When a leadership team is newly formed or substantially changed, its first months together set the tone. Here is how a new leadership team can start well.
Become a team, not a group
A newly formed leadership team is initially a group of talented individuals, not yet a team. The most important early work is becoming one — building the alignment, trust, and shared understanding that let a team make good decisions and execute together. Investing deliberately in this early, rather than assuming it will happen naturally, is what distinguishes teams that go on to perform from those that remain a collection of individuals optimising their own areas.
Align on priorities and ways of working
Early on, a new leadership team should align on a few things explicitly: the priorities for the period ahead, how the team will make decisions and work together, and who owns what. Ambiguity about priorities or roles is a common early source of friction and drift. Agreeing these things deliberately in the first months — rather than letting them form by default — gives the team a clear, shared basis to operate from. It closely mirrors structuring the team well.
Build trust and honest debate
High-performing teams are built on trust and the ability to debate honestly and disagree productively. A new team should work early to build the relationships and psychological safety that allow this — because teams that cannot challenge each other openly make worse decisions. The leader of the team, usually the CEO, plays the central role in fostering this, and the first months are when the team's norms of trust and debate are set.
Establish early momentum, then bigger change
New leadership teams benefit from some early, visible wins that build confidence and momentum — while resisting the urge to launch sweeping change before the team is genuinely aligned and has understood the business. The strongest first 100 days combine becoming a real team with early, well-chosen action, setting up the bigger changes to follow. It parallels the discipline of an individual's first 90 days, at the team level.
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Explore Executive Search →Frequently asked questions
What should a new leadership team focus on in its first 100 days?
Becoming a genuine team — building alignment, trust, and honest debate — agreeing priorities and ways of working, and establishing early momentum, before pursuing sweeping change. Teams that invest in this early set themselves up to perform.
Why do new leadership teams struggle?
Often because they remain a group of talented individuals rather than becoming a team — skipping the early work of building alignment, trust, and shared priorities, which leads to friction, drift, and worse decisions later.
Related: How to Build a High-Performing Leadership Team · How to Structure a Leadership Team · The First 90 Days as a New Executive
