Coaching Topics
STEPPING INTO A BIGGER ROLE:
The First 90 Days in a New Executive Role
You’ve accepted the role. Your boss wants to see momentum, your team wants to know what will change, and your peers are already asking where you stand on decisions that were in motion before you arrived.
The hardest part of the first 90 days is deciding when you know enough to act. Move too quickly and you can undo something people rely on. Wait too long and your team starts making its own assumptions about your priorities. Your job is to give people enough direction to move forward while you learn what the role really requires.
Find out what success means to the people counting on you
Ask your boss what they need to see six months from now to know they made the right hire. Ask your peers where they need your help and where a decision in your area could create problems in theirs. Ask your team what they hope you’ll fix and what they hope you’ll preserve.
Pay attention to where the answers differ. Your boss may expect faster decisions while your peers expect more consultation. Working through that tension early gives you a clearer mandate and helps you explain how you’ll make decisions when those expectations collide.
Be deliberate about what you take on
If you’ve been promoted internally, people may still bring you the decisions you used to make. Every time you step in, you teach them where to go next time. Pick one recurring decision to hand over, clarify what would warrant an escalation, and give the person room to make the call.
If you’ve joined a new company, pick one recurring problem and follow it through the business before proposing a fix. A missed handoff, for example, may look like a staffing problem until you discover that two teams are waiting for each other to approve the work. Resolving that ambiguity can earn more credibility than announcing a broad change before you understand how the organization works.
Make your priorities clear enough for others to act
By the end of your first 90 days, your boss, peers, and team should be able to describe what you’re focused on, what you’ve decided to defer, and which decisions they can make without you. A good way to check is to ask someone on your team how your priorities have changed what they do day to day. Their answer will tell you more than another round of agreement in a staff meeting.
How executive coaching can help
In executive coaching, we work on the decisions and conversations already on your calendar. You might need to reset expectations with your CEO, address a performance issue before you’ve built much trust, or change how you work with people who were your peers a month ago. Together, we’ll think through your options, prepare for the conversation, and use what happens to decide your next move.