Stepping into a Leadership Role: The First 30-45 Days
Whether it’s your first time or with a new team, taking on a leadership role comes with excitement and nerves. You’re eager to get started, but there’s always some apprehension about the unknown. In today’s fast-paced world, where there’s little time to settle in, the first 30-45 days are crucial for setting the tone for your success as a leader.
In my experience, leaders often spend this initial onboarding phase in one of two extremes:
Focusing on technical knowledge: They dive deeply into learning every technical detail about the product, platform, or service their team supports.
Focusing on people: They invest heavily in getting to know the individuals on their team, aiming to understand everyone on a personal level.
While neither of these approaches is inherently wrong—both are important in the long run—it’s essential to remember that the first priority of any leader should be to grasp the team’s portfolio, structure, and operations. Once this foundation is established, you can then continue to build expertise in the technical aspects and invest time in understanding your team members.
Below is a checklist I’ve developed through my experience onboarding new teams. These steps have proven effective regardless of the domain or ecosystem:
1. Organizational Overview
“Why”: Understand the purpose and core mission of the organization.
Values and Culture: Familiarize yourself with the organization’s core values and cultural norms.
Leadership Goals: Align with the leadership team on key objectives and desired outcomes.
2. Organizational Structure
Org Chart: Review the organizational hierarchy and reporting structure.
Budget: Gain an understanding of the budget allocation and historical annual burn rates.
3. Current State Analysis
Vertical Ownership (Estate): Assess what the team currently owns and manages across different business verticals.
RACI Chart: Review the Responsibilities, Accountabilities, Consulted, and Informed (RACI) chart for clarity on roles within the organization and across verticals.
Roadmaps: Understand the current roadmap, tech debt, and future backlog.
Headcount Needs: Evaluate current headcounts and determine if there are gaps or overages.
Talent Management (A/B/C Matrix): Analyze talent levels using an A/B/C categorization to understand the team’s strengths and development areas.
4. Operations and Workflow
Work Intake: Understand how new work is brought into the team.
Capacity Planning: Review how capacity is planned and distributed across the team.
Policies, Operations, and Procedures: Review current operational processes, including what is working and what isn’t.
Risk Areas: Identify and document areas of potential risk.
5. KPIs and Branding- Establish metrics and reporting to measure and broadcast the progress and success of team's deliverables.
