4 Reasons a Newly Promoted Leader Needs a 90-Day Plan

A 90-day development plan is designed to jump start a newly promoted leader’s successful transition to the next level of responsibility. It provides “just-in-time” training, information and development planning that targets and aligns goals and objectives between the individual and the organization.

The process is a structured, action-oriented approach that addresses the competencies that help new leaders be more effective and influential with their teams, peers, clients and managers. Through the 90-day process, new leaders are provided with insight, perspective, resources, challenges and a focused plan to achieve desired results.If you want your organization’s new leaders to be prepared for their next level positions, you need to be preparing them before they get promoted. If not, you run the risk of overlooking these potential challenges.

Changing Relationship Dynamics

When we work with an emerging leader on his 90-day planning process, we start by looking at the goals, objectives and key stakeholders in his new position. Often, newly promoted employees don’t think through and identify the different relationships and connections they will need to establish with their new direct reports, peers, and internal and external stakeholders. We help employees identify those stakeholders and fully think through those relationships.For example, if an employee is promoted and she’s suddenly managing her former peers, that’s a huge transition. Many times, new leaders and their peers don’t know how to deal with the fact that they used to be friends, and now the roles are different and a friend is suddenly a boss or a subordinate. Relationships have to be renegotiated and thoughtfulness around these new relationships can be valuable.

Identifying Leadership Styles

Many employees who get promoted are excited about their new roles but, not completely aware of all the implications and requirements of those new roles, including the potential strengths and weaknesses of their own communication, work and leadership styles. A structured process that includes a self-awareness piece that allows them to think through their own leadership and communication styles can be very helpful to new leaders even if they’ve had similar assessments before.

Awareness of Visibly

When an employee gets promoted, his new direct reports, a new peer group and possibly a new boss are paying attention to him. Suddenly he’s a lot more visible than he was before.Often an employee’s head hasn’t caught up to the fact that she’s in a new role with more visibility, and that what she does and doesn’t do, what she says, and how she says it has a different impact on the people she works with. Now she has more responsibility and ability to influence, and she needs to develop a greater awareness of her actions as well as the politics and influences in the organization.

Ability to Delegate

Newly promoted leaders often have difficulty delegating. We see it time and time again. Typically chosen for their strong functional and technical skills and their ability to get the job done, they  can tend to hold onto responsibilities and keep doing what they were doing in their previous position.Some new leaders have a hard time transitioning from “getting it done” themselves to “getting it done through others.” And when new leaders don’t delegate, they end up taking on too much and can become overwhelmed and ineffective at achieving the goals and objectives of their new role.

Need help developing your emerging leaders? Consider sending them to The Success Labs Management Incubator.

Success Labs is a full-service, strategic organizational and leadership development company located in Baton Rouge, La. For more than 25 years, our expert team of consultants has worked with hundreds of companies to explore their business potential and improve their company and cultural performance. Contact us to get proactive about your people strategy.