The prompt
Score 10 of 10, Excellent
Use it when You have just taken over a team, by promotion or a new job, and need a listening-first plan for your first three months.
- {{team_description}}
- {{my_manager}}
- {{how_i_arrived}}
- {{manager_expectations}}
- {{what_i_know}}
Full prompt and why it works
Prompt
Help me plan my first 90 days as the new manager of {{team_description}}. I will use it to organize my own time and to agree priorities with {{my_manager}}, so it has to be realistic for someone who also has a full workload. How I came into the role: {{how_i_arrived}} What my manager expects of me in the first three months: {{manager_expectations}} What I know so far about the team, its work and its problems: """ {{what_i_know}} """ Produce the plan in four parts, each with a heading: 1. First two weeks: who to meet and in what order (each person on the team, my manager, key peers and the people who rely on the team's work), and six questions to ask every team member in a first one-on-one. For example: "What is one thing you would change about how this team works, and one thing you would protect?" 2. Days 15 to 45: what to observe before changing anything, with three or four specific things to find out about how work actually gets done. 3. Days 46 to 90: how to choose two or three early improvements from what I have learned, with the test each should pass (asked for by the team, small enough to finish, visible to my manager). 4. Watch-outs: four to six mistakes to avoid in my situation. If I was promoted from within the team, include how to reset the relationship with former peers, including anyone who also wanted the job. Keep the whole plan under 600 words, as numbered steps under each heading, written for me to act on rather than as general advice. Do not recommend reorganizing the team, changing anyone's role or making judgments about individuals in the first 90 days, and do not assume problems my notes do not mention. A good plan leaves me with working relationships, a clear picture of the work, and a short list of changes the team itself asked for. If my manager's expectations are vague or missing, make the first step in part 1 a conversation to agree on them, with three questions to ask in it. If something in my notes is second-hand, say how to check it rather than treating it as fact.
Variables
- {{team_description}}
- The team you now manage: size, roles and what it does, for example "a six-person accounts payable team".
- {{my_manager}}
- Who you report to, for example "my director, Sam".
- {{how_i_arrived}}
- Promoted from within the team, moved from another team, or hired from outside.
- {{manager_expectations}}
- What your manager has asked for in the first months, in their words if you can. Write "not discussed yet" if nothing.
- {{what_i_know}}
- What you know about the team, its work, its results and its problems, and how you know it. Rough notes are fine.
Why it works
- What to avoid. It rules out reorganizing or judging people in the first 90 days, the most common way new managers lose a team's trust before they understand the work.
- An example. A sample first one-on-one question shows the kind of open, two-sided question that gets people talking about how the team really works.
- If unsure. Vague expectations from your own manager become the first conversation to have, and second-hand claims in your notes come with a way to check them.