The First 90 Days - Success Strategies for New Leaders

One of the better books that I have read is called The First 90 Days - Success Strategies for New Leaders by Harvard professor Michael Watkins.  The book is tailored to people who are  new to leadership roles.  This book is not only for new "people managers", but many of the strategies discussed can be applied to just about anyone taking on a leadership role (e.g. Project Managers) or someone taking on a new role in their community (e.g. Cub Scout Den Leaders).  The First 90 Days can be broken down into 5 main topics;

• How to get yourself focused
• How to learn your new role faster
• How to choose the right strategy
• How to make good things happen right away
• How to build a winning team

Why do I bring this book up now?  I am embarking upon a new role within the company I work for.  In light of that, I thought it would be a good idea to break this book out of my library and brush up on some of the key concepts.  I first read this book 4 years ago before I started a new job.  Not my last job, but the job prior to that.  It served me well and helped me define my road-map for the first 90 days of my new role.

Below I will do my best to summarize the main points of the book.

Focus Yourself

• Mentally prepare yourself for your new role.
• Put the past behind you.  What worked before won't necessarily serve you well now.  Don't ignore what you don't know.
• Along those same lines; Establish a clear break point.  Celebrate the transition and then be done.  Do whatever it takes to forget your old role and focus on the new.
• Hit the ground running.  At the 90 day mark, your boss, your peers, your direct reports expect you to be making an impact.
• Asses your vulnerabilities.  Identify your "problem preferences".  That is; the problems you prefer to work on.  Make a point not to neglect the activities you do not enjoy or activities that do not come naturally.

Accelerate Your Learning

• Define your learning agenda.  What do you need to learn 1st, 2nd, 3rd?
• Adopt a structured learning method.  This is a favorite of mine!  This step has served me quite well in the past.
  • Meet with your new boss and direct reports and ask the following questions;
    • What are the biggest challenges the organization (or team) is facing (or will face) in the near future?
    • Why is the organization (or team) facing (or going to face) these challenges?
    • What are the most promising unexploited opportunities for growth?
    • What would need to happen or the organization (or team) to exploit the potential of these opportunities?
    • If you were me, what would you focus on?

Match your Strategy to the Situation

• Be sure to correctly diagnose the situation
  • Start-up.  Is this a new team (or company)?
  • Turnaround.  Is the group in trouble and you need to get things back on track?
  • Realignment. Do you need to revitalize the project, team or processes?
  • Sustaining Success.  Is this a well oiled machine that you simply need to keep moving in the right direction?
• Understand the History.  What got the team, company, project to the current state.  Seek to understand the history.
• Focus your energy.  Ask yourself;
  • How much emphasis will I place on learning versus doing?
  • How much emphasis will I place on offense versus defense?
  • What should I do to get some early wins?

Make good things happen right away

• It is crucial to get some early wins.  You want to make sure your boss, peers and subordinates all feel that something new and good is happening.
• Here are some of the most common mistakes that will prevent something new and good from happening;
  • Failing to focus. It's easy to take on too much during a transition.  The results can be disastrous.
  • Not taking the business situation into account.  The definition of an early win will differ greatly based on the situation you are in.
  • Not adjusting to the corporate culture.  If you are an outsider, make understanding the culture a high priority.
  • Failing to get wins that matter to your boss. Be it right, wrong or indifferent, if it's not important to your boss, it's not important.
  • Letting your means undermine your ends.  Avoid being perceived as manipulative, underhanded or going against corporate culture.
• Establish long term goals
  • Be consistent with organizational priorities.
  • Introduce the new patterns of behavior you want to install in the organization (or team).
• Build your credibility.  Your earliest actions with your new team will have a huge influence on how you are perceived.
• Negotiate success (Part I).  Engage with your new boss to establish realistic expectations.  Here are a few things to avoid when engaging with your new boss;
  • Don't trash the past.  Nothing can be gained from criticising your predecessors.
  • Don't stay away.  If your boss doesn't reach out to you, reach out yourself to him or her.
  • Don't surprise your boss.  Even bad new is OK as long as it is not a surprise.
  • Don't approach your boss only with problems.  Be sure to understand the problem and identify what you'll (realistically) need before approaching your boss.
  • Don't run down your checklist.  It's rarely that your boss wants to hear every nit-and-nat you are working on.
  • Don't try to change your boss.  Adapt to his/her style rather than the other way around.
• Negotiate success (Part II).  Engage with your new boss to establish realistic expectations.  Here are a few things you should do when engaging with your new boss;
  • Take 100% responsibility for making the relationship work.
  • Clarify mutual expectations early and often.
  • Negotiate time-lines for diagnosis and actions.
  • Aim for early wins in areas that are important to your boss.
  • Try to get "good grades" from those whose opinions your boss respects.
• Achieve Alignment.  You want to make sure your organization or team is all marching in the same direction.  Try to avoid some of the common mistakes;
  • Resist changing any structure until you understand whether restructuring will address the root cause of any problems.
  • Creating structures that are too complex.  Don't over-engineer things.
  • Automate problem processes.  If the process is flawed, fix the process first.  Don't be tempted to automate a flawed process.
  • Make changes for change's sake.
  • Overestimate your team's capacity to absorb change.  Focus on a few vital priorities and make changes gradually if time permits.

Build your team

• A high performing team can create tremendous value.  Avoid the following common mistakes when creating your organizational plans;
  • Some leaders clean house too quickly, but it's more common to keep people on-board too long.
  • Not repairing the airplane.  Molding a team is like repairing a plane in mid-flight. You will not reach your destination if you ignore the necessary repairs.
  • Not holding on to good people. 
  • Starting team-building before the core team is in place.
  • Trying to do it all yourself.
• Assess your existing team.  During your first 30-60 days, assess who is who, who are the high performers, who are the sub-par performers.  Don't suppress these early impressions, but take a step back from them and take the time to make a more vigorous evaluation.
• If your success depends on the support of people outside your direct line of command, it's important to create coalitions to get things done.

I plan to keep most of this in mind as I embark upon my new role.  If you are entering a new leadership role, I would highly recommend reading The First 90 Days.  The guidance from this book has worked for me, and I hope it will work for you.