Your First 90 Days As A New Manager…

The news of being promoted as a new manager in your current workplace or being hired in a managerial role with a new organization is definitely a proud moment in everyone’s career. After all, you have worked so hard all those years to reach this point. The main question here, you became a manager, what’s next?

Many people, especially those who assume a managerial role for the first time in their career or with new company go through a transition period where they could be overwhelmed or feel lost. It’s very important that necessary guidance and support is provided to new managers so that they can start off their new roles in an effective way. This definitely has an impact on them as individuals as well as on the people around.

I’ve been in that position couple of times during my career and seen other professionals around me as well transitioning to managerial roles. Some manage to do it right and others fails miserably. This is mainly determined by the maturity of the individual and the amount of support he/she gets at that level.

Let’s have some quick tips on the nature of activities that you need to focus on in your first 90 days to have a successful start as a new manager:

• Create Your 90 Day Plan: it’s important to have clarity from the beginning. You may be working in a great organization if they give you such a plan before you start. However, because we don’t live in an ideal world and we need to take ownership of our careers, I would highly recommend creating a 90 day plan for yourself to stay on track during this period. A good idea is to involve your line manager and team when you work on this because you will be able to know what are the top priority items that require your attention first.
• Get To Know Your Team: a lot of first time managers or people who join new companies in a managerial role get so excited about proving themselves by introducing new changes or focusing immediately on getting things done. As a result, they neglect investing time to get to know their people well and build the connection with them. It doesn’t matter whether you are more on the thinking or feeling side, when you become a manager; you have to master the quality of relating to people and be relatable yourself to others, as from this point onwards, you will not get things done by yourself but by working with others. Since I became manager for the first time till date, I’ve always prioritized meeting my team members on 1-2-1 basis to get to know them as individuals. This allowed me to build trust and show care to my people. The impact of this has been incredible on each team member and established the basis for their commitment and dedication to the team’s vision.
• Meet Frequently With Your Manager: It’s equally important to be able to manage upwards like you do with your team. I always urge you to be honest and transparent with your manager. This helps to build trust in big way and establish confidence in each other. Respect has always to be maintained in any relationship to make it rewarding. Those meetings or catch ups doesn’t always have to take place to review the task list. Sometimes, it’s also good to meet to understand your manager, how can you help him/her in your role and how you both can be aligned. Having your manager as an ally will prove to be very beneficial to your career.
• Identify Your Top 3: That’s part of your overall 90 day plan, whether it’s adding more skillful members to your team, elevating existing team members or launching a specific strategy that will support the business, the idea is to choose something that will have the most impact because when you have clarity about what you want and what you don’t, you increase the odds of turning your plans into reality in the longer term and become a more effective manager.
• Build Allies At Work: If there is one area I’m going to ask you to focus during your first 90 days as a manager or in a new company; that would be building meaningful relationships across the business starting with your team, line manager, other department heads and clients where applicable. That would definitely create more allies who will support you in your journey and set you up on the track for success sooner than later.

As you might have noticed, the biggest chunk of your first 90 days will focus on building relationships and connecting with people. It’s not rocket science that requires a certain qualification or experience to do. It’s all about being human and connecting with other humans. That’s all! You will surely need communication skills, curiosity and empathy when you have those conversations, but the most important thing is to establish good intentions then go have those discussions as soon as you get started in your role. Can’t think of a better scenario where habit number 2 can be applied at its best: “Put First Things First”!

P.S. Thank you for reading my article! What have been your lessons learned from being a new manager? Please share below to help others learn from your experience. This is a great way to give back and exchange views for greater benefit of everyone...

About the Author:

Mona AlHebsi is a Several Award Winning Hotelier and currently working as a Director of Human Resources in Jumeirah Zabeel Saray. Besides, she is a Success Coach, Author and Thought Leader in the fields of HR, Hospitality, Leadership and Coaching. Learn more about how to achieve personal and professional excellence by reading Mona's latest book: "Beat The Odds" - The Execlusive Hotelier's Guide: Upsell Yourself and Succeed in A High Occupancy Job Market... Available in Amazon.com, Jamalon.com and Souq.com