All guides · Starting out

New manager checklist: what to do before day one and in your first 90 days

A new manager's checklist has five parts: get clear with your own boss on what success looks like, sort the admin that only a manager can do, meet every person on the team one to one, set a steady rhythm of meetings and updates, and pick one or two early fixes the team actually wants. The order matters: listen for the first month, set expectations in the second, change things in the third. Below is every item, when to do it, and what it looks like when it's done.

This checklist is for first-time managers, whether you were promoted from the team or hired from outside. Copy it into your notes app and tick as you go. Each item has a "done when" so you know you've actually finished it, not just started. If you only have five minutes, jump to the 10-item version.

Before your first day as a manager

Most of this is one conversation with your boss and an hour of reading. Do it in the week before you start, or in the first two days if the move happened overnight.

The question new managers skip most is the second one. If you don't know whether you can approve a shift swap or a $200 purchase, you'll either freeze or overstep in week one. Ask for the limits in writing, or write them down and send them back to your boss: "Just to check I've got it: I can approve time off and spend up to $500 without asking; hiring and pay changes go through you. Right?"

If you were promoted from inside the team, add one more item: ask your boss who else applied for the job. You need to know before your first 1:1 with them. Our guide to managing former peers covers that conversation.

The manager admin to sort in week one

This is the dull part, and it's where new managers get caught out first. Someone's leave request sits unapproved for a week because you didn't know it was in your queue. Do these in the first three days.

• Systems access. Done when you can see and approve time off, timesheets or schedules, expenses and purchase requests for your team.
• The approval queue. Done when you've cleared anything that was waiting for your predecessor and know where new requests will show up.
• Pay and leave basics. Done when you know how overtime, sick days, breaks and schedule changes work at your company, and who in HR to call. Rules on overtime and breaks differ by country and by state, so ask rather than assume.
• The team's documents. Done when you've found the shared drive, the team's goals, any process docs and the on-call or rota rules.
• Who your team depends on. Done when you have a list of the five to ten people outside your team whose work yours relies on, or who rely on yours.
• HR contact. Done when you know your HR partner's name and have said hello. You want that first conversation to happen before there's a problem.
• Manager training. Done when you've booked whatever your company offers. Many companies have a new manager course nobody tells you about; ask HR directly.

Week one: meet the team, change nothing

Your goal in week one is to be seen, to listen, and to make no big changes. Teams expect a new manager to arrive with a plan. Showing up with questions instead earns you more trust than any plan.

1. Send a short hello. A few lines on who you are, what you'll do first (meet each person), and when the first team meeting is. Our guide on how to introduce yourself to your team as a new manager has emails to copy. Done when it's sent the morning of day one or the night before.
2. Hold a first team meeting. 30 to 45 minutes: who you are, how you like to work, what happens next, and their questions. Done when the team knows the plan for your first month. See how to conduct your first team meeting for an agenda.
3. Start first 1:1s with every report. 30 to 45 minutes each, mostly listening. Done when you've met everyone or booked the rest for week two. Our first one on one meeting guide has the questions.
4. Meet your own boss weekly. Done when a recurring slot is in both calendars.
5. Write down what you hear. One page: what people like, what frustrates them, ideas they've had. Done when you have notes from every 1:1.
6. Do one small, visible favour. Unblock a stuck request, get someone the tool they asked for. Done when one person can say "the new manager fixed that."

The questions that do the most work in first 1:1s:

• "What should I make sure I don't change?"
• "What's slowing you down that I might be able to fix?"
• "How do you like to get feedback, and how often?"
• "What did your last manager do that helped? What didn't?"

For a day-by-day version of this week, see our plan for your first week as a new manager.

Days 1 to 30: listen and learn the work

Michael Watkins, author of The First 90 Days, a standard book on starting a new role, calls this phase "accelerating your learning": the faster you understand the work and the people, the sooner you can act without making expensive mistakes. In practice:

The last item is the hard one. You'll see things that look wrong in week two. Write them down. Some will turn out to have a reason you didn't know about; the rest will still be there in week five, and by then you'll have the team's trust to change them.

Days 31 to 60: set expectations and a rhythm

By now you know the people and the work. This is the month to make the rules of the game clear.

• Write down what you expect. How fast to reply, how to flag a problem, what "done" means, how decisions get made. Done when you've shared it with the team and talked it through. Our guide on how to set expectations with employees has a one-page template.
• Agree goals with each person. Two or three goals each, with a date and a way to check. Done when each person can tell you their goals without looking.
• Set the meeting rhythm. A weekly team meeting, regular 1:1s, maybe a short daily check-in. Done when it's in calendars and people know what each one is for. See how to run an effective team meeting.
• Give your first real feedback. Praise something specific in week five, and raise one thing that needs to change, early and small. Done when every person has heard at least one specific piece of feedback from you. See how to give feedback to an employee.
• Start delegating. Hand off one task you've been holding onto. Done when it's someone else's, with a clear brief. See how to delegate as a manager.
• Land one early win. Fix one problem from your shortlist, ideally one the team named. Done when it's fixed and you've said thanks to whoever raised it.

Days 61 to 90: improve and plan ahead

• Deal with what you've been putting off. The person who is struggling, the conflict between two people, the process everyone hates. Done when each has had its first conversation. Our guide to difficult conversations with employees has openings to use.
• Ask for feedback on yourself. "What's one thing I should start doing, and one I should stop?" Done when you've asked every report and your boss, and acted on one answer.
• Talk growth with each person. Where do they want to be in a year? Done when each person has one development step agreed.
• Review your 90-day goals with your boss. Done when you've gone through the three lines you wrote before day one and agreed the next quarter's.
• Write down how the team works. Who does what, where things live, how to cover for each other. Done when someone new could read it and find their way.
• Book your own learning. A course, a mentor, a book. Done when it's in the calendar. Our list of first time manager books is a place to start.

For a fuller version of these three months, with a filled-in example and goals you can measure, see our 30-60-90 day plan for new managers.

Want the words for each of these talks, a day at a time? Take the 2-minute quiz and get a 10-minute lesson and one script a day for your first 30 days.

Extra items if you were promoted from the team

Being promoted over the people you used to sit with changes some of the checklist:

• Name the change once. In the first team meeting: "This is new for all of us. I'm the same person; my job is different now." Done when you've said it, once, and moved on.
• Have a 1:1 with anyone who also applied. Acknowledge it, ask what they want next, and offer to help with it. Done in week one.
• Talk to close friends on the team privately. Say what changes (you'll see their reviews, you'll need to treat everyone the same) and what doesn't. Done before the first awkward moment, not after.
• Step out of the gossip. Done when you've stopped joining complaints about leadership, now that you are part of it.
• Hand off your old work. Done when someone else owns your old tasks and you've stopped being the go-to person for them.

Extra items if you were hired from outside

• Learn the history. Ask: "What has this team been through in the last year?" Re-orgs, layoffs, a manager who left. Done when you know the story the team tells itself.
• Find the informal leader. Usually the person others ask first. Done when you've had a longer 1:1 with them and asked for their help.
• Don't compare to your old job. "At my last company we..." lands badly in the first months. Done when you notice you've stopped saying it.
• Learn the unwritten rules. Who has to be copied on what, which meetings matter. Done when you've asked a peer manager to tell you what they wish they'd known.

What not to put on your checklist

Some things feel productive in the first month and cost you later:

• A re-org or new process in week one. Unless something is unsafe or broken, wait until you understand why it's the way it is.
• Promises about pay or promotions. Even hopeful ones ("I'll push for your raise") become commitments in people's minds. Say what you'll find out, not what will happen.
• Doing the team's work for them. It feels helpful and safe. It stops you doing the manager's job and tells the team you don't trust them.
• Judging people on your predecessor's notes alone. Read them, then make up your own mind from what you see.
• Saying yes to every meeting. Protect at least a few hours a week to think and plan.

Our list of common new manager mistakes covers these and more, with the words to recover if you've already made one.

The 10-item version, if you start tomorrow

1. Ask your boss what success looks like at 90 days, in three lines.
2. Ask what you can decide alone (money, time off, hiring).
3. Get access to approvals and clear the queue.
4. Send the team a short hello.
5. Hold a 30-minute first team meeting.
6. Book a 1:1 with every report in the first two weeks.
7. Ask each one what not to change and what slows them down.
8. Change nothing big for the first month.
9. Fix one small thing someone asked for.
10. Book a weekly slot with your own boss.

How to tell if it's working

At 90 days, a few signs say you're on track:

• People bring you problems early, before they become emergencies.
• Each person can say what's expected of them without checking.
• 1:1s happen and people add their own topics to them.
• Your boss isn't hearing about your team's issues before you do.
• You're doing less of the team's work yourself than in month one.

If most of these aren't true, don't start over. Pick the one that matters most, usually 1:1s or expectations, and go back to that part of the checklist. Not sure which habits you lean on under pressure? The free leadership style quiz takes about 2 minutes and shows which conversations your style tends to put off.

Questions about the new manager checklist

What should a new manager do first?

Talk to your own boss about what success looks like and what you can decide alone, then meet each person on your team one to one. Everything else on the checklist goes better once those two are done.

How long does it take to settle in as a new manager?

Plan on about three months to know the work, the people and your limits, which is why most plans, including Watkins's, are built around 90 days. Many first-time managers say the role still feels new for most of the first year.

Should a new manager make changes right away?

Only if something is unsafe, broken or against the rules. Otherwise, listen for the first month. You'll make better changes, and the team will back them because you asked first.

What should a new manager ask HR?

Ask how time off, overtime and schedule changes are approved, what manager training exists, what you can and can't say about pay, and who to call when a performance or conduct problem comes up.

What's the difference between this checklist and a 30-60-90 day plan?

The checklist is the list of things to tick off. A 30-60-90 day plan is the goals you agree with your boss for each month. Most new managers use both: the plan for what to achieve, the checklist so nothing gets missed.

Is there a checklist for onboarding new hires too?

That's a different list, for when someone joins your team. The first few items overlap: a hello before they start, a first 1:1 in week one, clear expectations by the end of the first month.

Next: take the free leadership style quiz to see which of these items your style will find hardest, or browse all our guides for new managers.

Sources

• Michael D. Watkins, The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter, updated and expanded edition, Harvard Business Review Press, 2013.
• Linda A. Hill, Becoming a Manager: How New Managers Master the Challenges of Leadership, 2nd edition, Harvard Business School Press, 2003.
• Andrew S. Grove, High Output Management, Random House, 1983.
• U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, overtime pay: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/overtime