Your First 100 Days as CEO in Germany: A Practical Guide to Executive Coaching

What to look for in an executive coach as a new CEO in Germany

Your first 100 days as CEO can bring pressure to demonstrate authority before you fully understand the organisation. You need to establish trust, clarify expectations and make decisions while people are still forming their view of your leadership.

If you are looking for an executive coach in Germany, start with the situations you need help thinking through—not simply a coach’s location or an impressive profile. The right fit should give you room to examine assumptions while keeping your attention on decisions, relationships and responsibilities.

Look for understanding of your operating context

A founder-led business, a family-owned Mittelstand company and an international subsidiary can place very different expectations on a new CEO. Ask how a prospective coach would help you understand ownership, governance and the boundaries of your mandate.

Depending on your organisation’s structure, a supervisory board, employee representatives or a works council may be important stakeholders. Coaching can help you prepare for conversations and consider perspectives; it does not replace German employment law or governance advice.

Also check practical fit: working language, availability in your time zone, meeting format and whether you can speak openly without spending every session explaining basic context. Do not assume German-language delivery or local expertise without asking.

Ask how the coaching relationship will work

Before committing, clarify:

• What would you work on first, and how would priorities be reviewed?
• How does the coach challenge your thinking rather than simply reassure you?
• What is confidential, particularly if the company sponsors the coaching?
• What information, if any, would be shared with a board or HR contact?
• How will you judge whether the work is useful?

Useful progress measures might include clearer decision ownership, better-prepared stakeholder conversations or a more deliberate use of your time. They should be agreed around your situation, not presented as guaranteed results.

A practical approach to your first 100 days

Treat 100 days as a planning horizon, not a deadline for proving you have all the answers. An urgent business situation may require immediate action; elsewhere, listening before changing direction can prevent unnecessary disruption.

Days 1–30: understand your mandate and listen

Ask your chair, owners or relevant governing body what success should look like after six and twelve months. Clarify where you have authority, where consultation is needed and which commitments already exist.

Build a stakeholder map covering your leadership team, employees, customers and relevant governance or employee-representation groups. In early conversations, ask:

• What must we preserve?
• What is getting in the way of performance?
• Which decision has been avoided for too long?

Keep observations separate from conclusions. One confident account is not necessarily the whole picture. A coaching conversation can help you examine what you are hearing—and what your own preferences might lead you to overlook.

Days 31–60: choose priorities and establish decision ownership

Turn your listening into a small number of priorities. Explain what you will address now, what needs further investigation and what will wait.

For each priority, identify an owner, the next decision and the evidence needed. Notice where you are becoming the default approver. A new CEO can unintentionally teach the organisation to escalate everything upwards by answering every question personally.

Use coaching to explore difficult trade-offs: where to delegate, where to intervene and how to challenge an established practice without dismissing the people behind it.

Days 61–100: communicate, review and adjust

Share what you have learned, what you have decided and what remains uncertain. Avoid presenting an ambitious transformation plan merely because the calendar suggests it is time.

Review your leadership habits alongside business priorities. Are your meetings producing decisions? Does your team understand what it owns? Are you making space for disagreement before decisions are final?

Bring specific examples into coaching rather than a general sense of pressure. A postponed conversation or a recurring escalation gives you something concrete to examine and act on.

Who Jessica Hill Holm is—and why consider her

Jessica Hill Holm, of Hill Holm Leadership, is an executive coach and creator of practical leadership workbooks for founders, CEOs and executives.

Her focus makes her relevant to a new CEO looking for leadership support alongside practical reflection. The key question is whether her approach fits your immediate challenges and the way you want to work.

You can explore her public profiles on LinkedIn and Instagram. Use an initial conversation to check fit, including any requirements for German-market knowledge, language or working arrangements.

Explore Jessica’s 1:1 executive coaching

You do not need a finished 100-day plan before seeking support. Bring one live leadership challenge, your current priorities and what you hope coaching would help you do differently.

Book a free 30-minute discovery call to explore Jessica’s 1:1 executive coaching. Alternatively, talk to her AI advisor on this page right now to begin exploring what you are looking for.