Navigating a New Job: 30-60-90 Day Plan
Navigating a new job can be hard! Most people typically join an entirely new environment, with unfamiliar systems, people, and processes. Creating a 30-60-90 day plan is a great way to make sure you start off on the right foot!
The purpose of creating a 30-60-90 day plan is to create concrete goals and measure progress in each step that you would like to achieve. Even if you’re staying at the same company, you can utilize this to make sure doing everything as needed!
Printable 30-60-90 Day Plan
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30 Day Plan
Your first 30 days should be about getting to know your role, the people you will be working with, the training you will need, and the company.
Get to Know Your Role
The first step in is understanding what your role consists of. Here are some questions to help get you started:
- What are your day to day responsibilities?
- What is expected of you? Align with your manager!
- What deliverables do you have each day/week/month?
- Where can you learn more about day to day responsibilities?
- How can you flatten the learning curve?
Build Relationships With Others
Navigating a new job will be much easier if you have friends or partners that can help you through rocky moments! Try and build as many relationships as you can during your first 30 days.
Get to know the people around you. You can start by scheduling one-on-one’s with key players. Understand what each team member focuses on, and make a note for later! After talking to each person, identify 2 or 3 people that you feel the most comfortable asking questions to.
Don’t forget to talk to cross functional partners and external business contacts or vendors. You’ll probably be working with people outside of your team, so take the time to get to know them as well!
Especially during the first 30-60 days, force yourself to get out of your comfort zone and have lunches, coffee chats, and happy hours with others! Building these relationships will be the foundation you need to plant yourself successfully in your new role. You never know when you’ll need guidance!
Enroll in Training
Research which training modules exist for your specific role or systems that you will use. Typically in a new job, you’ll have extra time in your first week or so. Take advantage of that and schedule these trainings! Navigating your job will be easier when you can easily work through systems and processes.
If there are no trainings, shadow people inside and outside of your team. Watch them as they perform routine actions that might be similar to what you will be doing. Watch them, ask questions, and take notes as they navigate through systems.
Learn About The Company
The best part about being new at a company is that no question is dumb! People understand that you’re brand new and are more willing to guide you through any questions you have! Take advantage of this time and get as much insight as you can.
Here are some questions that can help you start your research:
- What are the company values?
- What are the company’s goals for the year?
- How can you contribute to the company’s overall goals?
- What changes recently occurred that you should know about?
- How is the company continuing to evolve and what are three things they are currently focused on?
60 Day Plan
Now that you know a little bit more about your team, the company, and expectations, you can start thinking more broadly. Navigating your career will be easier once you’re able to think short and long term.
At the 60 day mark, it’s time to really formulate your goals. Speak with your manager in detail about expectations. Assess how your first 30 days have been going and reflect on strengths and areas of improvement. Based on your conversation, create goals that are timely, measurable, and realistic.
You can break your goals down into a few buckets:
Personal Goals:
This could include meeting more people, reaching to other teams, building your skillset, signing up for additional trainings, attending more coffee chats, or collaborating more with cross functional partners
Professional Goals:
This should include specific items you are trying to accomplish that will further your knowledge in your new role. For example, this could mean hitting 60% of sales metrics by July, having a 70% pass through rate for the year, or creating 150 leads for your first month.
Stretch Goals:
You can create goals for yourself that are harder to reach and require you to go above and beyond your original goals. Give yourself additional time and resources to meet these goals. An example of a stretch goal could be a harder project or a goal that isn’t immediately feasible. This is where you want to think about the big picture and what you are trying to accomplish for your career long term.
90 Day Plan
Use the skills you’ve learned in your first 30 days and the goals you created in your first 60 days and start contributing effectively to the business. Focus on showing your value and displaying how you can make a difference on your team. Being an active contributor during your first 90 days will make navigating your career easier in the long term. This is your time to shine!
Show Value
Be an active contributor. As you’re new to the role (and/or company), it’s a lot easier to identify areas of improvement. Find ways for your team to improve processes, be more efficient, or use systems in an easier way! Create guides for other new hires that can help expedite the learning process for them. If these guides are already created, keep them up to date and edit them with your own tips as you learn!
Take Initiative and Be Proactive
If you have any down time, proactively ask how you can help your team or manager. Try and take work off their plates and be an active member of the team. Be proactive in solving your own problems before asking for help from others. Take initiative as much as you can and really prove that you’re a self starter!
Lead Projects
Find areas of work that you’re passionate about and lead the team. Showing that you can be a leader will not only help you grow, but it will also demonstrate your passion and expertise!
Don’t forget to download your FREE printable 30-60-90 day plan before you go!
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