The OffBeat #57: Kicking Off a New Gig
How to nail the "count-off," including my 30-60-90 plan template
First impressions are everything in business, right? When you’re starting a new job, you have the stimulating opportunity to begin fresh; but it’s coupled with the burden to prove yourself straightaway, or at least give the impression that you’ll be proving yourself in short order. The first few meetings you have with your new title, whether it’s at a new company or the same organization, there’s rich potential accompanied by pressure. Everyone’s attuned to you like sunflowers shifting toward the sun.
I’ve worked full-time in eight companies, and among those organizations I’ve held twelve roles. Over the years I’ve developed a personal playbook, always customized (time-signature-style) to the company and job, on how to kick things off.
Counting in a tune is one of the drummer’s most high-profile and critical roles. When a drummer counts in, or counts off, a song, using their sticks or their voice (“1, 2, 3, 4”), they’re not just setting the tempo. They’re establishing the world of the piece, drawing invisible boundary lines around the band to denote the space they’ll all occupy in synchrony for the upcoming song. It’s like unfurling open a picnic blanket with a snap at the park, laying it down for the group to settle on.
To be good at counting off, the drummer needs to have an excellent internal metronome, ability to stay calm and focused under pressure, and respect from their bandmates—all of which takes practice, experience, and leadership.
Similarly, starting a new role in the workplace is a learned art. Even if you’re taking on a new position at your existing organization, you’ll need to establish new relationships and fine-tune your reputation among different teams.
Here’s what, after two decades, I’ve learned works well for me:
1. Read The First 90 Days by Michael D. Watkins
Every time I start a new job I re-skim this book or at least my notes from it. (I keep a folder of business book notes in my Google Drive for this reason; there are lots I like to reference depending on the scenario. I listed the 29 books that have made the most impact on my career here.)
2. Articulate your personal commitments
My long-time executive coach Kari is big on making commitments before going into any high-stakes situation, like a difficult conversation. I like to use this approach in prepping for a new role. I reflect on the professional development goals I’m working towards, learnings from prior jobs, and knowledge about my new remit based on the interview process or my own intel if it’s a new gig at the same company.
Crystallize a few (2-5), then write them down somewhere easily referenceable like an iPhone Note, a screenshot on your desktop, or a physical post-it.
Examples of personal commitments I’ve made for new jobs:
Start and end meetings on time
Be an excellent listener
Communicate succinctly and clearly
Be a leader, not a friend
Impostor syndrome is a waste of time
3. Prepare some bio bullets
Jot down a few bullet points you’ll refer to when you’re asked, 500 times in 5 days, to share a little about yourself. It’s worth customizing the list based on what you think will be relevant in your new circumstances. For example, when I started at Anheuser Busch InBev one of my intro bullets was that I have a longtime interest in beer—one of the first things I do when trip-planning is locate the best breweries and beer bars; and my great-grandmother's grandfather was a beer merchant in the late 1800s in Kiev.
4. Make a list of questions for intro 1-1s
I plan ahead for intro conversations with my new boss, new peers, new direct reports, and even the broader team—depending on the size of the organization you oversee, you may meet with folks 1-1, in small groups, or not at all.
Example questions I like for these conversations:
What are the biggest challenges facing the company right now? And what are the unexploited opportunities for growth?
Is there anything you wish you had been told when you first started that would’ve been helpful to know?
If you were me, what would you focus your attention on first?
5. Set up your go-to docs & calendar invites
These are my old faithfuls, but as with everything, I customize my infrastructure based on the particulars of my team, remit, and company culture:
First impressions doc: space for a brain dump of initial impressions so I can capture my gut reactions before I lose an objective view of the brand and business
Planning / brainstorming doc: this is where I’ll make organized notes in the buckets of strategy, structure, systems, and skills to determine my plan of action for the new role
Monthly accomplishments doc: a log of what I’ve achieved so I can focus on getting some early wins (a tip in The First 90 Days) and catalogue what’s working over time
Weekly or biweekly 1-1s with direct reports (DRs): controversial, but I like to treat these as one-size-fits-one depending on the person—sometimes it’s 30 minutes every other week, for some people it’s 60 minutes once a week; I trust my DRs to direct their use of this time as long as it’s no more than a weekly hour
Weekly Monday DR team meeting: casual “around the grounds” style group check-in, with an agenda I loosely assemble throughout the week
Quarterly professional development check-ins with DRs: reflection on SMART goal progress, big-picture check-in on career growth, discussion on outlook for remainder of year
Monthly team-wide all hands meeting: as interactive and engaging as possible, while ensuring folks leave with learnings and a general sense of how we’re tracking towards our goals
Depending on what’s on your list of go-to meetings, consider, a la Coco Chanel, taking one (or more) off it. There will be plenty of time to add things to your stick bag and you don’t want to overwhelm your team out of the gate. For example, sometimes after a team has started to gel I’ll introduce Failure Fridays.
6. Lay out your own 30-60-90 day plan
I think making a 30-60-90 day plan (path of action for the first three months of a new job) for your employees, or asking them to do it for their hires, does them a disservice. And if you’re a seasoned executive, your leader is not going to do this for you.
Even if it’s not expected, I like to lay out what my approach will be for the first month, second month, and third month, as well as what I think is reasonable to achieve in those time periods and who the key stakeholders are in order to get those things done. At bare minimum this ensures you’re on the same page as your leader—I usually use the first few 1-1s to get the input and commentary I need to fine-tune this plan—but at best it gives you, and your team, a clear roadmap to get things revved up.
Below the paywall, at the bottom, you can check out an editable template for the 30-60-90 day plan I like to use.
7. Schedule 30-, 60-, 90-day reflection points
Pre-set reminders for yourself at one month, two months, and three months to check in with yourself, your directs, and your peers on what’s working and what’s not. Are you making the expected progress towards your goals? Are people who work closely with you feeling energized, included, and clear?
Phew. That’s a lot, I know. But starting a new job is serious business, and you’ll appreciate doing the prep work to kick things off correctly when, down the road, you and your team are in the groove.
Below, for paid subscribers, an editable template with my go-to 30-60-90 day plan. You can use this as-is or customize it based on your industry, experience, and style.