What should a new leader do in their first 90 days?

Why do the first 90 days matter so much?

They matter because people form their view of you quickly, and early mistakes are hard to undo. The publisher’s page for Michael Watkins’s The First 90 Days warns that missteps in the first three months “can jeopardize or even derail your success”.

Planning helps. Watkins, who directs IMD’s programme on the topic, says on IMD’s programme page that leaders who plan their transition systematically reach break-even 50% faster than those who don’t. Break-even is the point where you start adding more value than you consume.

The stakes are personal too. DDI’s Leadership Transitions Report 2021, based on responses from 2,102 HR executives and 15,787 leaders, found that 45% of leaders who had stressful transitions rated themselves as average or below average compared to their peers. A rough start can follow you.

So treat the 90 days as a plan, not a vibe.

How do I run a listening tour that actually tells me something?

Ask everyone the same few questions, write down the answers, and finish most conversations within about 4 weeks. Using one script turns a series of nice chats into data you can compare.

A simple script for 30 minutes:

• “What’s working here that I must not break?”
• “What’s getting in your way right now?”
• “What should I know that nobody will tell me?”
• “If you were me, what would you do first?”
• “What would a good first 90 days look like to you?”

Meet your managers first, then their teams in small groups, then your peers and key partners. Say up front why you’re asking: “I’m new, I want to learn before I change anything, and I’m asking everyone the same questions.”

Take notes in the same template every time. At the end, sort the answers into three piles: things everyone mentioned, things only one group mentioned, and surprises.

A word of caution on pace. HBS professor John Quelch argues in HBS Working Knowledge that a slow, plodding 90-day listening tour no longer fits how fast organisations move. The answer isn’t to skip listening. It’s to make it structured and quick, so you can act on it within the 90 days rather than after them.

The hardest part of listening is talking less. Try this one honestly.

What does success look like to my boss?

Ask directly, early, and get the answer in writing. Your own view of success matters less in month 1 than your boss’s, because they decide whether your 90 days went well.

In your first or second meeting, ask:

• “What would make you say, at day 90, that this was a good hire?”
• “What are the 2 or 3 results that matter most this year?”
• “What should I avoid touching for now?”
• “How do you like to be kept informed, and how often?”

Then write a one-page summary and send it back: “Here’s what I heard. Have I got it right?” This takes 20 minutes and saves months of drift. Revisit it at day 30, when you know more and can push back with evidence.

Which early wins should I go for?

Go for wins your team has been asking for, not wins that mainly show you off. Watkins lists securing early wins alongside accelerating your learning and building relationships with stakeholders as immediate priorities in his HBR article on new roles. The trick is choosing the right ones.

Your listening tour will hand you candidates. Look for problems that:

• came up in several conversations,
• can be fixed in weeks, not quarters,
• are inside your authority to fix,
• make daily work visibly easier.

Examples might be cancelling a reporting meeting nobody reads, unblocking a hiring approval that has sat for months, or clarifying who decides on a recurring dispute. If meetings came up a lot, it’s worth working out what your recurring meetings cost your team before you cut any.

A good test: if you fixed it, would your managers tell their teams “the new boss sorted that”? If only your boss would notice, it can wait.

What should I deliberately not change yet?

Keep a written “not yet” list of things you’ll leave alone until you understand why they exist. New leaders often arrive with a playbook from their last role, and the urge to run it is strong.

Before changing a process, a structure or a team, ask three questions:

• Who built this, and are they still here?
• What problem was it solving when it started?
• What would break if I removed it next week?

Put on the list anything you can’t yet answer those questions about. Reorganisations, changes to who reports to whom, and big strategy shifts usually belong there in month 1.

Share a version of the list with your managers. Saying “these are things I’m not touching yet” is reassuring. It tells people you’re learning, not judging.

The list isn’t a promise never to act. Some items will become your day 60 or day 90 decisions. Leaving decisions open too long has its own cost, so put a review date next to each one rather than letting them pile up as decision debt.

How do I set expectations with the managers who report to me?

Tell them plainly what you expect, how you’ll work together, and how you’d like to hear about problems. When you lead managers, your intentions reach the wider team only through them, so their clarity matters more than your visibility.

In your first one-to-one with each manager, cover:

• How we’ll meet: frequency, length, and who owns the agenda.
• What I want to hear early: risks, bad news and missed deadlines, before they become surprises.
• What I won’t do: go around you to your team without telling you.
• What decisions are yours: be specific, so they don’t check everything with you.

Then ask them the same in reverse: “What do you need from me? What did my predecessor do that you’d like me to keep, or stop?”

By day 30, each manager should be able to say what you expect from them this month. If they can’t, the gap is in your communication, not their memory. If you want a fuller picture of how you come across, the 42 Test is a free, private self-check, and there’s more on finding out what your team really thinks.

Why do peer relationships matter so much in this role?

Because at this level, much of what you need sits in other leaders’ teams. Budgets, shared services, priorities and hiring often depend on peers who owe you nothing.

Build those relationships before you need them:

• Include peers in your listening tour, using the same questions.
• Ask each one: “Where do our teams create friction for each other?”
• Offer one small, useful thing early, such as sharing data or lending a person for a week.
• Agree how you’ll handle disagreements: “If our teams clash, can we talk before it goes up the chain?”

A peer who trusts you will warn you about trouble you can’t yet see. That is worth more than any early win.

What should my 30/60/90 check look like?

Keep it to one page and three moments. The aim is to check your plan against reality, not to write a report.

Day 30: what have I learned?

• Listening tour done, themes written up and shared.
• Success measures agreed with your boss, and re-checked.
• 1 or 2 early wins chosen, with owners and dates.

Day 60: what have I started?

• Early wins delivered, or honestly reset.
• “Not yet” list reviewed: which items now need a decision?
• Each manager clear on expectations; one-to-ones running.

Day 90: what have I set up?

• Priorities for the next 6 months agreed with your boss and managers.
• Peer relationships in place with the 3 or 4 people who matter most.
• One question to your team: “What should I keep doing, and what should I change?”

Picture a new director with 5 managers. If each manager runs a team of 8, that’s 40 people whose week depends on how clearly those 5 managers understand you. Clarity at the top travels a long way.

If you want help pressure-testing your plan, the free First 90 Days tool turns three questions about your situation into a 90-day focus card, with three priorities for each 30-day phase. There’s more for leaders at this stage on the managers of managers page.