As early as possible, get access to publicly

Understand and engage in business planning and

available information about financials, products,
performance management.
„What is the stated vision and strategy? strategy, and brands.

No matter how well you think you understand

Vision & strategy Identify additional sources of information, such as
Is the organization really pursuing that strategy? If
not, why not? If so, will the strategy take the
what you need to do, schedule a conversation Expectations Business websites and analyst reports.
with your boss about expectations in your first
organization where it needs to go?“ week. alignment orientation
If appropriate for your level, ask the business to
Who is capable, and who is not? assemble a briefing book.
Have explicit conversations about working styles
with bosses and direct reports as early as
possible.
If possible, schedule familiarization tours of key
People Who is trustworthy, and who is not?
facilities before the formal start date.
How has this organization performed in the past?
How do people in the organization think it has During recruiting, ask questions about the
Onboarding
performed? Who has influence, and why? organization’s culture. Checklist Ask your boss to identify and introduce you to the
key people you should connect with early on.
How were goals set? Were they insufficiently or 2. Presence What are the key processes? Schedule conversations with your new boss and
overly ambitious? HR to discuss work culture, and check back with
Processes If possible, meet with some stakeholders before
them regularly.
Performance Are they performing acceptably in quality, Cultural the formal start.
Were internal or external benchmarks used? reliability, and timeliness? If not, why not? Stakeholder
Identify people inside the organization who could adaptation
serve as culture interpreters.
connection Take control of your calendar, and schedule early
What measures were employed? What behaviors What lurking surprises could detonate and push meetings with key stakeholders.
did they encourage and discourage? you offtrack?
Land mines After thirty days, conduct an informal 360-degree
Be careful to focus on lateral relationships (peers,
check-in with your boss and peers to gauge how
What happened if goals were not met? What potentially damaging cultural or political others) and not only vertical ones (boss, direct
adaptation is proceeding.
missteps must you avoid? reports).

If performance has been good, why has that been Learning Plan
the case? 1. Past In what areas (people, relationships, processes, or
Template Early wins
products) can you achieve some early wins?

What have been the relative contributions of

strategy, structure, systems, talent bases, culture,
and politics?
If performance has been poor, why has that been
the case? Do the primary issues reside in the
organization’s strategy? Its structure? Its
technical capabilities? Its culture? Its politics?
In what areas is the organization most likely to
Root causes face stiff challenges in the coming year? What
can be done now to prepare for them?
Challenges & opportunities
Find out whatever you can about the
What are the most promising unexploited organization’s strategy, structure, performance,
opportunities? What would need to happen to and people.
realize their potential?

You will learn how knowledgeable, fairly unbiased

What efforts have been made to change the What are the most formidable barriers to making people view it.
organization? What happened? needed changes? Are they technical? Cultural?
Political? Look for external assessments of the
History of change performance of the organization.
how 2 answer?
Who has been instrumental in shaping this 3. Future If you are a manager at a lower level, talk to people
who deal with your new group as suppliers or
figure out important questions in advance organization? Barriers & resources Are there islands of excellence or other high- customers.
baseline: ‘how did we get to this point?’ quality resources that you can leverage?“

Ask these people open-ended questions about

What new capabilities need to be developed or Find external observers who know the
systematically prioritise learning Before Entry history, politics, and culture.
acquired? organization well, including former employees,
recent retirees, and people who have transacted
business with the organization. Talk with your predecessor if possible.
mind the (dysfunctional) ‘action imperative’!
Which elements of the culture should be
preserved?
create actionable insights Culture Talk to your new boss.

Which elements need to change?

What are the biggest challenges the organization As you begin to learn about the organization,
is facing (or will face in the near future)? write down your first impressions and eventually
some hypotheses.
Plan to learn
Why is the organization facing (or going to face)
these challenges? Compile an initial set of questions to guide your
structured inquiry after you arrive.

What are the most promising unexploited

Key questions
opportunities for growth? Review detailed operating plans, performance
Structured interviews w/ reports & stakeholders data, and personnel data.

What would need to happen for the organization

to exploit the potential of these opportunities? Meet one-on-one with your direct reports and ask You will learn about convergent and divergent
them the questions you compiled. views and about your reports as people.
Markets
If you were me, what would you focus attention
on? You will hear how salespeople, purchasing
Products
agents, customer service representatives, and You will also learn about problems they see that
Strategy Assess how things are going at key interfaces.
others perceive your organization’s dealings with others do not.
Distill, feed back, discuss external constituencies.
Technologies
Structure
financials Company
Learning Map Scheduled
Soon After Entry Ask people at the top what the company’s vision You will learn how well the previous leader drove
Understand Systems
Performance for … Priorities
Test strategic alignment from the top down. and strategy are. Then see how far down into the vision and strategy down through the
organizational hierarchy those beliefs penetrate. organization.
products
What to do Accelerate learning Structures
People
Watkins, Michael D. „The First 90 Days, Updated and Start by asking frontline people how they view the
strategy Expanded: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Test awareness of challenges and opportunities You will learn how well the people at the top
Culture company’s challenges and opportunities. Then
Faster and Smarter.“ from the bottom up. check the pulse of the organization.
work your way up.

brands
Politics
Business orientation Update your questions and hypotheses.

operating model
what to learn?
Meet with your boss to discuss your hypotheses
Be systematic and focused
planning Reference how to learn efficiently?
and findings.

You will elicit confirmation and challenges of your

performance evaluation Gather your team to feed back to them your
assessments and will learn more about the group
preliminary findings.
and its dynamics.

talent management
Focused Good Increasing
You will learn how people on the outside
learning decisions credibility
(suppliers, customers, distributors, and others)
vertical relationships Now analyze key interfaces from the outside in.
perceive your organization and its strengths and
Stakeholder connection weaknesses.
lateral relationships Virtuous
Convene representatives of the responsible
Cycle Analyze a couple of key processes. groups to map out and evaluate the processes
You will learn about productivity, quality, and
mandates reliability.
you selected.
By End of First
Effective Informed
support Supportive Month
Focus on… Onboarding relationship strategy and
alliances
Early wins What problems do they perceive that others do
building vision not?
Expectations alignment
resources
Meet with key integrators. You will learn how
things work at interfaces among functional areas. Seek out the natural historians. They can fill you in
on the history, culture, and politics of the
check with key people across org that have
organization, and they are also potential allies and
influence
influencers.

symbols and languages

Update your questions and hypotheses.

norms and patterns of behaviour Layers

Meet with your boss again to discuss your
observations.
fundamental assumptions and values

Influence.

Meetings Cultural adaption

Execution
Domains
Conflict

Recognition

Ends versus means