A friend recently accepted a senior leadership position in an established organization. She asked for my suggestions on how to “put her best foot forward” in her new job.
Anytime you start a new role there is a learning curve. No matter if you’ve been in an agency or municipality for a decade or more, every department has its own rhythm, pace, and norms.
My 90-day plan enables a new leader to
1) learn the organization’s perception of it’s purpose and strategy,
2) clarify desired expectations for all players, and
3) align plans, decisions, and actions to best serve customers, stakeholders, and staff.
Your First 30 Days’ Focus: LEARN
The first phase is one of observation. Resist the urge to “fix things” immediately. The new leader needs to spend time gathering data, through written documents, informal networking, and interviews, to best understand the team’s or department’s current purpose, values, strategy, and goals.
The leader needs to understand the organization’s current structure, what team members believe the organization’s internal and external customers need, what your customer’s actual needs are, and how well those needs are being met.
The leader must understand the details of the organization finances. Neutral, factual data help highlight the current operation’s strengths and opportunities.
The leader needs to learn about their team leaders and team members – roles and responsibilities, their passions and skills, and even their social styles. Finally, the leader needs to share their leadership philosophy with their team: their leadership purpose, their expectations of others, what others can expect of them.
Your Second 30 Days’ Focus: CLARIFY
Days 31-60 require that the leader put clear expectations into place. Expectations may be refinements and clarification of existing plans or they may be specific expectations of new objectives and valued behaviors. The leader must describe not only WHAT targets are important but also HOW team members are expected to treat others as they work to deliver those targets.
The best framework for clarifying expectations is an organizational constitution, which outlines the team’s purpose, values and behaviors, strategies, and goals. Valued behaviors define what a “good citizen” looks, sounds, and acts like in the organization. The leader shares all these with team members and secures team member commitment to them. Plans, decisions, and actions that serve the organization’s purpose, values, strategies, and goals are embraced; those that don’t are set aside.
The leader must then engage team members in discussions to gain agreement about their individual goals and standards, and specify accountability systems to ensure goal delivery by every player as well as values-alignment in every interaction.
Your Third 30 Days’ Focus: ALIGN
The final phase of my recommended 90-day plan requires the leader to align every plan, decision, and action to the team’s organizational constitution. True accountability means the leader utilizes a combination of positive consequences and negative consequences to maintain traction towards desired outcomes and citizenship by all team members.
Positive consequences include praising progress as well as accomplishment, honoring teamwork and cooperation, delegating earned authority and responsibility, and increasing trust of a team member’s independent action.
When the “playing field” is well-defined (purpose, values, strategy, and goals are clear) and team members feel trusted, honored, and respected, they apply their skills willingly to move the team forward, serve customers well, solve problems independently, and more.
Negative consequences include clarifying goal standards, redirecting to ensure the team member understands how the work is to be completed, reinforcing valued behaviors, and, when necessary where talented team members do not apply skills, reprimanding to clarify expectations and deadlines.
NOTE: never reprimand a learner – if a team member hasn’t demonstrated required skills, the leader needs to be in “skill building/coaching” mode.
If, after coaching, a team member is still unable to perform to standard or to behave according to the organization’s valued behaviors, progressive discipline is in order. If that doesn’t align behavior, lovingly set the team member free (from employment with your organization).
Following these three keys over 90 days will enable many leaders to increase clarity, align activities, and create discretionary energy in their organization.
What is your “first 90 days” experience as a leader? Share your insights, comments, and questions in the comments section below.
