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The 90-Day Playbook: What New Leaders Should Do in Their First 30, 60, and 90 Days · Leading in Change

• Kellie Bourque: Change used to feel like a one-time event. Something you managed and led through, then came out the other side. But we are not living in that world anymore, and change is constant now. That means the job isn't leading through it, it's learning to lead in it. So how do you actually do that? That's what this show is all about. I'm Adrian, a partner and consultant at Success Labs, and this is the Leading in Change podcast. And every episode we dig into the real questions leaders are wrestling with right now. Everything from delegating effectively when the target keeps moving to managing your career in the age of AI. Topics are coming directly from our clients, listeners, and leaders just like you. If you want to lead your people well and manage effectively in the chaos, you're in the right place. Let's get to it. Hi, I'm Adrian. And I'm Melissa. And this is the Leading in Change podcast. And today we're talking about something we're really excited about. It's our new 90-day playbook for new leaders. But we're not just going to be talking about this product. What we're really going to be doing is talking about how do you set yourself up for success as a new leader in your role. So we're really excited to break down the very practical tools, tips, frameworks that we provide all of our clients in our coaching engagements and that you can have access to as well. ⁓ but before we get started, do you wanna do an icebreaker? Icebreaker, I have the cards again. Okay. So pick a card, any card. I'm nervous. I know. Ooh, okay. Okay, what is it? Is there such a thing as too much icing on a cake or cupcakes? No. No. Okay, tell me more. But it's because you have to have the right ⁓ formula or stack. So if it's a cupcake, ⁓ this is ⁓ our friend Jill told told me how to do this. You take the cupcake and you tear off the bottom of the cupcake and put it on top of the icing. So you have a cupcake sandwich. So then you don't get icing all over your face and it's the right ratio. ⁓ my gosh, you've just blown my mind. Okay, we have I love this. Now I've got to get a cupcake. Yes. ⁓ my gosh. That sounds evident. How would you answer that question? ⁓ I prefer pie. ⁓ of course you. You know, I like a cherry pie or a peach pie. I have a card for you. Let's also food related. We are very food motivated, this tracks. What food or dish most reminds you of home? ⁓ man, that's a good one. ⁓ I know this is dorky, but I always say, so people who know me know I'm a vegetarian, but I oftentimes like say my last meal will be a chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and white gravy. It's like such an Oklahoma dish. I absolutely love it. And then the other thing that was like always growing up, like food that we would eat was a big old Frito chili pie, like very spicy chili Frito chili pie with a cinnamon roll. That's such a random song. They go together so well though. Okay. Okay, what's yours? ⁓ so I grew up in Arkansas, but with with Louisiana roots. So any Louisiana dish is gonna make me feel like I'm home. But there I if I could do a food tour in the town that I grew up in, Cersei, Arkansas, I would want a hamburger casserole from Main Street Cafe. Yeah. It was the daily special. Yeah. And then I want a either lemon. Cookie or strawberry lemon cookie from the cookie basket. I don't even think the cookie baskets open anymore, but they were these iced like sugar cookies with really sweet tart ⁓ icing on top. They were so delicious. Yeah, so I'd want like a little bit of that. And then if we needed extra dessert, I would drive one town over to get a strawberry shortcake. Yes. I mean, I didn't say Brahms, but you know, I I talk about Brahms in uncomfortable amount. I really miss Brahms. It's the best. Yeah. ⁓ ice cream and dairy store. All right, let's go on a road trip. Okay. I'm I'm down. Let's do it. Perfect. ⁓ okay. So I wanna open up with some context on why we decided to have this conversation. So I will say, you know, we're here in Baton Rouge. We've seen a number of ⁓ new leaders come into roles and leave roles pretty quickly. And this is bearing out in the numbers as well. So quick stats 40 to 50 percent of new leaders are failing within 18 months right now. That's terrifying. It is. ⁓ and and this is understanding that most leaders take more than 90 days to get up to speed anyway. And so we put together kind of this playbook because we have certain clients that are willing to engage in a consulting framework that we call like launch success or executive assimilation or you know there's a bunch of ways that you can say it but what it really means is making sure that this new leader gets off on the right foot. And so I'm curious, you know, where have you seen this happening as well? You know, why do you think this is an important conversation to be having? I think it's important because it's It's gonna set the organization up for success, but it's also probably gonna make that new leader happier, more confident, ready to go. And you you you think about how much productivity is lost when someone goes to a job, doesn't like it, and then then leaves. This isn't it's more than onboarding. This is actually setting them up for success, making them feel more confident. I think it has to be there. Without it, I mean, you're it's just a waste of time. Or or they jump in too fast and Burn bridges before they've even b fully built them. Right. Yeah. I wanna jump into the all the ways that people like get it wrong off the bat, but it also costs a lot of money, right? It takes money to recruit talent, to bring them into your organization. And, you know, for them to spend, let's say they make it past the 90 days, they make it that, you know, 18 months, but then they f fail, they sell out, they leave, you know, they're they're not a fit, whatever the reason is. Oftentimes you can look back to they weren't set up for success in the beginning. Well, with that failure, what is for for you, what have you seen? What does that failure look like? I think you touched on it. I think it's a couple things. They either come in and are given the bad advice that you need to come in and guns blows heads, you know, flip tables, like whatever all these like very aggressive analogies are, right? Head make heads roll. That's what it is. Yeah. And and it's like, Sometimes maybe you're hired to do a cleanup job. Yeah. I have definitely worked with organizations that are hiring someone to come in and clean up, but the organiz you need to be upfront with that person in the beginning and manage your expectations that this is somebody who's gonna come in, do some hard things and likely leave there after because it is hard to come in guns blazing and maintain a longer tenure in the organization if it's not done at a slower pace, more thoughtfully. That's the what I I'd say like one of the most common mistakes and kind of bad pieces of advice I see. The other thing is I see a lot of people not identifying quick wins and getting into the game quickly enough and really spending too much time listening and learning, which is important. And we're gonna dig into that. Sure. But you've also got to show momentum and show success. So finding that balance, that Goldilocks zone as you always say, I think is the trick. What would you say to that? I would also say It this I think the reason why another reason why this conversation is so important is you hear people talk about how they get into the job and then they feel like it's a bait and switch. This is what you recruited me for, but now I'm doing something different. And I think having a playbook or having a guideline, a framework to move through can help the not only the employee, but the employer make sure that expectations are very clear. What does success look like now? three months from now, whatever that looks like. Yeah. And I think it could also, you're not just talking about how to get to know the team and and how, you know, assimilation, but it's also what does success look like for me in this role? Yeah. And I've got some examples later, but of of ways that people have gotten it right and gotten it wrong. But I can't wait to dig in. Okay, cool. So I think this is a perfect jumping off point. ⁓ but ⁓ let's run through all of the tools and frameworks that we put in the first one to thirty days of the roadmap. Okay. So we say that your first one to thirty days are really for listening and learning. Okay. And so in our roadmap we have a 90 day snapshot, which is your snapshot of what success looks like in your first 90 days. So this is exactly what you were talking about, Melissa, is how do you have a conversation with the leaders in your organization to understand what their expectations are in terms of your success and what are you there to do a cleanup job? Are you there to ⁓ Listen and learn first. Are you there to drive some organizational goal? Like you need to be very clear on what that looks like. ⁓ number two is the communication style guide, which we can talk about here in a minute. But this is again a tool that helps you understand how do you communicate and how do you let your team know how you communicate and then how do you learn the communication styles of your team? It's a stakeholder relationship map. So ⁓ How do you map the relationships that are going to be critical to your success? Who are going to be your partners in your work and who's going to set you up for success on the job? And then two tools that kind of go together really well a one on one agenda template and a listen and learn question bank. And so that question bank is really for all of those kind of ⁓ interviews that you want to do early on to get to understand the landscape and work through your stakeholder map. And then that agenda template is for one on ones, not just with your team, but with your people leader. Yeah. And so I I would love to know if you could get every new leader to ask one question, you know, week one, what would you ask what would you tell them to do? Only one? ⁓ gosh, I could think of dozens. Can I share a personal example? Please the best question I've ever had when it was someone else's first 90 days and they were ⁓ moved from my peer to my leader. They had ⁓ first off, they said, I want to have a conversation with you. This could be awkward. We were peers and now I'm your direct you're now my director, I'm your supervisor. So let's just like talk about the elephant in the room. And I loved that. I love that like instead of just Having it be over there, something only I think about, we just put it all out on the table. And the question she asked me was, in what ways do you like to receive feedback? Mm-hmm. I've never been asked that. How many episodes or workshops or one-on-one conversations have we had to tell to help people give better feedback? And no one has ever asked me, in what ways would you like to receive feedback? Yeah. And it was a game changer of a question. And so I think it was she knew me as a A peer, a friend, even. And we talk we need to talk differently now. We we can't have the same relationship. And so we've we've got to adjust. And the fact that she wanted to have that conversation with me told me that she respected me and it made me respect her even more. And then to ask questions to get to know me in a new way. And I think that's important when somebody is promoted. There's also the scenario of like just a new leader. Yes. That's why I said I don't know that I can ask just one question. I can think of dozens of questions because you have to ask so many questions. Your job is to get to know people and to listen as much as humanly possible. That's right. I think it is different if you're internal versus external. Right. But one question that whenever I've stepped into new roles, be it a new organization or within the same organization, I ask people to tell me, How does my job help you do your job better? Love that. So then It's articul it's helping me understand what are the levers I need to be pulling to set this person up for success. Helps me understand what did they prioritize and what are their goals. And it automatically orients me in a position of partnership with them, which I think just sets everything up on the right foot. And then I also oftentimes just learn some useful information. Like I remember one time I was doing this when I'd stepped into a business analyst role, which was an individual contributor role. I wasn't even in a management position, but I was working kind of parallel. To all these other leaders in the team. And I learned that this, you know, my role could help really improve the reporting to the president's office. And so me understanding that the ripple effect of, you know, how I carried myself in this position would be going straight to the top. I was like, ⁓ okay. Thank you so much for sharing that with me because nobody else had said that. Yeah. So let's talk about that 90-day snapshot. Yes. You you started off by saying that people need to take the time to understand what success looks like, make sure they're not having a bait and switch. So how would you coach somebody through that conversation? Or what are some of the questions that you would ask? Yeah, I'm actually having this conversation right after we finish recording this with a new leader. ⁓ it's basically asking the supervisor, what does success look like in the next 30 days? And then in the next after that. So at the 60-day mark and then at the 90-day mark. And getting as specific as humanly possible. Don't just say, ⁓ get to know your people. It's like, no, you need to go have conversations with this person, this person, this person. It does not need to be having a beer or just kind of shooting the stuff like in between, like in between meetings. Have a sit-down, put it on your calendar, value it, respect it, whatever. So be as super specific as possible. ⁓ so that's the first thirty days. What does success look like in the first thirty days? Tell me exactly what you want me to accomplish and to have a back and forth. I think that that's where the leader, the new leader could also have some ideas and say, What if I did this? Because that other person, your supervisor, is likely gonna understand the context and culture that you're stepping into. So I think that's helpful. It needs to be a back and forth in a conversation, not just a directive. Absolutely. I totally agree with that. What what about you? You know One question that I think is so important to ask early on that if you do, it prevents you from getting sideways with people quickly is what decisions do I own versus what decisions do you own? Where does decision making authority lie? What do I have permission to go out and carry out? And what do I need to come back and check in with you on? Or what do I need to get pure consensus before moving on? So that kind of clarity around decision rights, I think is critical for not just the stepping in it. down the line. Yeah. And I think the tendency there, if the supervisor has not thought through that yet, you might want to give him some time to think through it because I would imagine a supervisor that's a not caught off guard, but like just kind of surprised by that question, might say, ⁓ you'll know, you'll figure it out. No, this is not a guessing game. Tell me exactly what that looks like. Yeah. Now you can't ⁓ account for everything. I get that, but there are some things that you know of that you can make decisions on without seeking permission or insight or help from somebody else. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's right. ⁓ the last thing I would say on this is ⁓ just like w this is gonna easily toggle into the communication style guide. So clarifying how you like to be communicated with, I always like to ask my people leader, how do you want to be kept informed? Do you want a written update at the end of the week? Do you want to catch up in our one-on-ones? Do you want me to send you some bullet points in terms of accomplishments? You know, Understanding how they want to be kept apprised of the progress that you're making, the challenges that you're having, where you need their support. Not every you know, making the assumption that everybody wants that in a one-on-one is not always the case, especially as you move up in organizations and you get less access to your people leadership, right? And they're busier. getting really clear on how they operate, I think is important. Yeah. And for seasoned leaders who are stepping into a new new leadership role. Wh where you might have to do a little bit of an ego check with that. ⁓ so because if you s if they say, Copy me on everything for now, that's not micromanagey. That is let me make sure that you have the right context, that you're connecting with the right people. It's a little bit more hands on in those first thirty days and maybe even into the the next thirty days ⁓ before sixty. But I I think it's ⁓ We have we might have a tendency to be like, wow, you really want to be kept in the loop on every single thing. It's just in the beginning to make sure that you're doing it the right way and have the right resources and the barriers are removed. Yeah. So just check the ego there as a little extra. That's great advice. I think that's great advice. ⁓ okay, let's talk about the other things that ⁓ we explore in a communication style guide. So we've talked about checking in and understanding what success looks like. Part of that being understanding how your people leader wants to communicate with you. What kinds of things do you need to share with your team about how you communicate? And what kinds of things do you need to get from your boss about how they communicate? Yeah. I think ⁓ this kind of leads into some conversations around boundaries too. ⁓ so I'd be very explicit. I am probably going to communicate with you at random times, day or night. I'm not expecting response if it's after hours. Like just setting up some ground rules and ⁓ making sure that people understand. You can you're welcome to call or text if you need me quick access. But for anything where we're making decisions, let's put it in writing, let's put it in an email just so we can remember it or be able to call it back the next time we have to make this decision. So just having some communication ground rules, I think, are really great. And it doesn't need to just be one way, it needs to be two way. How do you want to be communicated with? That's right. ⁓ so I think just some clear expectations around that would be helpful. What about you? I think that's great advice. I love that. ⁓ especially the Let's keep these things in writing. Like I tend to forget that all the time. And I I also like the communicating of boundaries. I think that you've got to do it early and you've got to do it often. And it's not a bad thing, right? So I like to be offline from like 6 to 8:30 p.m. It's just like the time that I'm catching up with my husband and I'm working out and I'm doing the things that I want to do after work. And I make that boundary pretty explicit of like I'm not going to be responsive during this period of time. Same with early morning. I like to have my mornings to myself. So you know, like I've said, I really try not to put memes on my calendar before 8 30 because I want to have time to ease into my day the way that I like to. And so communicating that up front sh to me says that you are a leader who understands how to make yourself work your best. And that's all part of that picture. Now, obviously, you have to understand your organizational context. Right. Some orgs may not be completely open to that, but I would encourage you to have that conversation early. And it's i it's critical to have it early because when you have it early, it's preventative. And then you can remind people if they overstep that boundary. But if they majorly overstep that boundary well into the relationship, it feels punitive. Yeah. So have it beforehand. That's great advice. The other thing that ⁓ I remember when Devin gave me the Communication framework when I first started. I really liked it and I realized it was very much oriented around MBTI, which I think is really cool. So it asks questions around ⁓ do you make decisions with your head or your heart? And you know, you can kind of check them off just to get a sense of that. And then do you like things organized, structured, and planned, or do you like them flexible and spontaneous? Right. And so when I look at at the flexible and spontaneous checkbox, I was like all on that side, right? But I know you are somebody that likes planned and organized. And so understanding how not only you operate for that self-awareness, but you know, how your team operates and then your people leader operate, I think that's gonna help you again meet expectations in a in a more effective way. And set the expectations. Yeah. Yeah. And model it for the rest of the team. Yeah, love that. Okay. let's go on to stakeholder map. So I'm gonna say this one through thirty. Days one through thirty are kind of the most intensive, right? Because you're just trying to gain information. so I I I wanna, you know, temper not every ⁓ kind of segment of this has so many ⁓ resources and tools, but you've really got to hit the ground running in days one through thirty. So we talk about stakeholder mapping. What is that? Stakeholder mapping is basically what it sounds like. You are literally gonna map out right down who are the people that you need to have relationships with. What does that relationship need to look like? What kinds of questions? How do you want to get to know them? And what medium do you want to do that? Is it over lunch or over coffee or is it just ⁓ a little bit more informal? You actually map it out. And this is an activity that I actually engage in because so much of our job is built around relationships and business development. I actually do this like once a month. This is not just a when you're first starting. It's it's a great way to kind of audit who do I need to build relationships with, where I might let a relationship slip. And what am I gonna do about it to actually pull that person back in? Because it's I've said this before and I'll say it again. I need to tattoo it on my forehead. You've got to build the relationship. Build the relationship before you need it. Yeah. And stakeholder mapping is a great way to give you a visual of what you need to do and when you need to do it and how you need to do it. Yeah. I like that. Yeah. One of the things I really love about stakeholder relationship mapping, I'm so I tend to get so ⁓ practical with it. I would always take the time to map out whose work is impacted by my team's work, whose work impacts my team's work. And understanding those kind of reciprocal relationships within the organization were kind of critical. So I knew, okay, my team has to deliver to set this other team up for success. And so I know I'm gonna make a really good friend or a really bad enemy, depending on how my team performs in delivering on that. Yeah. Right. I I think it's the same way around understanding influence, how decisions are made. Yes. Right. So who has influence over your career is the way that I think about it. How are decisions made in the organization? And so this is where some of that political savvy comes in, right? It's a yes, it you're speaking what's in my brain. Keep You gotta say what's in your brain. Yeah. Well the It's the political savvy is people are always like, Are you talking about politics? No, it's the internal, sometimes unspoken structures that are inside of an organization. It's knowing who to talk to about what, when. So it could be as simple as don't go ask this person for a favor until they've had their second cup of coffee because they're kind of a bear in the morning. Yeah. But it's also don't say this in front of this person because they're gonna get defensive in a meeting and ⁓ you need to you need to have a butter them up. Because they're gonna they they hold the purse strings or they literally hold the keys to the supply closet. Yeah. Right. And I think that's a really important thing. And you can look at the types of influence. I always say, so Tamara, our business manager, I think is one of the most influential people in our organization. And I have a very quick story to like illustrate this, but there was a day where I was having to give I was getting to give a presentation, and the organizers of the workshop said, called me like an hour before and said, Hey. Really sorry to get tell you this, but we wanted to tell you before you got here, our A V is not working. And I was like, I created a beautiful PowerPoint and you're not gonna be able to see it. What am I gonna do? So I created very quickly, just took my slides and created a handout. And I was like, I'll run by the office and print it on my way to the workshop. I don't know if you know this, but technology, particularly printers, they can smell fear. Yeah. And so when you actually need something to print, it won't print. Yeah. And it didn't. I said, Tamara, what am I gonna do? And she goes, I got it. She made one phone call and said, Here's the address. I'll text it to you so you can put it in Google Maps. Drive. And I was like, Okay. Yeah. She I drove to the place. It was our our copy place where we make big copies. They had stopped the big job that they were doing to print my 100 handouts. Yeah. And They he literally was waiting in the parking lot and said, Here you go. She's already paid for it. ⁓ I love that. And I got to be at the workshop on time and still have my handout of the slides that I wanted to be able to show people. And to me, that is a level of influence that you have got to build a relationship with that person because you're gonna need something at some point. Yeah. They're gonna you want to have a good relationship. So they say yes when you need that favor, but you can't do that unless you take time to understand the lay of the land, who has influence, who can help me. And let me preemptively and proactively build this relationship before I even have to ask for a favor. Yeah, I love that. I think that's a great example. And what it's also ⁓ reinforces is something that I learned working in a large bureaucratic institution, which is power is not always positional. So some of the most important people in the organization, the people that you needed to most sway and have influence with were the admins, you know, the executive assistants, ⁓ project managers. you know, the people who kind of like were the gatekeepers were the most important people to have sway and influence with. It didn't matter how great your relationship was with the provost. The provost understood the pecking order and was never gonna take a meeting that wasn't approved by her admin or whatever. Absolutely. Yeah. I love that. Okay. And then the last two things are the one-on-one template and the listen and learn question bank. So Talk to me about how you encourage people to go do that kind of listening tour when in your first 30 days in a new gig. Yeah. So I would tell people to actually plan for it. Like you can't just on a whim, ⁓ it's your day. Let's have a chat. Let me ask you these three questions. ⁓ though I would say having an agenda is helpful. Write down some things that you definitely want to ask and ask somebody else, hey, what do I need to know before I go into this meeting? What's that context? ⁓ and then actually map out who you want to have those meetings with, set them on your calendar and don't skip them. Yeah. Nothing will break somebody's confidence in you faster than if you blow them off with a meeting, with skipping a meeting. Or showing up late or being frazzled and clearly stressed. Absolutely. Give yourself time. And then so have the questions that you want to ask. And I think some of those questions are ⁓ what do you really enjoy about your job? What are the things that bog you down? What are the resources that you need to be able to do more or more effectively do your job? What are the barriers that I could help remove or just need to know about that we might not be able to remove, but I need to know about? ⁓ what are in what ways do you like to receive feedback? In what ways do you like to receive praise? What's your favorite? What's the the thing that you're most proud of that you've done at this company so far? What's something that you would love to accomplish in the future? Where do you see yourself in the future? What experiences do you need to have to get ready for whatever's coming in the future? Like those are some of the questions that I would ask. And I and I would write them down so you don't forget. Yeah. And you basically, yeah, you go on this little listening tour and have all of this data and then keep it and then use it the next time you go to meet with that person. You can't just, it's not a one and done. You've got to store it and actually then use it. I think that's exactly right. I like also using ⁓ the same questions consistently over multiple conversations. So that way you can look for trends and patterns in that ⁓ kind of anecdotal data. Yeah. You know, if you hear a lot of people. So much of my experience is is from like the technical ⁓ side, but I would hear lots of people talking about how they couldn't get accurate ⁓ pulls of their portfolios. And so that what that said to me is I knew they needed portfolios to be successful in doing their job. And so and they weren't able to get that information. So that was a I a quick win. I said, okay, if I can figure out how to do this, I know that's gonna make all of these people happy. So if I hadn't asked that same question kind of across the board, I may not have realized the impact that this one move could have could have made. Absolutely. And if you're stuck for questions, we'll look at the question bank because we've got some good starters. We've got some great starters. Yeah. Let's talk about days thirty to sixty. Okay. So that kind of this is where I feel like people start to feel like they're in the quagmire. It's like, where did those thirty days go? Yep. I'm in the thick of it. I'm now in eight meetings a day. Uh-huh. And now everybody wants everything from me. I've gone on my listening tour. Now they realize there's somebody here to solve their problems, but I have no bandwidth and I'm still drinking from a fire hose. Okay. So we call this phase assess and align. ⁓ and there's kind of two tools that we give new leaders for this phase because they've got like a solid foundation, but they need to kind of broaden their aperture. And so the two tools that we give them are. A SWAT, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats framework, and then a SLEP survey or an environmental scan. So looking inside your organization or looking at your own team, and then looking outside your organization to understand the external environment. ⁓ So before we dig into what each of those things are, I'd love to hear you share like how do you contextualize this to people once they've kind of gone on the listening tour and they've Done all the kind of communicating and you think they really understand how what mindset should they be in to pivot to this next phase? Yeah, I think the assumption is that after the first 30 days, you need to drill down what are the tasks right in front of you. And it it feels that feels right. Like I need to get busy, I need to do the job. But I think that this what we're advocating for and what we think is best practice is actually to zoom out. Yeah. Not to zoom in to the things that you need to do, but to zoom out. So this gives you more, after you've been there a little bit while a little while, you st you need to better understand what is this team, the the the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. What what do I need to understand about this team? What do I need to understand about this organization? I think it's also a really good time, depending on the level of leader you are on the org chart, ⁓ understanding what the your boss or your boss's boss, what their vision is for the organization over the next couple of years, and how your team rolls up into that. I think that's important. But the tendency, I think, the the mistake that people make is they start to get busy instead of it. This is still a time to like think bigger picture, look look at the broader landscape, zoom out. Yeah. One of the ways that I always think about this is you've been information gathering in your first one to thirty. And then like thirty to sixty needs to be like sense making. Like you're making sense of everything you've gathered, right? And Doing those internal and external scans, I think, are part of that, exactly like you said. So we advocate for doing a SWAT of your internal team. And you can do this anytime. You don't have to have like a fancy retreat or have a consultant come in to do it, but it's really taking a critical eye at what are we doing really well? You should know that by now. And if you don't, then that tells you where you need to go look. ⁓ where are we kind of weak? Where are we under delivering? Where are we underperforming? Where's their opportunity for improvement or opportunity outside of our department to get wins, to add value, create value? And then, where are the threats? Like who in the organization could hinder our success, my success? ⁓ where are their new initiatives maybe that could take resources away or take time away or derail us from achieving our goals? Absolutely. Get taking the time to kind of organize your thoughts on all of those things. And then the environmental scan, ⁓ we use the acronym slept with an extra E sometimes. So ⁓ sociological, legal, environmental, economic and and or and or economic, ⁓ political, and technological. Absolutely. And so, how are each of those kind of different areas impacting not only your team's work, but the organization as a whole? And thinking about how Those external factors may shift the way that you all work and operate. Right. And that may take asking more questions and not having assumptions about what the strengths, weaknesses, or economic or environmental threat, you know, threats are. I think that's that's an important thing to still be on a fact-finding mission. Yeah. So I'm curious, where do you see people making mistakes at this stage of the game? I think, well, number one, it's that they start doing the work rather. Like they're busy. They get in the weeds, number one. And number two is that they make assumptions about the things and they're not asking questions with their analysis, whether it's a SWOT analysis or a slept analysis or environmental scan. And I think that ⁓ there there's also an opportunity there to with those assumptions, you then start to have biases that creep in. And I think that's important to just try to stay as neutral as possible, not making assumptions. Yeah. I think that's great. So Talk about, you know, we haven't really ⁓ talked about getting early wins. Yeah, I've we've made a few references to it, but one of the things that I really advise my clients to do and have tried to do myself at this stage is identify those quick wins, you know, the low hanging fruit. ⁓ so do you have any examples of where you've seen this done well? I was actually gonna ask you that. What are what are because you I feel like you are good at that. What did you do like when you joined our team a couple of years ago? I mean One of the first things I did is I said, We're not using a lot of we keep making new things instead of kind of templating things. We needed to update our brand. I was like, it would be a really quick win to make our website look better. Yeah. You know, ⁓ and give people better information about what we're doing. yeah. I mean, ⁓ I feel like I had a lot of things that I came in and just said, What if we did this? And it was just nobody had had the time to look up. Exactly. And and All of it was obvious, you know. Okay. So, but let me ask you, this is a I think a struggle. There's this ⁓ desire to create a quick win, but there's also the tendency to potenti I don't want to say overstep, but just like ⁓ I'm feathers. So how do you balance that as a new leader where you're like We could update the website and this would be a quick win. It's, you know, there is there is an investment of time and money, but also this could better tell the story of what we do. Yeah. But also it's like, well, we liked our old website. I did. Yeah. I did. I did it's fine. Yeah, yeah. The new one is great. But like to make a bunch of changes in the first 90 days could have been alienating or potentially even ⁓ you could irritate people or piss people off. So this is where I say leverage data. Okay. You know, so number one, using those listening conversations, what I kind of heard and saw was we knew it could be better. You know, and there was some consensus around that. What better looked like there wasn't necessarily a vision for. ⁓ and it felt insurmountable, right? Number two, what I would say is again, looking at any kind of external data. So, ⁓ this is what is best practice. This is what, you know, showing what peers are doing. ⁓ Coming in and having some examples and really some foundational logic for why you're suggesting what you're suggesting, I think are really good first steps. You know, I there's an organization I was working with where I stepped in as board chair and I immediately wanted to change some things. And I knew it was gonna upset the Apple cart a little bit. But what I leaned on was look, this is what our bylaws say. We're actually not upholding them. This is what I'm hearing from our other board members. I did a board survey because I knew everybody was saying this to me on the side, but it had never been made explicit to the executive director. So I was able to come in and say, look, you know, everybody agrees we need to meet less frequently and have more impactful meetings. And so by having some kind of data to back up my suggestions, it was a lot easier to receive and make those changes. Yeah. I have a question. You're doing this fact finding, you're doing all the right things, you are having all the right conversations, you're doing the SWOT analysis, what you know, whatever, and you're getting the quick wins. How do you know when it's time to actually like just do the work? Like instead of asking more questions or like making suggestions, like when is do you think that there is a time that feels right that to just start actually doing the job? I mean I would say as soon as you find a win that you think you could easily implement and there's not barriers or roadblocks, like just do it. You know, like just do the thing and do it yourself. And I'm I'm an ask forgiveness, not permission kind of person. Yes. I'll give and you know, and it like honestly it's behoofed me for most of my career. Yeah. So I'll give an example. When I was in one organization, I saw that they had no case studies on the website. And case studies are really critical to gaining work. And I kind of was asking around trying to figure out where the case studies were, what was happening with it. They'd just been bogged down in the bureaucracy of the organization. So I just took it upon myself to go gather information to write them, got you know, was it perfect? No, but was it something? Yes. ⁓ basically put together a template, found somebody on Fiverr to help get them all added to the website because I didn't know how to operate the website. And, ⁓ You know, was able to get what is a pretty quick win in I did it in my after hours. You know, it was kind of stressful to get it all done, but I knew that I personally, it was something I could personally move forward and push and that it would be really beneficial to the sales team. So that's kind of an example of I think it did pay off for me because everybody was really excited, you know, and and it delivered something and it was something that I personally could drive. I didn't have to rely on other people. Like that's the kind of thing that I look for. High impact, maybe not low effort, but it only requires individual effort. That to me is a good early win of something you can just go knock out yourself. That's great. I love that. Mm-hmm. Cool. Okay, good. ⁓ so let's talk about is there anything else you want to say for that 30 to 60 day period, the kind of assess and align? I think I think we covered it. Okay. Yeah. Use the tools. Yeah. So then moving into ⁓ that final stretch, that 60 to 90 days. ⁓ we s call that act and build. So you need to be taking action and you need to be building ⁓ the foundation for your future success. And so some of the tools that we added to this part of the toolkit of the of the playbook are a quick wins framework. So if you are not sure how to identify quick wins, we have a great tip sheet to help you do that. And then a 90-day reflection and action plan. So At that, as you near those 90 days, looking back and saying, what have I done? ⁓ what am I proud to have done? And doing it before you hit that 90 day mark. So that way you know, okay, I need to kind of pick up the pace because I don't want to get to 90 days and not have done anything. And then we talk about ⁓ the acronym I've shared on here before, PI, the projects that are impactful, your image. So that executive presence that you're bringing to the table and opportunities for exposure is the E, ⁓ opportunities to show people. The impact of your projects, your professional image, ⁓ and exposure to the right influential people that you've mapped in your stakeholder map earlier. I love that. In the ⁓ situation. So ⁓ tell me, wh where do people what do people usually go get wrong at this stage of the game? That's a really great one. I think that one thing, it's not that they get it wrong, it's just that they don't do it. I don't think people stop and reflect enough. There's this assumption that you have to show that you're busy. And that you're doing the job. And I think that it's a missed opportunity to not stop every once in a while and reflect. What did I do? What did I learn? What do I what do I want to learn coming up? And then to take that to the team, whether that's your direct reports or your supervisor or both. Because I think that's a healthy thing to have a conversation around. You want to model that with your own team, but also it's not a bragging session for you to go to your boss and say, Look what I did. It's more about these are the things that I've learned and these are the things that I've started to do. What else might I be missing? Because they can just like you were trying to identify barriers that you could remove for your team or resources that you could provide to make them more successful. Your boss is wanting to do that as well. So I think having that two-way conversation around that reflection is often a missed opportunity. And I think it's too important to skip. I love that. I I totally agree. I think reflection is difficult for growth. I want I'm sorry, I want to hear more about pie because every time you talk about this, I think it's like. Such a simple yet revolutionary concept. Yeah. Okay. So and help me. I put a ping pong, a mental ping pong ball over here around where I like as you were talking, I thought of ways that people get this kind of stage of the game wrong. So we can come back to that. Okay. I'll so I'll talk about pie. So Pi, the P projects. ⁓ Pi is an acronym, P for projects. So you want to take on work. That is impacting the bottom line of the organization or the strategic goals of the organization that is going to be something that really matters to the people at the top and the decision makers. So, one of the things that I tell people that are like in my care, you know, and under my leadership, I always say, I want you to have one thing on your ⁓ resume, one bullet added to your resume every single year that is something that is impactful and quantifiable. And so those are the kinds of things like a resume bullet. Pipe project is what I mean by the P and Pi. So for me, it might have been leading a s total database revitalization or ⁓ doing an entire audit of our scholarship reporting or ⁓ you know, implementing a new software. Like it it's a single finite thing that you can quantify added X amount to the pipeline in new business. you know, whatever that quantifiable number is, ⁓ that project that you're working on, that's the P. ⁓ the I is your image. So we we're just talking about a client that we both have had exposure to who is wicked smart, she's technically capable, she is a honestly a great team leader. Her image is working against her. And it's not just ⁓ the physical, right? Like some questionable clothing choices, some questionable makeup choices that are distracting, right? Like when I say questionable makeup choices, I mean you don't want things that are gonna distract people from the things that you're great at. Right. But it's also how you show up in a presentation. Are you cool, calm, composed? Do you feel ⁓ both natural and like you have high feel? facility with the material? Do you understand it well? Do you have a firm grasp of the knowledge? ⁓ are you funny? Do you have, you know, your own kind of swagger? You know, what's your personality? What makes you uniquely you? Kind of what's your unique value proposition? All of that goes into the overall image that you're cultivating. This extends to online. I've had plenty of people who have done damage to their professional careers because of the stuff that they post on social. So it's like having the situational awareness about that. And then exposure are those opportunities to demonstrate your projects and your image to people that are influential in the organization. So I'll give a perfect example. When I was ⁓ in one role, I was responsible for building out this whole ⁓ new method for identifying prospects and particularly identifying high capacity prospects and then putting together plans to hit revenue goals based off of that. I had to go and present this to the board. So that was a what I would call a pie moment. So I was taking my project. I had to put together a great looking slide deck. I had to make sure I was dressed appropriately. I made sure to practice and rehearse. I thought ahead of what kinds of questions I was going to be asked and prepared with answers. And I nailed it. And that gave me not only the confidence that I needed to keep marching forward in my role. It got me a lot of buy-in. I made a win for my boss. I made a win for our CEO. I got the board interested and excited in the work I was doing. So spoiler, they brought me back to the next board meeting because they wanted to ask follow ups, they wanted to see how things were going. I understood how to align the work that my team was doing to the things that I knew the board cared about. I knew the b the board ultimately were the people who had the most influence in the organization. Right. And so understanding again, going back to those first one to thirty days, who really has influence in the organization. My ping pong ball over here. It says come full circle. Yes. The place that I see people getting it wrong at this 60 to 90 days is they solve what's easy or squeaky instead of what's strategic. So they go with the person who's making the most noise or the ⁓ problem that's the easiest and quickest to solve, but not paying enough attention to the things that are going to be the most strategic, the most impactful, ⁓ and really. Focused on the bottom line or the goals of the organization and positioning themselves as a leader rather than a helper. Yeah. A helper is great, but it's not gonna get you as far as positioning yourself as a leader is going to. Right. And so understanding that difference. And that that strategic problem that you're helping to solve, those are the big scary ones, right? But those are also the ones that are gonna make it's a game changer for how the team operates. It's a game changer for. how much respect and influence you're able to build inside the organization. Yeah. No, you that's good. ⁓ okay. So what's an example of a small early win that you have seen a client do when they are ⁓ new to a role leading in an organization? The a quick win that I have seen is they go on, they take, they go on a listening tour. It's pretty simple, but they just go and listen and meet people. The other thing I will tell you, I watched this leader one time. ⁓ I was actually embarrassed at my lack of quick win because we started not far apart. Like he started maybe six months after me. And we both worked in this one location. And I went on, like, I don't know what we were doing. We were going to a meeting or we were walking to lunch. I don't know what we were doing. But we were walking through the building and he said hi to everyone that we passed and knew their name. This was the janitor, the CEO, and everybody in between, right? On the org chart. And I remember being like, I have worked here six months longer than him and I don't know these people's names. This is embarrassing. Yeah. And so I think that's a quick win. I know that that that sounds like but he was able, like when he needed something, they knew him by name. And he could he he just was able to navigate that organization so much easier and so much faster than I was because he took the time to get to know the people. Yeah. That's that political savvy. Yeah. I mean, that is So I I learned that lesson from him. Thanks, Trey. Appreciate you. I love that. Okay. So let's ⁓ wrap us up. ⁓ so let's say somebody's listening to this and they're already past their 90 days and they're like, man, I really botched that. I wish I would have done things differently. I wish I would have had this 40 days ago. What would you say to them? Catch back up. Okay, so what do you do? Get back in. Like you've probably already built some relationships. Let's do a little bit of reflection because you you hadn't been doing nothing the past 40 days. So let's like take stock of what you have done. What relationships are there that are great? What relationships do you need to keep building? What else do you need to learn and know? And you could catch back up pretty quickly. ⁓ I it's always best to like start this on day zero, right? Or even the the days in between when you accepted the job and you start the job. But ⁓ you could always catch back up. So just do an audit for yourself. Yeah, I love that. Yeah. What advice would you give? I would say look at where you're spending your time. And what advice would you give yourself from the outside looking in? Yeah. And oftentimes we know and we just put our head in the sand about it, you know? I would say, ⁓ is your work directly aligned with the goals of the organization? Is how you're spending your time reflective of the things that the organization values most? Yeah. And when I say values most, it's what do they reward? ⁓ what do they celebrate? What do they espouse as important? And hopefully all those things are aligned. And if they're not, you need to, you know, suss out and understand are you doing low value work or are you doing high value work? And that's the easiest way to get back on track is shifting your focus from low value work to high value work. If you you had somebody that you were coaching that is starting at day zero, what's one piece of advice that you would give them? Like The f the your favorite piece of advice. Go buy our 90 day playbook. I know that's like I'm serious though. Like I would probably say you need to take a look at this because it's all of the tools and resources that you need to be successful. I know that's a cheeky answer. So I'll give a a not cheeky answer. ⁓ what I would say is set boundaries early. I really feel strongly about this. Understand how you communicate and how you want to be communicated with, share that out and set clear boundaries around what that looks like in from a position of confidence and from a framework of productivity and effectiveness. To do my best work, I need to have mornings for reflection and ⁓ taking care of my physical body. You know, that's when I like to do my Tai Chi or workout or whatever. So giving yourself saying, I know this is what it takes for me to be successful. This is why I'm gonna have this boundary here. And Sometimes it's okay if it's broken, but for the most part, this is why you're not gonna see me before nine o'clock or whatever. Yeah. I think that's really important and it sets you up as somebody who's just cool, calm, confident, sure of themselves. You just can't be crazy with it, you know, be realistic. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. What would you say? ⁓ it's actually two pieces of advice. I would first say get to know everybody you can. Yeah. Like build relationships. I mean, that's great advice. Yeah. Like a number one. Like, but I've already said that 10 times. The other thing I would say is don't Be tempted to do everything all at once or to be so overwhelmed that you don't do anything. And so again, it's kind of that Goldilocks. I've been saying Goldilocks a lot lately, but like kind of be in the middle. Like do the work, make progress, but don't think that you have to do everything in your first week. Also don't not take advantage of these 90 days. You've only you get to wear the badge of honor of being the new girl or the new guy for a couple of months. And in either a couple of months or until the next person joins. Use that as like a hey, I don't know how to do this or I don't know who to talk to. Use that. Don't like take advantage of the time. I love that. Very cool. Yeah. Okay. Anything else that we need to cover? No, but where where would I where would I get this playbook? We're going to put the link to it in our show notes. And if you found this conversation helpful and you would like some more hands-on support, please reach out to us. And if you enjoyed the podcast, please like, follow, share. ⁓ subscribe, leave a comment, all the things we would be truly grateful. And we'd love to hear from you ⁓ what has worked for you in your first ninety days. Thank you all for tuning in. If this conversation was useful to you, the best thing you can do is share it with someone who might use it. Leave us a review, and please subscribe wherever you're listening. You can learn more about our work at Success Labs and connect with us at SuccessLabs.com. We're on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. Just search for Success Labs. We'd love to hear from you. Until next time, keep leading well.