The First 90 Days

1. Prepare yourself mentally for the transition and let go of the past

The actions you take during your first few months in a new role will largely determine whether you succeed or fail.

Break from the past. Transitioning into a new role requires a mental shift. Recognize that what made you successful in your previous position may not apply to your new challenges. Assess your vulnerabilities and blind spots, and be prepared to adapt your leadership style.

Embrace the learning curve. Accept that you'll face a steep learning curve and may feel incompetent at times. This is normal and temporary. Focus on relearning how to learn, as you'll need to quickly absorb new information about the organization, its culture, and your role within it.

Set clear breakpoints. Choose a specific time to mentally shift from your old role to the new one. Use this time to celebrate your move, touch base with advisors, and prepare yourself for the transition ahead. This mental preparation is crucial for setting yourself up for success in your new position.

2. Accelerate your learning to quickly understand your new role and organization

Effective learning gives you the foundational insights you need as you build your plan for the next 90 days.

Create a learning agenda. Develop a focused set of questions about the organization's past, present, and future. This will guide your inquiry and help you quickly gain the knowledge you need to make informed decisions.

Identify key sources of insight. Look beyond formal reports and data. Seek out frontline employees, customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders who can provide valuable perspectives on the organization's strengths, weaknesses, and challenges.

Use structured learning methods. Employ techniques such as:

• Systematic interviewing of key players
• Organizational climate surveys
• Focus groups
• Analysis of critical past decisions
• Process mapping

These methods will help you extract maximum insight with minimal time investment.

3. Match your strategy to the situation using the STARS model

Different types of situations require you to make significant adjustments in how you plan for and execute your transition.

Understand your STARS portfolio. Assess whether you're dealing with a:

• Start-up
• Turnaround
• Accelerated growth
• Realignment
• Sustaining success situation

Each requires a different approach to leadership and change management.

Tailor your actions. Adapt your strategy based on your STARS assessment:

• In a start-up, focus on assembling resources and building from scratch
• For turnarounds, make quick, decisive moves to stabilize the situation
• In accelerated growth, put structures in place to support rapid expansion
• Realignments require creating urgency and overcoming denial
• Sustaining success demands finding ways to take a successful organization to the next level

Remember that you may be dealing with a mix of STARS situations across different parts of your organization. Adjust your approach accordingly for each area.

4. Negotiate success with your new boss through critical conversations

Because no other single relationship is more important, you need to figure out how to build a productive working relationship with your new boss (or bosses) and manage her expectations.

Plan for five key conversations:

1. Situational diagnosis
2. Expectations
3. Resources
4. Style
5. Personal development

Clarify expectations early and often. Ensure you and your boss are aligned on short-term and medium-term goals, performance metrics, and timelines. Don't assume; explicitly discuss and document these expectations.

Adapt to your boss's style. Understand your boss's preferred communication methods, decision-making processes, and working style. Adjust your approach to complement theirs, fostering a more effective working relationship. Remember, it's your responsibility to adapt to them, not vice versa.

5. Secure early wins to build momentum and credibility

Early wins build your credibility and create momentum. They create virtuous cycles that leverage the energy you put into the organization to create a pervasive sense that good things are happening.

Focus on a few promising opportunities. Identify 3-4 key areas where you can achieve rapid, tangible improvements in business results. These should align with your longer-term goals and help introduce desired behavioral changes.

Balance quick fixes and long-term value. While addressing low-hanging fruit can provide immediate results, ensure your early wins contribute to your broader objectives and lay the foundation for future success.

Plan your waves of change. Structure your initiatives in distinct waves:

1. First wave: Secure early wins and build personal credibility
2. Second wave: Address deeper issues of strategy, structure, and systems
3. Third wave: Consolidate changes and fine-tune performance

This approach allows for learning, adjustment, and building momentum over time.

6. Achieve alignment between strategy, structure, systems, and skills

No matter how charismatic you are as a leader, you cannot hope to do much if your organization is fundamentally out of alignment.

Assess the current state. Evaluate how well your organization's strategy, structure, core processes, and skill bases are aligned. Look for misalignments that could be hindering performance.

Address misalignments systematically. Focus on bringing the following elements into alignment:

• Strategic direction (mission, vision, strategy)
• Structure (how people are organized and work is coordinated)
• Core processes (systems for adding value)
• Skill bases (capabilities of key groups)

Sequence changes appropriately. The order in which you address misalignments matters. In turnarounds, focus first on strategy, then structure, and finally processes and skills. In realignments, the issues often lie in processes and skills, so start there.

7. Build your team by assessing, restructuring, and aligning key players

The most important decisions you make in your first 90 days will probably be about people.

Assess your inherited team. Evaluate team members based on:

• Competence
• Judgment
• Energy
• Focus
• Relationships
• Trust

Consider how these factors vary in importance based on your STARS situation and the criticality of each position.

Make necessary personnel changes. Be prepared to make tough decisions about who stays, who goes, and who moves to different roles. Act decisively, but also consider alternatives to outright replacement, such as reassignment or development plans.

Align and motivate your team. Use a combination of "push" (goals, metrics, incentives) and "pull" (inspiring vision) tools to get your team moving in the right direction. Tailor your approach based on individual motivations and your overall STARS situation.

8. Create alliances to gain support for your initiatives

Your success depends on your ability to influence people outside your direct line of control.

Map the influence landscape. Identify key stakeholders, decision-makers, and influencers. Understand the formal and informal power structures within the organization.

Analyze support and opposition. Categorize stakeholders as:

• Supporters
• Opponents
• Persuadables

For each group, develop strategies to reinforce support, neutralize opposition, or win over the undecided.

Craft influence strategies. Use a combination of techniques to build alliances:

• Consultation and active listening
• Framing arguments effectively
• Leveraging social influence
• Incrementalism and sequencing
• Creating action-forcing events

Remember that building alliances is an ongoing process, not a one-time effort.

9. Manage yourself by developing personal disciplines and support systems

Ultimately, success or failure will flow from all the small choices you make along the way.

Develop personal disciplines. Create routines that help you stay focused and effective:

• Plan to plan (daily and weekly evaluation and planning)
• Focus on the important (not just the urgent)
• Judiciously defer commitment
• Practice "going to the balcony" for perspective
• Engage in structured self-reflection
• Know when to quit and recharge

Build support systems. Create a network of support to help you maintain balance and perspective:

• Assert control over your local environment
• Stabilize your home front, especially if relocating
• Develop a diverse advice-and-counsel network (technical advisers, cultural interpreters, political counselors)

Regularly assess and adjust your support systems to ensure they meet your evolving needs.

10. Accelerate everyone by implementing transition systems organization-wide

The faster your direct reports get up to speed, the better able they will be to help you reach your goals.

Recognize the enterprise impact. Failed transitions at any level can have significant costs for the organization, including direct financial losses, missed opportunities, and damage to the business.

Implement a transition acceleration system. Develop a systematic approach to supporting all employees in transition, not just senior executives. This can include:

• Structured onboarding processes
• Transition coaching and mentoring
• Learning resources and tools
• Peer support networks

Create a transition-supportive culture. Foster an organizational environment that recognizes the challenges of transitions and provides the necessary support. This includes training managers to better support their transitioning team members.

By accelerating everyone's transitions, you can reduce enterprise risk, create competitive advantage, and speed up change implementation across the entire organization.

Last updated: January 22, 2025