• Michael Watkins Basketball

Working Resources - A Winning Team in the First 90 DaysToll free number 1-800-993-3354SectionNavigationGetOur FREE Working Resources NewsletterName:e-mail:A Winning Team in the First 90 Days“The most important decisions you make in your first 90days will probably be about the people on your team. If you succeedin creating a high-performance team, you can exert tremendous leveragein value creation. If not, you will face severe difficulties, forno leader can hope to achieve much alone”.— Michael Watkins, The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategiesfor New Leaders at All Levels, Harvard Business School Press, 2003.Assessing a team—deciding who should stay and who shouldgo—is one of the most critical tasks an executive faces whentransitioning into a new position. Itcan create or destroy leverage—andleadership is ultimately about leverage.Each year, about 25 percent of managers in typical Fortune 500companies change jobs. Most spend an average of four years in agiven position.

The First 90 Days proven Strategies for Getting up to Speed Faster and Smarter (Downloadable Audiobook): Watkins, Michael D.: The world's most trusted guide for leaders in transition. Transitions are a critical time for leaders. In fact, most agree that moving into a new role is the biggest challenge a manager will face.

High-potential leaders in mid-senior ranks movemore frequently: every 2.5 to 3 years. These statistics demonstratewhy leaders must build strong teams, composed of the right peoplein the right jobs, as quickly as possible.The first weeks are crucial for learning and evaluating. Leadersmust maintain the right balance of confidence and humility, whileasking probing questions and actively listening. During this time,leaders are most vulnerable.

Without a firm support network inplace, they must learn everything they can about the organization,its strategies, customers and team members in the shortest possibletimeframe.Leaders must dedicate a large percentageof learning time to getting to know existing team members. Ifyou are promoted to a new position from within the organization,you are likely acquainted with some of its key people. Transitionfrom the outside, and you face the task of identifying and placingthe right people into the right positions—a much greaterchallenge. Either way, you must choose wisely, without disruptingshort-term performance.How do you assess your existing teamas quickly as possible? How doyou reduce your learning curve and jumpstart your team’sperformance in the first 90 days? What are the most common mistakesleaders in a new position make?How to Assess an Existing TeamWhen performing your evaluation, you’ll find some excellent,some average and some unsatisfactory people in place.

Youwill inherit a group with its own dynamics and habitual ways ofworking. You cannot afford to make one of the most common errors:gathering them in a room, telling them that you’re in charge now, andthat you’ll be making some changes.

Instead, you will needto sort out who’s who, the functions people perform and howthe group has worked in the past.Go in and shake the tree, and you’reguaranteed to lose some of the best leaves along with the rottingones. Always evaluate thoroughly before acting. Hasty actioncompromises trust and credibility. You may inadvertently losevaluable team members.If you are like most leaders, you willform an impression each time you meet someone.

Michael Watkins Basketball

Holdonto those thoughts, but don’thold them as truths. Remember: They are merely first impressions.Allow them to register, don’t suppress them, and then allowother factors to influence your ultimate appraisal.You also must decide which criteria to use when evaluating yourpeople.