Leading teams - 90days to 180days

“Where there is no vision, there is no hope.” - George Washington Carver

We are winding down the year, and the new year typically ushers in new opportunities, including opportunities at work. If you are thinking about starting a new gig, you may have heard of the 90 day plan.  

In just the past couple years, I have had the opportunity to build three teams from ground up. They have ranged from new teams to acquired and merged teams. I have practiced and shared what I would call the 180 day plan and seen it come to life time and time again. The 180 day plan allows you to establish yourself and your team in your organization in three main steps.
Here is how it works:

1. Establish yourself: In this stage, you are learning what your role is, what your team does, who is in your team, who your stakeholders are, what all the various parties need and where you are in delivering those needs. You are also setting up the stage so that your team and stakeholders know who you are and how you work, while you learn the same about them.
2. Create a vision: Here you are setting the vision for your team, clarifying and re-clarifying with leadership, stakeholders, and team to craft what it is that your team is charted to do, how you work with various stakeholders and what the world looks like when you have accomplished your mission. You might experience a "dip" in enthusiasm of your team's existence, don't get discouraged, stay the course. It is fairly normal for people to react to change, and you setting a vision could mean change for teams and stakeholders. What's key is reframe, readjust and repeat.
3. Implement the vision: At this point, you are in execution mode, bringing to life, the vision you have set. Remember that the vision may not be crystal clear just yet, but you can definitely see the outline. This is the point where you test out that vision. You may learn something that helps clarify your vision more. You may update your vision to vision 2.0. At the end of this phase, you, your team and stakeholders will see the impact of your vision come to life!

Congratulations! You've hit a key milestone and shown resilience and diligence. Don't forget to celebrate this milestone. You still have a long dusty road ahead, but recognizing the little wins is a great way to enjoy the journey.