How To Make Your First 90 Days Count As A Leader

Candidates for leadership roles are often asked about their first 90 days, and there is a good reason why. Incoming leaders only have a short period of time to set the tone for how they will lead, establish boundaries and identify and clarify goals.

McKinsey & Company maintains that leadership transitions are such “high-stakes, high-tension events” that they even rank above bereavement, divorce and health issues in terms of difficulty. Whether or not everyone would agree with this assessment, there is no question that leadership transitions are difficult, which is why it is essential to understand how to make the most of your first 90 days.

Pace Yourself

Coming into a new role, you’ll likely arrive with a lot of energy and curiosity, but even if this is the case, be certain to pace yourself. Scheduling back-to-back individual or group meetings every day for weeks on end isn’t just overwhelming. It may also prevent you from showing up as your best self in initial meetings.

After all, listening, which is what you’ll be doing for much of your first 90 days, isn’t a passive practice. It takes energy, attention, curiosity and empathy. Consider this a great opportunity to get to know your new executive assistant. Also, engage them in helping you schedule meetings with the right stakeholders at the right pace and in the right sequence.

Launch A Listening Tour

To make the most of your listening tour, you’ll need to first identify which stakeholders to engage. While some may be obvious (e.g., holding one-on-one meetings with all your direct reports), other stakeholders may not be as obvious. One strategy is to start with your direct reports and ask them who else you should talk to during your first 90 days.

While engaging direct reports and other internal stakeholders, always stay focused on the nature of the tasks at hand: to engage in a structured conversation and to listen with intention. In other words, don’t treat these encounters like any other conversation. Arrive knowing what you intend to ask and why.

Also, take notes. Record each person’s name, title, years of service to the organization and their responses to specific questions. For example, you might ask each team member to describe their job function, reflect upon the organization’s greatest strengths and weaknesses and discuss which projects they are working on at this moment. Remember that asking great questions, including follow-up questions that dig deeper, and soliciting feedback are also powerful ways to build rapport with your new team members.

Spend Time With External Stakeholders

In nearly all leadership roles, external stakeholders also matter. These stakeholders can vary depending on your organization and industry but may include anyone from key players in your supply chain to the leaders of competitive organizations in your sector. Carve out time to engage as many key external stakeholders as possible

Reflect On And Share Back What You’ve Learned

When you complete your listening tour, reflect on recurring themes. Also, identify contradictions. As needed, ask follow-up questions or dig into available data to verify accounts and claims. Create an anonymized version of your findings and share a high-level overview with your team.

Remember that you’re only an outsider once, and outsiders can often see things that insiders can’t see. Sharing what you saw coming in from the outside during your first 90 days can be incredibly eye-opening for everyone on your team.

Write Goals

When you reach the end of your first 90 days, take time out to write down your goals. Strive to articulate goals that are challenging but doable. One way to do this is to focus on goals that you can visualize. After all, goals that can’t be visualized are far more difficult to achieve.

Final Thoughts

Your first 90 days will likely fly by, but ensure you don’t forget them in the future. What you were able to see as an outsider coming in is a valuable perspective—one unmired by the company’s history and by personal relationships. Keep a snapshot of this perspective top of mind as you move forward.