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30-60-90 day plan for new managers: your first 90 days leading a team

This free tool writes a 30-60-90 day plan for new managers. Type your job title and get a plan for your first 90 days leading a team: a one-on-one with each person, the team’s numbers, one early win the team asked for, and a plan for the team by day 90. Track it day by day, or present it in the interview.

Not leading a team? Make a 30-60-90 day plan for any job.

Make your 30-60-90 day plan

  1. 1The job
  2. 2What matters
  3. 3Your plan
What is the plan for?

Plan saved to a file?

How it works

1. Type your job titleThe page is already set to “Manager of a team”. Type the title you were given, like Store Manager, Engineering Manager or Team Lead. The kind of work is read from the title, and you can change both.
2. Add what you knowPaste the job post and write their top priorities, one per line: the first becomes a goal for days 31 to 60, the next two for days 61 to 90. Numbers in the post, like the size of the team or a reply-time target, go into the goals as the post wrote them. Tick what worries you. Every box is optional: press Make my plan at any time.
3. Use the planGoals for each 30 days, dated tasks, the people to meet and five talks with your manager. Tick tasks as the weeks go by, or press Present it for one page, slides and what to say.

What a new manager’s plan is for

An employee’s 30-60-90 day plan is about learning the work and then doing it alone. A manager’s plan is about the people who do the work. In your first 90 days as a manager you learn what the team does, what gets in its way and what it is judged on. Then you give it a direction your own manager agrees with.

  • Days 1–30, listen and learn: a first one-on-one with each person in week one, time next to the team on real work, and the team’s numbers: targets, results, budget and open roles. Write down what you see. Change little yet.
  • Days 31–60, plan and fix: share your read of the team with your manager and agree the top three priorities. Fix the one thing the team says slows it down most, and tell the team the fix came from them.
  • Days 61–90, lead: set goals with each person, share a plan for the team for the next three months, and show your manager what the team has achieved.

What changes when the plan is for a manager

The same app as the 30-60-90 day plan for any job, set to “Manager of a team”.

  • Team goals, not worker goals. Goals written for the person doing the work (a full patient load, a first deal, a shift run alone) drop out. Team goals for your kind of work come in: staffed shifts on a unit, a healthy pipeline for a sales team, releases on time for software.
  • The manager’s steps. One-on-ones from day 3, reading the team’s last quarter, time with each person on their real work, a team meeting on what you heard, and an agreement in writing with your manager on what the team must deliver by day 90.
  • Different people to meet. Each person on your team, your new peers (the other managers who report to your manager) and your HR contact. Mentors and buddies drop off the list.
  • Different questions. What the team does well that you should keep, who is ready for more, and which decisions are yours to make.
  • Head, director or above? Pick “Senior leader” as your level. The plan then meets the leaders above, beside and below you, reviews the numbers of your whole area and ends with a plan for the year.

Example: a new customer support manager’s first 90 days

Made by this page from the answers below, with no AI. Every line is the app’s own output; yours changes with your title, your level and the job post you paste.

Job title: Customer Support Manager · Level: Manager of a team · Kind of work: Customer service and support · What you walk into: Growing fast

What the manager said matters most:

  • Bring the email reply time back to one working day
  • Keep the two senior agents
The job post that was pasted
Customer Support Manager
What you will do
- Lead a team of nine support agents across chat and email
- Coach each agent through weekly one-on-ones and ticket reviews
- Own the team’s reply time, resolution time and customer satisfaction
- Plan schedules and staffing with the workforce team
- Work with Product on the top reasons customers contact us
What you will need
- Two or more years leading a support team
- Zendesk or a similar help desk

30-60-90 day plan: Customer Support Manager

53 tasks, each on its day · plan check 95 of 100. The only gap: fill in the [blank] in “Lift the team’s quality and speed scores” with the real number: from the job post, or ask your manager.

Days 1–30

Listen and learn

Meet each person on the team one to one, learn the team’s numbers and how the work gets done. Change little yet.

Goals
  • Know every person on your team and what they need
    A one-on-one with each of the nine people on the team by day 14
  • Know the team’s numbers
    You can explain the team’s targets, results, budget and open roles to your manager by day 30
  • Understand how the team works and how your work is judged
    You can explain the team’s goals and your measures to your manager by day 30
  • Build trust with the people you work with most
    You have met each person on your People to meet list one to one by day 30
Key steps
  • Day 3: Hold a first one-on-one with each person on your team: their work, what goes well, what is in their way
  • Day 9: Learn the tools the job post names: Zendesk
  • Day 18: Get up to speed on what the post asks you to know: staffing, customer satisfaction and help desk
  • Day 20: Work on their priority: bring the email reply time back to one working day
All 27 tasks, day by day
  • Day 1: Ask your manager what a great first 90 days looks like, and how your work will be judged
  • Day 1: Get access to every tool, system and account you need, and list anything still missing
  • Day 2: Agree a regular one-on-one with your manager: same time, every week
  • Day 3: Write down the name and role of everyone on your team, and one thing about each person
  • Day 3: Hold a first one-on-one with each person on your team: their work, what goes well, what is in their way
  • Day 5: Ask your manager for the story so far: what is going well, what is not, and why
  • Day 7: End of week 1: send your manager three lines — what you learned, what is unclear, what is next
  • Day 9: Read the team’s last quarter: results, targets, complaints, staffing and what is late
  • Day 9: Learn the tools the job post names: Zendesk
  • Day 10: Meet the people your work depends on, and the people who depend on your work
  • Day 10: Learn the scores you are judged on and what counts in the quality check
  • Day 12: Read the team’s key papers: goals, recent results, how the work is done
  • Day 12: Ask how your manager likes to work: updates by chat, email or in person, and how often
  • Day 14: Learn how success is measured in your job: the numbers or signs your manager watches
  • Day 17: Meet your manager’s other direct reports and the leads of teams yours works with
  • Day 18: Get up to speed on what the post asks you to know: staffing, customer satisfaction and help desk
  • Day 19: Learn the ticket, phone or chat system and where to find answers
  • Day 20: Find what breaks as the team grows: handovers, training, tools
  • Day 20: Work on their priority: bring the email reply time back to one working day
  • Day 21: Write down what you see: team strengths, gaps and risks. Do not act on it yet
  • Day 21: Learn when and how to pass a case to the next level
  • Day 22: Hold a team meeting on what you have heard so far: what to keep, what to change, what comes first
  • Day 25: Ask what you need to succeed: time, tools, training, people, budget
  • Day 28: Listen to calls or read chats from the best people on the team
  • Day 28: Sit with each person on the team for an hour of their real work: the tools, the queue, the customers
  • Day 28: Learn the team’s numbers: targets, results, budget, open roles
  • Day 30: Day 30 review with your manager: what you learned, and what you will own next

Days 31–60

Plan and fix

Agree the top priorities with your manager, fix one thing the team asked for, and start shaping how the team works.

Goals
  • Bring the email reply time back to one working day
    Reached and checked with your manager by day 60
  • Lift the team’s quality and speed scores
    Team at [targets] by day 60
  • Agree the team’s top priorities with your manager
    Top three priorities agreed and shared with the team by day 45
  • Deliver your first early win
    One problem your manager cares about is fixed by day 60
Key steps
  • Day 40: Work on their priority: keep the two senior agents
  • Day 42: Start on: lead a team of nine support agents across chat and email
  • Day 48: Start on: coach each agent through weekly one-on-ones and ticket reviews
  • Day 58: Start on: own the team’s reply time, resolution time and customer satisfaction
All 14 tasks, day by day
  • Day 35: Pick your early win: a problem that matters to your manager that you can fix in weeks, not months
  • Day 38: Fix the one thing the team says slows them down most, and tell them it came from them
  • Day 40: Work on their priority: keep the two senior agents
  • Day 42: Start on: lead a team of nine support agents across chat and email
  • Day 45: Ask two or three people for feedback: one thing to keep doing, one thing to change
  • Day 45: Share your read of the team with your manager and agree the top priorities
  • Day 48: Start on: coach each agent through weekly one-on-ones and ticket reviews
  • Day 50: Write down one step that is slow or unclear, and suggest one fix
  • Day 50: Make one change the team asked for: a meeting, a tool or a way of working
  • Day 55: Finish the early win and share the result with your manager in two lines
  • Day 58: Start on: own the team’s reply time, resolution time and customer satisfaction
  • Day 60: Day 60 review with your manager: progress against your goals, and what to change
  • Day 60: Write one way of working down so new people can follow it
  • Day 60: Agree with your manager, in writing, what the team must deliver by day 90 and how it is measured

Days 61–90

Lead

Set goals with each person, share a plan for the team, and show what the team has achieved.

Goals
  • Keep the two senior agents
    Reached and checked with your manager by day 90
  • Keep the team on target
    Team on target four weeks running by day 90
  • Give the team a clear plan
    Team goals agreed with your manager and shared by day 90
  • Show what the team has achieved
    Your manager agrees at the day 90 review that the team is on track against its goals
  • Get the team strong on the main duties of the role
    Your manager agrees at the day 90 review that the team does this well: own the team’s reply time, resolution time and customer satisfaction
Key steps
  • Day 66: Make sure the team covers: plan schedules and staffing with the workforce team
  • Day 72: Make sure the team covers: work with Product on the top reasons customers contact us
  • Day 75: Set goals with each person on your team
  • Day 85: Share a plan for the team for the next three months
All 12 tasks, day by day
  • Day 66: Make sure the team covers: plan schedules and staffing with the workforce team
  • Day 70: Meet people one step further out: other teams, customers or partners
  • Day 72: Make sure the team covers: work with Product on the top reasons customers contact us
  • Day 75: Take on one bigger goal for the next three months
  • Day 75: Set goals with each person on your team
  • Day 78: Suggest one fix to a help article or script that confuses customers
  • Day 80: Share something you learned with the team: a short note, a checklist or a demo
  • Day 85: Write your 90-day summary: wins, numbers, lessons, next goals
  • Day 85: Share a plan for the team for the next three months
  • Day 86: Ask for your probation review in writing: ask which date closes your probation; in many countries it runs three to six months, so day 90 may be halfway
  • Day 88: Ask your manager how you can grow here: one skill, one stretch task, one course
  • Day 90: Day 90 review: agree goals for the next three to six months

People to meet in the first 30 days

  • Your manager by day 1
  • Each person on your team by day 3
  • Your new peers: the other managers who report to your manager by day 10
  • Your HR contact, for hiring, reviews and people questions by day 14
  • Team leader by day 14
  • Quality analyst by day 14
  • Scheduling or workforce team by day 14
  • Subject expert for hard cases by day 30

Questions for your own manager

  • What does the team do well that I should keep?
  • Who on the team is ready for more, and who needs more support?
  • Which decisions do you want me to bring to you, and which can I make alone?
  • What would make my first 90 days a success in your eyes?

Tick tasks, change the dates, or press Present it for the interview version.

More new-manager plans

Open one as a starting point; change anything.

Four traps in the first 90 days as a manager

  1. Changing things in week one. The team knows things you do not yet. The plan keeps the first 30 days for listening, unless you tell it the team is in trouble.
  2. Doing the team’s work yourself. It feels useful and it is familiar. The plan swaps the worker’s goals for team goals so your days go to the people.
  3. Leaving out your own manager. Five planned talks cover the story so far, what success looks like, how you work together, what you need and how you grow.
  4. Meeting only your own team. Your new peers, HR and the teams yours works with are on the list for the first month.

Questions people ask

What should a new manager do in the first 90 days?

Listen first, then fix, then lead. In days 1 to 30, meet each person one to one, sit with the team on real work and learn the team’s numbers. In days 31 to 60, agree the top priorities with your own manager and fix one thing the team asked for. In days 61 to 90, set goals with each person and share a plan for the team for the next three months.

What is a 30-60-90 day plan for a new manager?

A written plan for your first three months leading a team, in three parts of 30 days. Each part has a focus, a few goals with a way to tell each is done, and dated tasks. For a manager, most of those goals are about the team: knowing each person, knowing the numbers, and giving the team a clear plan.

How is a manager’s 30-60-90 day plan different from an employee’s?

An employee’s plan ends with doing the job alone. A manager’s plan ends with the team on track and a plan for what comes next. This page swaps the goals written for the person doing the work for team goals, adds one-on-ones and a team meeting, and puts your new peers and your HR contact on the list of people to meet.

Should a new manager change things in the first 30 days?

Mostly no. The team knows things you do not know yet, so the first 30 days of the plan are for learning. The exception is a team in trouble: under “What you walk into” pick “Things are going badly and need a fix”, and the plan finds the biggest problems early and fixes one quickly to show things can change.

What do I ask in my first one-on-one with each person on my team?

Keep it about them: what they work on, what goes well, what is in their way, and what they think you should know. Listen more than you talk and write the answers down. The plan books these talks from day 3 and has you sit with each person for an hour of their real work in the first weeks.

I was promoted to manage my old team. Does this plan still work?

Yes. Keep “Manager of a team” as your level, then delete what you have already done, like learning the tools. Keep the one-on-ones, even with people you know well: the talk is different now that you are their manager.

How many goals should a new manager set for the first 90 days?

One to five for each 30 days, each with a number, a date or a sign-off that shows it is done. The plan check on the page counts this and tells you what to fix. Where a number depends on your team, the goal has a [blank] to fill in with the figure your manager gives you.

The interview for a manager job asks for a 30-60-90 day plan. What do I present?

Pick “I will present it in an interview” on the first step. Present it then gives you a one-page plan, slides (PowerPoint or PDF) and what to say, ending with a question for the interviewer. For a manager role, show how you will learn the team before you change it, and how you will measure the team’s results.

Is it free, and is my plan stored?

It is free, with no sign-up and no paywall at the result. Your plan is saved in this browser, and you can save it to a file. What you send to the AI is saved to ClapAssist so our tools can fill it in for you next time; see or delete it at clapassist.com/my-data/. The AI buttons are optional and send only what each button needs.

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