30-60-90 day plan

 In this article, you’ll learn:

• Benefits of a 30-60-90 plan

• How to create your plan

• How to use your plan

If you want to save time on building your 30-60-90 day plan, you can get our 30-60-90 day template here.

What is a 30-60-90 day plan and why do I need one?

When starting a new job, there are a lot of things to learn and tasks to complete to get set up well. Hopefully your manager and your company will have outlined some onboarding plans for you in your first few weeks. You can take some ownership over your first months at the company by developing a strategic plan that outlines what you plan to accomplish. This is your 30-60-90 day plan where you capture exactly what you aim to achieve in the first 30, 60, and 90 days at the company- essentially the first 3 months or full quarter you’re there. It is common for new executives to develop and share a 30-60-90 day plan, but anyone in any role can create one and use it to get set up for success in their job. The benefits of having a 30-60-90 day plan include:

• Impress your new manager

  • By coming prepared and ready to have conversations about what you expect to accomplish, you will hopefully impress your boss, which sets a good first impression and a high standard for how you will perform in the role. 

• Facilitate discussions with your manager to align on clear expectations

  • In addition to impressing your manager, you’ll also be able to have very actionable discussions to make sure you are on the same page about what you plan to focus on and accomplish in your first 3 months. This way, you can clear up any confusion about your responsibilities and fill any gaps in your expectations. 

• Guide your focus during first months

  • Once you have an agreed plan of where to focus and what to accomplish, you can use this as your guide of what to work on each day. Since the first few weeks of a new job can be overwhelming, having this guide can reduce some of the burden of trying to decide what to focus on in any given day.

• Measure progress and hold you accountable

  • Once you start working on the plan, you’ll be able to tell whether you’re on track according to your plans for the 30, 60, and 90 day periods or whether you need to readjust expectations with your manager. Additionally, since you’re tracking what you complete, you can clearly communicate out this progress and your accomplishments to your manager each month. 

If any of these benefits resonate with you, consider creating a 30-60-90 day plan before you start your next new role. 

Creating your 30-60-90 day plan

Good news! It’s super simple to create your 30-60-90 day plan as it is essentially just a list of items you want to accomplish in each of your first 3 months. Below are the basic steps to building out a comprehensive plan:

• Outline the items you want to accomplish for each period

  • First, simply write down a list of what you want to accomplish in each workstream you are responsible for within the 30, 60, and 90 day time frames. Imagine what would make you feel successful in your role at the end of each period, and capture these items in your list. It should include all major work you expect to complete and ownership of responsibilities within your role.

• Capture the relevant detail for each action item

  • Once you have a strong list of items captured, add some contextual detail by categorizing your list, labeling which period you expect to complete it in (30-60-90), and adding some structure to track the status of each item.

• Map out your learning and onboarding work

  • After outlining all of the work items, add items for the areas you’ll need to learn and the other onboarding work the company will provide. This could be learning more about the company, your product, your customers, or your team. Add in tentative milestones for each area of learning, and then adjust these as you discuss the onboarding plan with your manager or team.

• Build in time for relationship and culture building

  • Finally, add in time for building relationships and getting involved in the cultural practices of the company and team. This should include setting up 1:1s with folks on your team and relevant cross-functional partners as well as participation in team and company meetings and events. 

That’s it! Once you’ve captured the major work, learning, and relationship building items you want to accomplish and added in relevant contextual detail, you’ll have a strong plan in place to guide you in your new role. 

Using your plan

Once your plan is in place, it should hopefully become a valuable tool as you start your new role. Below are a few tips to maximize the value you can get out of it.

• Organize into accessible tool

  • Start by organizing your list into an accessible tool where you can access it on the go and share it with your manager, team, or peers. It can also be beneficial to use a project or task management tool that will allow you to see exactly what to focus on each day and to track and communicate progress over time. 

• Add due dates to each step

  • Next, add in due dates for each item on your list. You can do this one month at a time, or build out the plan for the entire 90 days all at the beginning. Look at the list of items for each time period, and try to space the items out over the 4-5 weeks within the month. Consider your bandwidth according to meetings and other items that have been scheduled for you, and plan at least 1-2 items from your plan to work on each day. 

• Stay on track and update your plan

  • If you’ve scheduled items out over the weeks, hopefully you’ll be able to make progress according to plan and stay on track with your goals. As you make progress on the work, update your plan by changing the status of items and completing them so you know what is still left to do and you can communicate this out to your team. 

• Each week, update with progress and communicate if plans changed

  • Finally, as you pass the first 30, 60, and 90 day milestones in your new role, communicate out to your manager or team to let them know how you are progressing, what you’ve accomplished, and what you’re focusing on next. If you need to adjust plans, let them know why and how you are adjusting plans to stay or get back on track.

Those are the best practices for creating and using your 30-60-90 day plan. Even a very simple plan can lead to a smoother transition into your new role and can set you up for success with your new manager and team. 

Try creating your own plan for your next new role, and you can use our template here to get started today.