As my first 90 days in this new leadership position draws to a close, I find myself sitting blankly in front of my luxurious company laptop, dissatisfied and disappointed with myself. 90 days or __ hours later since I started, what do I have to show for myself? Too little, by my own judgement.
Sure, I've kicked off a few projects with high visibility: launching a new portal for students and faculty, and migrating to Salesforce from Intelliworks. And I'm working with fortuitous support from great colleagues to roll out a transformational communication tool, Chatter. Also, I'm setting performance goals with my direct reports that I plan to reinforce in order to focus our efforts.
But I can't shake the feeling that I'm starting to run faster and faster on a shaky foundation that I have less and less time to solidify. With one staff member gone just before I arrived, and with another one on his way out right now, have I really established the right rapport with the right people to continue advancing the organization's mission? Am I really running the department? Or am I just riding my staff's previous momentum?
At this critical milestone, 90 days since day 1, I find myself in an uncomfortable position of my own creation. Fortunately, I believe that if I have the power to dig a hole for myself, I also have the power to elevate myself to better heights.
In short, it's never too late to stop, hit the reset button, and put yourself back on the right path.
In managerial accounting, there's a concept that's supposed to help us move forward without the baggage of the past. If you guessed "sunk costs" for the concept, then you're on the same wavelength as me. I look at my previous work, good and bad, as sunk costs. The experience and knowledge should be treated as objective data for consideration in future decisions. What was good can be sustained. What was bad can be stopped. And what I should have done but didn't do can be started. As long as I remember that the past does not determine the future, I wield ultimate control of my performance and contribution to the organization.
So, I am mentally hitting the reset button, picking up a copy of Michael Watkins' The First 90 Days and taking charge of the next 90 days. In the words of a favorite song on my playlist: "... we'll turn it all around 'cause it's not too late. It's never too late."
