The First 90 Days – by Michael D. Watkins
Date read: 1/10/20. Recommendation: 8/10.
This is a great resource for anyone starting a new job (or after a recent promotion) who wants to accelerate the time required to get up to speed and begin contributing to their new team. I just started a new job and this has proved invaluable. At my last company, I noticed there were a few people hired around the same time as me who were particularly good at this. I knew I wanted to improve upon this before my next leap and this book helped me do just that. Watkins offers multidimensional strategies to help ease transitions, reach the break-even point faster, secure early wins, build credibility, and negotiate success.
See my notes below or Amazon for details and reviews.
My Notes:
Break-even:
The goal in every transition is to reach the break-even point as fast as possible—the place where you contributions start to match your consumption.
Traps:
Sticking with what you know—you’ll need to embrace new skills and ways of thinking.
Too action oriented—don’t be too busy to learn, don’t attempt to do too much, don’t come in thinking you have the answer.
Only learning one dimension—usually this is the technical part of the business, but cultural and political dimensions deserve equal attention. Without these it’s impossible to understand what’s really going on.
Effective transitions:
Prepare yourself, take a mental break from your old job.
Accelerate your learning, be systematic and focused about what you need to learn and how you will learn it most efficiently.
Secure early wins, in first 90 days find a way to create value and improve business results.
Negotiate success, gain consensus with new boss on 90-day plan.
Four pillars of onboarding (page 34):
-Business orientation
-Identify and connect with key stakeholders
-Expectations alignment (performance management, working styles).
-Cultural adaptation (learn to speak like the locals, understand how people get support for important initiatives, how they win recognition for accomplishments, how they view meetings).
Start with these five questions:
What are the biggest challenges the organization is facing (or will face in the near future)?
Why is the organization facing (or going to face) these challenges?
What are the most promising unexploited opportunities for growth?
What would need to happen for the organization to exploit the potential of these opportunities?
If you were me, what would you focus your attention on?
Pay attention to how people answer these questions. What language do they use, who answers directly, who has a broad view, who seems stuck in a silo?
Negotiate success:
Engage with your boss to shape the game so you have a fighting chance of achieving your goals. Establish realistic expectations, reach consensus, secure sufficient resources.
What are my priorities—culture, impact on product, hiring, learning?
What does your boss care about most? What are their priorities and goals and how do your actions fit into this picture?
Don’t stay away…if your boss is distant, take ownership and make the relationship work. Get on their calendar regularly. Adapt to your boss’s style.
Focus on five areas in initial conversations with new boss:
Situational diagnosis—How did we reach this point? What factors make this situation a challenge? Which are within our control? What resources should I look to?
Expectations—What do I need to do in short term? Medium term? What does success look like? How will performance be measured?
Resources—Ask for things that you need to be successful.
Style—What forms of communication do they prefer?
Personal development—have this conversation a few months down the line.
Build credibility:
Your credibility will depend on how people answer these questions about you…
Do you have the insight and steadiness to make tough decisions?
Do you have values that they relate to, admire, and want to emulate?
Do you have the right kind of energy?
Do you demand high levels of performance from yourself and others?