Growing companies often hire their first COO or head of operations when the strain is already obvious. The founder is stretched, processes are inconsistent, and the team is hoping the new leader will fix things quickly.
That pressure creates a common trap. The new leader arrives with a clear sense of what good looks like from a previous company, moves fast to install it, and discovers that the team was never consulted and quietly works around the changes. Six months in, the processes are on paper and the old habits are still in place.
The first 90 days are better spent earning the understanding and trust that make lasting change possible.
Days 1 to 30: learn how the company really runs
Spend the first month listening and observing. Aim to meet every manager and a broad sample of front-line staff, and ask the same few questions each time:
- What is working well that we should protect?
- What slows you down most often?
- Where do you get stuck waiting for a decision or for another team?
- If you were in my role, what would you change first?
Alongside the conversations, review the numbers, the systems and the existing documentation. Look for the gaps between how work is described and how it actually happens. Those gaps are where most operational problems live.
Days 31 to 60: fix a few visible things
By the second month, patterns will be clear. Choose two or three problems that are widely felt, can be fixed within weeks, and do not require major investment. A broken handoff between teams, an approval process that takes too long, a report nobody trusts.
Fix them with the people who raised them, and say publicly where the idea came from. Early, visible improvements show the team that their input leads to action, which makes them far more willing to engage with the larger changes to come.
Days 61 to 90: agree the plan
With a clear picture and some credibility established, work with the founder and leadership team on a written operating plan for the next twelve months. It should cover:
- the operating cadence: how the leadership team will plan, review and decide;
- decision rights: what moves from the founder to other leaders, and when;
- priorities: the few operational changes that matter most, each with an owner;
- measures: how everyone will know whether it is working.
Share the plan with the wider company, along with what you heard in the first month and how the plan responds to it.
The founder relationship
None of this works without an explicit agreement with the founder about what they are handing over and how they will support the new leader in front of the team. Agree it early, revisit it monthly, and keep the conversation candid. The transition is as significant for the founder as it is for anyone else.
A new operations leader who spends the first quarter learning, fixing a few things well and building a shared plan will usually move faster in the second quarter than one who started changing everything on day one.