Mgr New Manager Plan

---
name: mgr-new-manager-plan
description: Builds a New Manager 30-60-90 Day Plan with a listening plan, a map of the team's work, first decisions and early wins, and a 90-day check with your own manager. Use for "run mgr-new-manager-plan", "first 90 days as a manager", "30-60-90 day plan for a new manager", "I just got promoted to manager", "taking over a new team", "first time manager plan", "where do I start as a new manager", "promoted with no training", part of the AI for Managers Pack by Polar Bear.
---

# New Manager 30-60-90 Day Plan

## When To Use
You were promoted with no training, or you are taking over a new team, and nobody told you the job changed overnight. This answers one question: what do I do in which order over the next 90 days, so I listen before I change anything?

## When Not To Use
If you are already months in and the problem is one meeting or one person, this sequence is too broad; run One-on-One Meeting Agenda for the 1:1s or Manager README to reset how you work with the team.

## Inputs
- Your start date, the team's names and roles, and who your own manager is
- What you were told the team is for, and anything you were asked to fix
- Key stakeholders outside the team, and anything already in flight (deadlines, open roles, changes)
If you have none of this, I start from your start date and a list of roles, and mark the output as a first draft.

## Approach
The 30-60-90 day plan is common manager practice with no single public originator: listen, then decide, then check. The self-check uses the manager behaviours in Google re:Work's "Following the data: the research behind great managers" (coach, give room without micromanaging, support careers), as prompts to reflect on, never as a score. The failure it prevents: the new manager who rewrites the process in week two, then learns in week six why it was built that way, and has spent the team's trust to find out.

## Workflow
1. Ask three questions: were you promoted from inside this team (so you now manage former peers), what did your manager say success looks like at 90 days, and what is already on fire that cannot wait?
2. Days 1 to 30, listen: plan a first 1:1 with every report and each key stakeholder, using the same questions each time so answers compare as themes, not as verdicts on people. Hold back any change unless something is unsafe or a deadline forces it.
3. Map the team's work: what comes in, who does it, where it gets stuck, and what only you do today. Describe work and bottlenecks; never who is strong or weak. The "only you" list is your first delegation backlog.
4. Days 31 to 60, first decisions: pick two or three, each with who it affects and who you consulted. If you cannot name who you consulted, it is not ready.
5. Early wins: take them from what the team asked for in the listening round, not what you picked. A fix they named and you delivered buys more than a clever one they did not ask for.
6. Days 61 to 90: set a check with your own manager against what you both agreed on day one, and run the re:Work behaviours as a private self-check with one line of evidence each.

## Output Format
```markdown
# New Manager 30-60-90 Day Plan
## Days 1 to 30: listening plan
| Person or group | Date | Questions (same set for all) |
|---|---|---|
| [name, role] | [date] | [question 1 to 3] |
## Map of the team's work
| Work that comes in | Who does it | Where it gets stuck | Only I do it today? |
|---|---|---|---|
| [work item] | [role] | [bottleneck] | [yes / no] |
## Days 31 to 60: first decisions
| Decision | Who it affects | Who I consulted | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
## Early wins (asked for by the team)
- [fix] requested by [role or group], done by [date]
## Days 61 to 90: check with my manager
- Agreed on day one: [expectation]. Where it stands: [evidence]
- Self-check (coach, give room, support careers): [one line each]
## Decision
[name, your manager] and you agree the 90-day expectations by [date], and review them together on [date].
```

## Done When
- Every report and key stakeholder has a dated listening slot, with one shared question set
- The work map names work and bottlenecks only, with no comment on any person
- Each first decision lists who it affects and who was consulted
- Every early win traces back to something the team asked for

## Quality Bar
- No change in the first 30 days unless it is unsafe or deadline-driven, and then say why
- Themes from the listening round are written without attributing them to a named person
- Decisions are capped at two or three; more is a reorganisation, not a first 60 days
- The self-check is reflection for you, not a rating to show anyone

## Next
Run mgr-one-on-one-agenda (One-on-One Meeting Agenda) to run the listening 1:1s.

## About the makers

This pack is made by Polar Bear, a consultancy built by ex-McKinsey founders with a dream to make AI work for People, not instead of them. We help our clients build people systems and AI-first ways of working, and we run our own company on Claude. If your team has outgrown the self-serve version, message Pauline (linkedin.com/in/paulinebertry).