Episode 28 How To Make the First 90 Days in Your Leadership Role Count

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Welcome to Unstuck and Unstoppable,

the podcast for ambitious female

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leaders who want to create more impact,

income, and influence in their careers.

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feel connected to their passion

and purpose, but without

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selling out or burning out.

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I'm Sarah Archer, a leadership coach

and career strategist, helping women

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like you thrive in leadership roles

while staying true to your values.

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I'm the founder of CareerTree

Coaching and have over 15 years of

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coaching experience and significant HR

leadership experience to share with you.

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I know as a female leader it can

be hard to find time to focus

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on your career aspirations.

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The day job can be all consuming.

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Plus, no matter how senior you are,

there are always going to be times

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when you feel stuck, when you have

self doubt, or feel like an imposter.

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And that's where unstuck

and unstoppable comes in.

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Each week I'll be sharing practical

strategies, insightful interviews and

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inspiring stories to help you boost

your confidence, lead with purpose

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and achieve sustainable success.

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If you're ready to stop playing

small and unlock the incredible

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potential you have within you and feel

unstoppable, you're in the right place.

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Let's get started.

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welcome to episode 28.

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I'm really glad you're here.

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Today we're going to be talking about

how to create success in the first

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90 days of your leadership role.

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if you are here today with me, you

are thinking about or about to move

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into your next leadership role, or

maybe you've been in it for a short

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period and you're thinking about

your first 90 days in the role.

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It can feel really overwhelming, can't it,

when you are about to start a new role.

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And you are having to think about,

okay, how am I gonna get in there,

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show that I was the right hire,

show that I can , make a difference,

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and have impact in this role.

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What I'm gonna take you through today

is thinking about, the different

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types of transition you might be

making so you're prepared for that.

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And also the three transition traps

or mistakes that you might fall into

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when you are thinking about going

into your next leadership role.

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And some pointers around

what you can think about to

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create your successful 90 days.

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Thinking about the types of transition,

which we don't really do we just I've

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got new Robs, let's go on with it.

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Recognizing that you might be going

through one or probably more of these

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types of transition can help you then also

think about what support you are going to

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need to make that transition successful.

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It could be that you're going into a

new company, you've got a new role,

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it's in a new company, so there's

a new culture to navigate, new

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ways of doing things to navigate.

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Or it might be that you've got

promotion, so you are going to the

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next level, the next leadership level

either internally or in a new role.

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There could be a combination of those

two transitions going on, or if it's an

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internal promotion, that you are now

leading people who used to be your peers.

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Or you are certainly at a different level

to people who used to be your peers.

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So that's another type of

transition that you might be facing.

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Or it might be that you are

moving to a new function.

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Maybe you are taking, if you're a

generalist, you're going into a different

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function to deliver something different.

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Or you're changing specialism.

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Or it could be a geographical relocation.

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So maybe your new role, either

internal or external is in a different

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part of the country and you are

relocating both for work and from home.

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Or maybe you are commuting further.

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That, again is in different

type of transition.

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Or you are moving into a role

that hasn't been there before.

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So it's a newly created role.

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Again, another type of transition

or you are going into a

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different business situation.

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Maybe you've been in a quite a

large organization and you're

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moving to more of a startup that

might be very focused on growth.

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Or there's a different

kind of business challenge.

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Maybe they're in contraction and they want

somebody to help them move out of that.

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Or they're wanting to transform or

they're winding down or maybe growth

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is taking place in a different way.

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Maybe it's about expansion

into different regions.

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So it's a different business setup.

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It's worth taking a few moments to

think about what kind of transition or

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transitions will I be experiencing in my

new leadership role so that I can build

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in different types of support to help me

navigate those transitions successfully.

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And even just recognizing that

I'm facing maybe three or four

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different types of transition here

will help you prepare well for that.

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And then let me talk you through some

of the mistakes people can make when

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they're going into a new leadership role.

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And there's a brilliant

book written by Michael D.

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Atkins called Your First 90 Days where

he identifies these transition traps.

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And I really like that

phrase, transition traps.

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And he identified seven, but

I'm gonna go talk you through.

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Three today.

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But you'll probably recognize them

and just being aware of the potential

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traps can help you plan to make sure

that you are not falling into that.

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The first one is sticking

with what you know.

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So thinking, okay, I've had this approach

in my previous jobs, I'm just gonna roll

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that approach out into my next role.

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Thinking about your transitions

can make you realize I'm gonna

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have to adapt my approach.

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I've got to think again about

how I'm going to be successful

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in this next leadership role.

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Not just.

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Thinking I can just roll

out my same approach.

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Second potential transition trap is

prioritizing action over learning.

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And Michael D.

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Watkins talks about the action imperative.

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When we move into a new role, we

are thinking about, I've got to.

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Take action straight away.

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I've got to get into the doing.

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I've got to show value.

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I've got to , dive into

action taking straight away.

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And we're just gonna think about

pressing pause on that and thinking

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about more of a learning approach,

which I'm gonna talk about in a minute.

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And then the third one in

terms of the transition traps is

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neglecting your broader network.

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So just in those 90 days, focusing

on your immediate network and not

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actually putting time and effort into

that wider network in the business.

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So those are three of the possible

traps that you could fall into.

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Let's now think about how you can

build a successful 90 day plan.

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I'm not gonna break it

down into, 30, 60, 90.

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There's lots of information out

there about how you can do that.

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I just want to raise your awareness of how

you can be approaching that 90 day plan.

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And depending on the organization

you're joining, they might have a

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really great onboarding process.

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But they might not have any

onboarding beyond week one.

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So it is about giving yourself

permission to be action oriented, not

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practicing action over learning, but

proactive in your approach to your.

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Onboarding in terms of what you

want, because you want to be going in

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thinking about your leadership purpose.

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Thinking big in terms of what you want

for this role for yourself, but also

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what you want in terms of your leadership

vision for your team, your department, and

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showing up as a leader, not as a manager.

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So stepping back and thinking, what

do I want my onboarding to be like?

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It's not a passive experience.

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It's more active in terms of you

directing, leading, even from before

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you've joined your onboarding process.

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I worked with a client a little

while ago and she'd been appointed

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as a director of operations.

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For an organization that had

a bit of an onboarding process

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but it was a bit old school.

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It was here's the operating manual online

that you can look at before you join.

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And she was like, it's

a national organization.

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I want to be going out and

meeting the regional directors.

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I want to go and visit some of

the places that we're operating

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from and see what's going on, but

nothing's been arranged for me.

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We were looking at that in terms of,

okay, what do you want to do about that?

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And she's I want to have those meetings

in my diary in , my first 30 days.

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And I want to be clear about the

messaging that's going out to those

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operating centers and regional directors,

because I want them to feel that I'm.

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Coming to grade them or whatever,

I just wanna go and meet them and

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hear what's going on for them.

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She came up with a plan of who she wanted

to have those meetings with and what she

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wanted to be communicated to those people.

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And she was a bit like, can

I do this before I've joined?

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And I'm like yes, of course you can.

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And what does it mean if you

are doing it before you join?

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You are showing up as a

proactive leader who already is.

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Interested in, moving things forward

and getting to know people and showing

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up as somebody who is taking the

control of your onboarding experience.

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And so that's what she did.

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She got in touch with whoever it

was and said, this is what I want

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to happen in my first 30 days.

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These are the people I want to meet.

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This is the message I

want to be sent to them.

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Boom.

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And it was really well received.

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It was really well received.

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It's , thinking about what do you want,

what's necessary for you, and then being

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able to move that forward and recognizing

it's showing you in a good light because

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you are being proactive and taking action.

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Which leads me into the first area

to think about, which is having

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a learning plan for yourself.

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Remember our transition trap of

prioritizing action over learning.

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The learning we want to think

about is learning the business.

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Thinking about learning about

the people, the projects that

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are going on and the processes.

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It's going into that observational

mindset where you are.

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Being able to hover above what's going

on and understand what's working,

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what's not working, what could be

improved, where the pinch points are,

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where resources needed, where things are

over resourced, just almost doing, I.

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A review in that first 90 days of

what's happening, as if you were

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writing a consultant's report.

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you might, at the end of your

30, 60, or 90 days be thinking

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about strategically positioning.

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This is what I've learned over my

induction, my onboarding period.

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These are the actions I think we could

take to make a difference, and this

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is what's gonna be feeding into my

bigger vision for my team department,

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or even into organizational I.

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Areas that need to be addressed because

if you get pulled into the action

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and the doing straight away, which,

let's face it, sometimes onboarding

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can be 90 minutes rather than 90 days.

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If you feel like you're being

pulled into the weeds straight

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away, it's having that strength to.

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Recognize, okay, , I've gotta make

some decisions here, but actually

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I want to be reflective and really

thinking about what's going on before

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I'm committing to lots of things.

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Staying in that observational

learning mindset.

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Whilst recognizing there is gonna be some

things that are gonna have to happen.

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We don't have the luxury of not taking

any decisions as a leader in the first

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90 days, but it's still doing it with,

okay, we need to press pause on that.

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And giving yourself that permission.

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And the second thing to think

about is your quick wins because

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you do want to have some sort

of impact in your first 90 days.

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You do want to show you being at your best

and that you are able to have an impact.

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Fairly quickly.

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It's looking for one or two situations

which will place your strengths, which you

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feel like you want to lead or contribute

to, or take action on straight away.

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And then being able to communicate that

success when you've actioned it or it's

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happened to not only your boss, but

also your wider peer community too.

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So people can see that

you are adding value.

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But again, it's doing it in a strategic

way that you're not being just

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pulled into or doing straight away.

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That you do have to have that

chance to observe and learn.

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And then the third thing would

be to spot your supporters.

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People who are going to be

the influencers, the decision

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makers in the organization.

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And again, this comes from being able

to observe and learn and talk to.

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The wider stakeholders in the business,

not just your team and your boss.

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And.

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Create those alliances that are going

to be valuable in the long term.

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When you are in the learning plan and you

are meeting people and you're listening

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and you're hearing from them what's

their challenges, what's going on for

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them, that will all feed into helping

you build those alliances, but also

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to spot where there could be conflicts

or clashes so that you can preempt

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them in your journey in the business.

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Those are my three or four

key things to think about when

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you're going into your 90 days.

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Thinking about what's your leadership

vision, what's your leadership purpose for

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your new role, prioritizing learning and

listening and going into consultancy mode

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to think about what's going well, what's

not going well, what are the pinch points?

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What could I add value to?

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Thinking about your quick wins, the

low hanging fruit that you can, make

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a difference too, quite quickly, and

communicating that, and then thinking

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about identifying the people who are going

to be key to your success in the business

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and creating and building those alliances

from day one, not waiting until, I.

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You are into your a hundred

days in the business.

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And also , throughout your 30,

60, 90 days building in that

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opportunity for reflective practice.

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Noticing what you've learned and

communicating it, and staying in

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that, learning and reflective.

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Mindset.

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I hope that's been useful for you,

thinking about you, your next leadership

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role and what you want to do to build

success in it once you've nailed the job.

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If you think having someone to want

support around planning out your 90 days.

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Then do get in touch with me

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Thank you so much for listening

to this episode of the Unstuck

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and Unstoppable podcast.

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I have lots of free resources you

can access on my website, ww.career

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tree coaching.co

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uk, and I'll also put

links in the show notes.

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If you found this episode

helpful, then please subscribe

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so you don't miss the next one.

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And please do share it with a

friend and leave me a review

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and I will personally thank you.

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Remember, you're capable of

more than shine brightly.

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Lead boldly and unlock the

extraordinary potential within you.

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Be unstoppable.