3 steps every new CHRO should take in their first 90 days

The first 90 days in a new role can be daunting and overwhelming, but it’s also where the magic happens. Time is of the essence, and as a chief human resources officer (CHRO), that means learning the business’s intricacies and establishing the HR roadmap – all while establishing your reputation as a professional and trustworthy C-level leader.

But perhaps the hardest nut to crack is demonstrating how, with your leadership, your company’s HR can create the right culture and infrastructure that support engaged, committed, and productive teams.

Here are three steps to set yourself up for success: understanding the business and its challenges, providing the right solutions, and building relationships.

Listen and map the gaps in your organisation

Every relationship is built on communication. So, listen, listen, and listen some more. Ask a lot of questions and drill down to the bottom of things. Establish trust and confidence in your leadership by setting meetings with your C-suite, especially your CEO, and most importantly, your people. Ask them as many questions as possible – this is the best time to get a good understanding of the organisation.

Also, review any available HR data on important issues like headcount, diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I), gender pay gap, gender diversity ratio and recruitment metrics that reflect the quality of hire, time to fill and time to hire. Dive into employee growth rate and retention metrics, which provide insights on employee net promoter score, career path ratio, salary change, learning and development, and absenteeism rates.

These metrics can offer a single source of truth and better understand the organisation from all angles, from company culture to hiring practices, compensation, benefits, safety and security in the workplace, and professional development training. The insights you gain from this data are key to helping you build your strategy.

Create your plan that aligns with the CEO’s vision and the company’s culture

Now, armed with crucial information, ask yourself how to create a people-first HR strategy that aligns with and builds upon the company’s existing business strategy and culture. In today’s global, fast-paced, and constantly-evolving world, people strategies must be agile enough to quickly and easily adapt to changing economic conditions, business challenges and workforce trends.

Share your philosophy, strategy and beliefs with them, and get initial feedback. You don’t want to reinvent the wheel or create something that has already been implemented or hasn’t worked out well. Hear from them what has worked in the past and what hasn’t before going away and building them out. This will serve as a great starting point to help you determine where the gaps are and how to build them into your people strategy.

Putting your plan into action

As CHRO, you know your employees best and how their performance can directly impact the business. Creating an HR roadmap that spells out the key issues you have identified from the collected data will be key to achieving buy-in from your C-suite colleagues, especially your CEO.

For instance, if the business has been facing declining employee engagement, it’s important to understand the pain point and address the issue by establishing more transparent and open communication with employees. People engagement is often a reflection of how they feel about their managers or decisions made by the company, often stemming from a lack of transparency, which in the long run can have a negative impact on productivity. Addressing these issues readily is critical, and organisations can do so by investing in communication tools and training managers to connect more regularly and honestly with their people.

As a CHRO, putting in place a roadmap that clearly outlines how the business can improve employee engagement and, ultimately, the bottom line will be vital to building your reputation as a leader and trusted partner. All this can only be achieved if you take the time and effort in your first 30 days to listen, understand and analyse your employees and create solutions that address the organisation’s current challenges. Setting clear objectives and KPIs is also vital from the outset.

Making your mark in your first 90 days as a CHRO

As a CHRO, you are pivotal in driving meaningful change and securing a more positive and nurturing working environment, which will achieve higher engagement, satisfaction, retention, and productivity.

Capturing the hearts of the C-suite, the board, and our valued partners hinges on how you reveal your strategy. During those pivotal first 90 days, always remember: as you familiarise yourself with your team, your data and your challenges, also build your HR ideas as tailored solutions to our current challenges. It’s more than just troubleshooting – it’s about nurturing a vibrant culture that fuels the company’s growth. Your passion and foresight have the power to cultivate a positive transformation, creating a culture that propels us toward an even brighter future.

By Nirit Peled Muntz, chief people officer, HiBob