sufficient information, move into analysis mode. What patterns do you see? Where are the biggest opportunities?
Remember that the extent to which your plan is your own will vary greatly by principal. Some CEOs will give you significant autonomy and special projects. Others prefer Chiefs of Staff who execute their vision with minimal independent planning. Neither approach is wrong.
Phase 3: Do! – execution starts sooner than you think
You’ll probably find that you start the doing phase much sooner than you expect. Most Chiefs of Staff begin executing tasks from day one. Don’t let this derail your discovery and analysis work. Instead, parallel run alongside phases 1 and 2.
Key points include:
- Company strategy, business model, and operating model
- Products or services
- Operations
Read the full article, Chiefly tool: A Chief of Staff’s first 100 days, on ChieflyCos.com.