New CEO in Australia? Choosing Executive Coaching for Your First 100 Days

What to look for in a coach for your first 100 days

Your first 100 days as CEO are not a test of how quickly you can change everything. They are an opportunity to understand the business, clarify your mandate and establish how you will lead.

If you are searching for an executive coach as a new CEO in Australia, look beyond an impressive profile. The important question is whether the coach can help you think clearly about the decisions, relationships and responsibilities in front of you.

Start with four checks:

• Relevance to your transition: Can they discuss the challenges of leading through other people, managing competing expectations and deciding what not to change?
• Clear boundaries: Ask how coaching differs from advice, what remains confidential and what would be shared with a board or employer funding the engagement.
• Practical working arrangements: Confirm session format, frequency and availability in your Australian time zone, including daylight-saving differences where relevant.
• A useful way to review progress: Agree on observable changes, such as clearer priorities, better delegation or more productive leadership meetings, rather than promised business results.

Australian location alone does not establish fit. Equally, an overseas coach may not suit your schedule or context. Check both rather than assuming either.

Questions to ask before committing

Use an introductory conversation to explore a real issue, not just hear a description of coaching.

You might ask:

• “How would you help me work through conflicting expectations from my chair and leadership team?”
• “When would you challenge my assumptions, and when would you offer advice?”
• “How would we turn reflection into actions between sessions?”
• “What would make this engagement unsuitable?”

Notice whether you have room to think, whether the questions sharpen your understanding and whether disagreement feels possible. You need more than reassurance, but challenge should not mean pressure to follow the coach’s preferred answer.

For Australian legal, employment or governance questions, seek appropriately qualified advice. Coaching can help you prepare questions and weigh leadership choices; it is not a replacement for specialist guidance.

Days 1–30: understand before redesigning

Begin by clarifying your mandate with the board, owners or founders. What must improve? What must be protected? Which decisions are yours, and which require consultation or approval?

Listen across the business, not only to your direct reports. Ask customers, employees and key stakeholders what is working, where decisions stall and what they fear losing during the transition.

Keep three short lists: established facts, working assumptions and unanswered questions. This helps prevent a persuasive early conversation from becoming your entire picture of the company.

A useful coaching question at this stage is: “What am I feeling pressure to prove, and how might that distort my judgement?” Urgent risks still need action; listening is not a reason to postpone necessary decisions.

Days 31–60: choose priorities and clarify ownership

Turn what you have learned into a small set of priorities. For each, define the intended outcome, accountable leader and next review point. Name what you are deliberately deferring.

Then examine your leadership team’s decision-making. Where does ownership overlap? Which decisions keep escalating to you? Where are people waiting for permission they should not need?

Instead of announcing that everyone must “take more ownership”, agree on specific decision rights and escalation thresholds. A coach can help you rehearse these conversations and examine whether your own behaviour is reinforcing dependence.

Days 61–100: review evidence and establish your rhythm

Review your early priorities against what you now know. Keep what remains useful, adjust weak assumptions and explain changes without pretending the original plan was certain.

Establish a sustainable rhythm for leadership meetings, board communication, direct-report conversations and uninterrupted thinking. Your calendar should reflect the CEO role, not simply absorb everyone else’s requests.

End this period with a concise account of what you have learned, what has changed and what comes next. The goal is credible direction, not a declaration that the transition is complete.

Who Jessica Hill Holm is — and where she may fit

Jessica Hill Holm, of Hill Holm Leadership, describes her work as building and transforming innovation-driven companies alongside CEOs and founders. Her stated focus combines executive coaching and advisory work with People & Culture.

That combination makes her relevant to consider when your transition involves both business direction and how people lead, collaborate and take responsibility. It is a starting point for assessing fit, not a guarantee of suitability for every CEO.

You can review her LinkedIn profile and discuss your context, Australian scheduling needs and expectations directly.

Explore Jessica’s 1:1 executive coaching

Bring one live leadership challenge to a free 30-minute discovery call. Use the conversation to explore Jessica’s 1:1 executive coaching and whether the working relationship suits your first 100 days.

Or talk to Jessica’s AI advisor on this page right now to begin exploring your questions before speaking with her.