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In my long and winding career, I’ve seen a fair number of 30-60-90 day plans for onboarding new employees. Most are elaborate and should be rightfully called programs instead of plans.
One plan was over 250 line items in a Excel file, and had filters marking which ones were due for completion in 30 days, 60 days, and 90 days.
Others put a PowerPoint slide to shame. When presented, it took many minutes, and tucked the audience into La-La-Land before even the 30-day plan was fully described.
Some 30-60-90 day plans were ambitious. Others were fanciful. But every single one assumed a level of clarity and omniscience that is just plain unrealistic, given the dynamic nature of business we find ourselves in today.
Breaking down the 30-60-90 day plan
When you assume that you know everything going into a brand-new role, you demonstrate a level of arrogance that ultimately hurts more than it helps.
The point is this: You can start with any level of clarity and detail with your 30-60-90 plan. And at the same time, you must be nimble and flexible enough to know that you’ll end up throwing the whole thing out of the window sooner rather than later.
So, what is one to do, you ask? How do I impress my future bosses and peers without a 30-60-90, you ask?
The answer, my friend, lies in humility wrapped in simplicity, much like a succulent piece of grilled chicken is often elegantly wrapped in bacon.
Ultimately all 30-60-90 plans have one objective. They’re put in place so that you go in with some idea of how your first days will be spent, and that the way you spend your time will tie into your KPIs over the first two quarters, if not in the very first.
So, here’s how I break down what should be EVERYONE’s 30-60-90 day plan:
- Learn
- Plan
- Execute
30-day plan: Soak up knowledge
In your first 30 days, you must be fully focused on learning. This is regardless of the experience you have, or any other ideas of world dominance swirling in your head.
Frequently, while talking to people your mind will raise red flags. You’ll think “but,” “this will never work,” and “seriously?!!” Take my advice and make a note of those things – privately. But continue to listen and pay attention. Just work on imbibing as much knowledge as you can in these first 30 days because they will never come back, and they can be a precious time to build real bridges with key individuals.
By the end of week two of the first 30 days, you should find yourself starting to build a plan, based on what you already learned. Then, spend the last two weeks running that plan by others whom you’re meeting and networking with. Keep the plan flexible, run it by people to get feedback, adapt the plan to the feedback, and pivot as needed.
It’s crucial to keep your ego at bay in this stage. Someone’s rejection of your ideas, or comments like, “This will never work here” should be noted and checked against others’ feedback. Remember that you’re bigger than your ideas, and don’t mistake judgement of your idea as judgement on yourself.
Use the first 30 days to build a strong foundation of learning and relationships that you can continually mine from, in months and years ahead.
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60 days out: Time to plan
The second month is really to firm up your 30-60-90 day plan. By now you should have a good idea of the people who will be in your camp, and those you need to keep an eye on. You’ll know who potential collaborators are, and potential detractors.
Ensure that while you’re building your plan that you’re also putting fundamental building blocks in place for the execution process. Have you spoken to each person who will help support your plan and bring it to life?What about tools and technology? What about agencies and third-party alignments? What about research and information? Also think through your organizational design – are there changes you’ll need to make?
Ensure that your plan is fully thought through and has plans B and C in place should something go wrong. Because you’re still a newbie, give yourself some buffer just in case you haven’t considered every single detail. Humility comes back into play here – you cannot possibly know what you don’t know.
Putting words into action, keeping it real
The third month is the beginning of the execution phase, and will likely last the rest of your career, in cycles. At this early stage though, you are looking for some quick wins, as well as some inexpensive failures that will guide how you build the next annual plan.
Look at this execution plan as an experiment; imagine it is a test run of a new car you just bought. Taking your plan for a spin at this time allows you to identify all the kinks in the plan: potential areas of improvement, people that do some things well and other things not so well, and other resources you may need.
Ultimately, putting together a 30-60-90 day day plan shouldn’t be hard, or require special knowledge of a company. It’s just a tool that’s meant to help you through the first days of a new experience, and keep you anchored as to why you’re there when things get confusing.The trick is not to get bogged down with getting the 30-60-90 right, but to have a basic generic plan, and remain flexible. Success will be yours to claim!
