book_notes_first_90_days.md.rkt

#lang scribble/text
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---
path: "/book_notes/first_90_days"
title: "Book Notes: First 90 Days"
---

# Table Of Contents

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# Notes

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
        #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 4 ]{
The first proposition is that the _root cause of transition failure always lie in a pernicious interaction between the situation, with its opportunies and pitfalls, and the individual, with his or her strength and or vulnerabilities.
}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
        #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 4 ]{
The second proposition is that there are systematic methods that leaders can emply to both lessen the likeihood of failure and reach the breakeven point faster}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
        #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 5 ]{
The third preposition is that the overrriding goal in a transition is to build momenteum by creating virtuous cycles that build credability and by avodiing getting caught in vicious cycles that damage credability}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
        #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 5 ]{
Too often, however, the new leader behaves more like a virus: her early actions alienate potential supporters, undermine her credability and stimulate defensive reactions. As a vicious cycle takes hold the organization's immune system gets activated and the new leader is attacked by clumps of killer cells, encapsulated and finally expelled.
}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
        #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 5 ]{
The forth prepositon is that transitions are a crucible for leadership development and should be managed accordingly
}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
        #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 8 ]{
Studies have found that more than 40-50 percent of senior outside hires fail to achieve desired results}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
        #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 11 ]{
Now suppose instead that the new hire is counseled to figure out early on whether his new job is a _start-up_, _turnaround_, or _sustained success_ situation.}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
        #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 15 ]{
Conceptual backbone of the road map is a ten key transition challege:

  1. Promote yourself
  2. Accelerate your learning
  3. Match strategy to situation (you need to diagnose the business situation accurately and clarfiy its challenges and opportunities)
  4. Secure early wins (Early wins buid your credability and create momenteum)
  5. Negotiate success (you need to figure out how to have a productive working relationship with your new boss and manage his/her expectations. This means carefully planning for a series of critical conversations about the situation, expectations, style, resources and personal development.
  6. Achieve alignment (The higher your rise in an org the more you have to play the role of organizational architect)
  7. Build your team
  8. Create coalations (Your success will depend on your ability to influence people outside of your direct line of control)
  9. Keep your balance
  10. Expidite everyone
 }

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
        #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 18 ]{
A related mistake is to believe that you will be successful in your new job by contineing to do what you did in your previous job, only more so. This thinking is destructive because doing what you know how to do and avoiding what you don't can appear to work, at least for a while
}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
        #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 22 ]{
Hit the ground running: regardless of how much preperation time you get, start planning what you hope to accomplish by specfic milestones. What do you want by the end of that day? Then move on to the first week. Focus on the end of the first month, the second month, and finally the three month mark.
}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
        #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 22 ]{
Access your vulnerabilties: As one senior executive expressed it: 'everyone has an urge to work at one level below where they are. You need to work where you are, not where you were. Access your performance preferences: the kinds of problems you naturally gravitate.}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
        #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 24 ]{

Accessment of problem preferences:

|design of appasial and reward systems   | employee morale   | Equity-Fairness   |
|Management of financial risk   |Budgeting   | Cost Consciousness   |
|product positioning   | relationships with customers   | organizational customer focus   |
|Product or service quality   | relationships with distributors and suppliers   | continous improvement   |
| Project management systems | relationships amoung R&D, marketting and ops | cross functional cooperation |
}

@quote-note[
	#:title       "Ask Your Developer"
	#:author      "Lawson"
	#:page-number 127
	#:original-highlight ""]{
Ryan's thoughts on this table for engineers

| design and apprasal of relevant systems   | morale  | equity/fairness   |
| managment of project/technical risk  | agile   | product positions  |
| relationships with clients/customers  | organizational / project focus   | product or service quality  |
|continuous improvement   | relationship between R&D marketting and ops   | cross team cross functiona cooperation  |
| CI/CD   | clod infra  | performance  |
| deep SME expertise  | monitoring/operations  | architecture  |
| leadership  | stack  | team/co size   |
}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
        #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 24 ]{
If you have done the exercise and ranked your interest in each of these problems with 1-10, then if one column is noticably lower than the others it represents a potential blind spot for you}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
        #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 27 ]{
Your weaknesses make you vulnerable but so do your strengths
}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
        #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 28 ]{
Because they have rarely failed, they have never learned how to learn from failure. So whenever their learning strageies go wrong they become defensive, screen out criticism, and put hte "blame" on anyone and everyone but themselves}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
        #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 21 ]{
Acceleration checklist:
  1. what has made you successful in your career? Can you succeed in your new psotion by relying soley on those strengths? If not, what are the critical skills you need to develop?
  2. Are there aspects of your new job that are critical to success but that you prefer not to focus on? Why is that the case?
  3. What do you need to do to ensure that you make the mental leap into the new position?
  }

  @quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
        #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 36 ]{
Baseline question that every new leader should ask is, "how did you get to this point?"}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
        #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 24 ]{
Effective learning calls for figuring out what you need to learn so you can focus you efforts. [...] Efficent learning means identifying the best availbile sources of insight and then figuring out how to extract maximum insight with the least possible outlay of your precious time}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
        #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 47 ]{
Your learning agenda defines _what_ you need to learn. Your learning plan defines _how_ to go about learning it}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
        #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 49 ]{
The heart of your learning plan is a cyclical learning process in which you collect information, analyize and distill it, develop hypothesis, and thest them, thus progressively deepening your understanding of your new organization}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
        #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 61 ]{
What are the defining features of each of the four STaRS situations?
  * in a Startup you are charged with assembling capabilities (people, funding, tech) to get the project off the ground.
  * TurnAround you take on a unit or group that is recognized to be in trouble and work with them to get back on track
  * Realginment your challenge is to revitalize a unit, product, proces or projecct that is drifting into trouble
  * Sustaining(-Succcess) you are sholdering the responsbility for preserving the viality of a successful organization and taking it to the next level}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
        #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 68 ]{
To put it another way, in turnarounds the problems teach the people about the need for major changes. In realginments, by contrast, you musts teach people about the problems}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
        #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 69 ]{
In particular, clarity helps you make three fundimental early choices:
  1. How much emphasis will you place on learning as opposed to doing?
  2. How much emphasis will you place on offense as opposed to defense?
  3. What should you do to get some early wins?
}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
        #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 72 ]{
Securing early wins

But what is a win differs drastically among the four situations.

  * In a start-up, getting the right team in place an achieving strategic focus are key wins.
  * In turnarounds, getting the right team in place is also a potential early win, as idenfitying the defendable core of the business and making major progress in paring the organization back up to it.
  * In realignments, gaining acceptance of the need for change and instilling a sense of urgency are often big wins
  * in sustaining success situations, gaining and displayin understanding of what has made the organization successful is a key early win, because it helps you win the right to make decisions about the organization's future.}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
        #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 75 ]{
This should be part of a broader, four demensional, approach to high-potential talent development. The four dimensions are:
  * Managerial functions
  * Geographic regions
  * Career crossroads
  * STaRS business situations
  }

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
        #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 76 ]{
Do you watn to develop different horses for differnent courses ' for example, specialists in turnarounds and startups? Or do you want to develop people who can hunt and farm in a wide variety of business situations? If the former you should select specailists with the right inclinations and give them increasing responsibiltites in those speciic situations. If the latter, then your future general managers should get expereicne with a spectrum of business situations, and you should coach them to succeeed in each.}

@quote-note[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
	#:page-number 79
	#:original-highlight "Elena began by communicating her goals to employees. In a series of memos and small-group meetings she laid out a vision for more participative, more problem solving culture. These overtures met with skepticism from frontline employees and outirght distrust from some supervisors"]{Ddid these match how the team works in a _Seeing Organizational Patterns_ type way?}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
        #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 81 ]{Avoding common traps:
  * Failing to focus (It's too easy to take on too much during a transiton and results can be ruinous.)
  * Not taking the business into account (What constitutes an early win will differ dramatically from one buisness situation to another)
  * Not adjusting for culture (Be sure to understand what your buisness does and not does constitute as a win)
  * Failing to get wins that matter to your boss
  * Lettingyour means undermine the ends (An early win that is accomplished in a way that exemplifies the behavior you hope to install in your new organiation is a double win}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
        #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 84 ]{
Each wave [of change] ought to consist of distinct phases: learning, designing the changes, building support, implementing the changes, and observing results. Thinking this way ccan release you to spend time up front to learn and prepare, and afterwards to consolidate and get ready for the next wave.}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
        #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 84 ]{
The goal of the first wave of change is to secure early wins}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
    #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 84 ]{
The second wave of change address more fundimental issues of strategy, structure, systems, and skills to reshape the organization.}

@quote-note[
	#:title       "First 90 days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
	#:page-number 85
	#:original-highlight "In the frist 90 days, a key goal is to build personal credability and create organizational momemteum. You can do this by securing some early wins"]{
	* old jobs: 90 days
	* modern jobs: 9 days
	* new jobs: 90 billable minutes
}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
    #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 85 ]{Specfically, your efforts to secure early wins would be:
	1. consistent with your A-item buisness priorities
	2. introduce the new pattersn of behavior you want to introduce in the organization}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
    #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 86 ]{
Defining your A-item priorities:
  1. A-item priorities should follow naturally from core problems. Establishing A-item priorities calls for pinpointing the critical areas of your organization that demand attention, as well as those that offer the greatest opportunties to dramatic improvement in performance.
  2. A-item priorities should be neither too general nor too specfic
  3. A-item priorities should offer clear direction yet allow for flexability while you learn about the situation}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
    #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 90 ]{
Your credability, or lack of it, will depend on how people in the organization would answer the following questions about you:
  * do you have the insight and stediness to make decisions?
  * do you have values that they releate to, admire, and want to emulate?
  * do you have the right kind of energy?
  * do you demand high levels of performance from yourself and others?}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
    #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 91 ]{
In general, though new leaders are perceieved as more credible when they are:
  * demaing but able to be satisfied: effective leaders press people to make realistic commitements and hold them to promises
  * accessible but not too familiar
  * decisive but judicious
  * focused but flexible
  * active without causing commotion
  * willing to make tough calls but humane
}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
    #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 93 ]{
identify two or thre key areas, at most, where you will seek to achieve rapid improvement}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
    #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 94 ]{
  * keep your long term goals in mind
  * identify a few promising focal points
  * concentrate on the most promising focal points
}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
    #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 101 ]{
Simply blowing up the eisting culture and starting over is rarely the right answer. People - and organizations - have limits on the change they can absob all at once}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
    #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 104 ]{It is wise to _negotiate success_ so you don't play a losing hand}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
    #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 104 ]{
Negotitating success means practively engaging with your new bos to shape the game so you have a fighting chance of achieving desired goals}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
    #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 105 ]{
What you need from a boss also varies among the various STaRS business situations. If you are in a realgihmentm you need your boss to help you make the case for change. In a sustaining-access situation, you will need to help to learn about the business and avoid early mistakes that threaten the core assets. In startups, you need resources and protection from too much higher-level interference. In turnarounds, you need to be pushed to cut back the business to the defendable core quickly.}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
    #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 106 ]{
Focusing on the fundimentals:
  * Don't trash the past
  * don't stay away
  * don't surprise your boss
  * don't approach your boss only with problems
  * don't run down your checklist
  * take 100% responsibility for making the relationship work.
  * clarify mutual expectations early and often
  * negotitate timelines for diagnosis and action planning
  * aim for early wins in areas important to the boss
  * Persue good marks from those whose opinions your boss respects}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
    #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 109 ]{
Prepare for five conversations:
  * The situational diagnosis conversation (how your new boss sees the buisness situation)
  * The expectations conversation (seek and negotitate expectations, align your-both expectations around the future)
  * style conversation
  * resource conversation
  * personal development conversation (what areas do you need improvement? Are there projects or special assignments you could undertake (without sacrificing focus) Are there coruses or programs that would strengthen your capabilities?)}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
    #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 114 ]{
Whatever your priorities, pinpoint what your boss cares about most and aim for some early wins in that area}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
    #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 114 ]{
If you are uncertain, float an idea gentely as a trial balloon and then watch the boss's reaction closely.}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
    #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 119 ]{
Intitially, expect to be confined to a relatively small box. As your new boss gains confidence in you, the dimensions of the box should increase. if not, or if it remains too small to allow you to be effective, you may have to address the issue directly.}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
    #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 122 ]{
You may be able to achieve your goals by playing the game according to the prevailing rules... In other situations - notably realignments and turnarounds - you may need to change or even abandon establighed ways of doing buisness.}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
    #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 124 ]{
Don't restrict your focus to hard skills. The higher you rise the more important key soft skills of cultural and poltical diagnosis, negotitaion, colation building, and conflict management will become.}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
    #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 124 ]{
Your 90 day plan should be written, even if it just consists of bullet points. It should specify priorities and goals as well as milestones. Critically, you should share it with your boss and seek buy-in for it}

@quote-note[
	#:title       "First 90 days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
	#:page-number 130
	#:original-highlight "The higher you climb in organizations, the more you take on the role of organizational architect, creating the context in which others can achieve superior performance. No matter how charismatic you are, you cannot hope to do much if the key elements in your unit are fundimentally out of alighment"]{OR organization not matching prevailing Organizational Pattern!}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
    #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 133 ]{Identifying misalignments:
  * skills and strategy misalignment
  * systems and strategy misalignment
  * structure and systems misalignment
}
@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
    #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 149 ]{
A skills base comprises of these four types of knowledge:
  * individual expertise
  * relational knowledge
  * embedded knowledge
  * meta-knowledge}

@quote-note[
	#:title       "First 90 days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
	#:page-number 150
	]{This may be part of onboarding and/or talent acquisition, not just team skills inventory}

@quote-note[
	#:title       "First 90 days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
	#:page-number 186
	#:original-highlight "One common mistake of new leaders is to devote too much of their transiton time to the verticle dimension of influence - upwards towards bosses and downwards to direct reports - and not enough to the horizontal dimension, namely peers and external contituencies."]{ESPECIALLY horizontal, see _Art of being Indispensible at Work_}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
    #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 187 ]{Start by identifying the key interfaces between your unti and group and others}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
    #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 188 ]{
The usual sources of power in an organization are:
  * expertise
  * access to information
  * status
  * control of resources, such as budgets and rewards
  * personal loyality}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
    #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 190 ]{
The point of influence mapping is to help you identify supporters, opponents, and "convincables" - people who can be persuaded with the right influence strategy}

@quote-highlight[
	#:title       "First 90 Days"
	#:author      "Watkins"
    #:is-book?     't
	#:page-number 219 ]{Buil your advise-and-counsel network. As a starting point you need to cultivate three types of advice givers:
  * technical advisors
  * cultural interpreters
  * political counselors}