First Impressions
We’ve all experienced the power of first impressions, for better or for worse. For those taking on a new leadership role, that split second evaluation by your new team matters. As Daniel Kahneman, the Nobel Prize winner known for his work on the psychology of judgment and leadership decision making, said, “Your first impression of a thing sets up your subsequent beliefs.” It’s important to plan ahead for your first 90 days as a leader.

Your First 90 Days as a Leader
So, it behooves you to do all you can to make that first impression be a positive one that establishes the tone for you and your team as a leader. Here are some tips based upon data from our leadership simulations that will set you up for a successful launch.

  1. Create a 90-Day Plan with Your Boss
    Before you officially start in your role as a new people manager or new executive, invest the time with your boss to create a clear, believable, and implementable plan for your first 90 days. The expectations for your first three months should be crystal clear and make sense to you and your boss based upon the situation that you are inheriting.

    The plan should include clear goals and regular one-on-one meetings with your boss to track progress, ask questions, stay aligned, and make key decisions.

  2. Set 30-Day Milestones
    In a new role, especially when the stakes are high, it is easy to get pulled into many different directions and have 90 days go by faster than you thought. Make sure that you set clear, relevant, and compelling goals to be accomplished after each 30 days that strike the right cultural balance between results and relationships.

    When setting goals, do not underestimate the challenge you face transitioning into a new leadership role.   A recent International Institute for Management Development survey found that:

    — transitions into new roles are the most difficult times in leaders’ professional careers
    — performance in the first few months is a strong predictor of leadership success
    — it takes most new leaders more than six months to transition into their new role

  3. Build Trust on Your Team
    Too many new leaders try to make an impact right away by attempting dramatic changes without doing a thorough current state analysis, without getting to know their team, and without investing the time to build trust as a leader.

    While being decisive is a positive leadership trait, don’t upset your team and shrink your leadership influence by making ill-conceived changes that do not require immediate action. Instead, listen, watch, and learn.  Get to know your team and what makes them tick. Understand their levels of confidence and competence to succeed in their roles.  Understand how you can help them to succeed personally and professionally.

    As you earn the trust of your team, you can embark on major changes that you all support and implement together.  Without enough trust, suggested changes, questions, or ideas for improvement could be taken personally or interpreted as a challenge or criticism.

  4. Tune into the Company Culture
    Do not underestimate workplace or team culture. Our organizational alignment research found that culture accounts for 40% of the difference between high and low performing teams.  Your strategy as a leader must go through your culture to be successfully implemented.

    Assess the current organizational culture to understand the level of organizational and team health, how performance and accountability are managed and rewarded, and how work truly gets done on a day-to-day basis.

    If you do not deeply understand the workplace culture, suggested changes or ideas for improvement may not make sense in your environment.

  5. Celebrate, Learn, and Plan for the Future
    Summarize your accomplishments and lessons learned during your first 90 days. Celebrate meaningful accomplishments, create an individual development plan to close any identified skill or knowledge gaps, and set up meaningful goals for the next quarter.

The Bottom Line
You want to make your first 90 days as a leader count. The best advice from our Based upon data from our people manager assessment center data is to plan ahead, set up a schedule, get to know your team and the company culture, and move forward in measured steps.

To learn more about leadership attributes for new managers, download The Six Management Best Practices that Make the Difference Between Effective and Extraordinary

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