Your First 90 Days Managing People: A New Manager's Guide to Impactful Leadership

by CK Bray

The 90-day plan for becoming the best boss you can be

How do you run a big meeting? Help your employees meet their goals? Hire someone? Master these skills and more with this indispensable guide to the first 30, 60, and 90 days in your new management role. Jump into the job with confidence as you navigate the dos and don'ts of first-time managers, learn to communicate effectively, delegate responsibilities clearly, and build the 5 qualities all great bosses have.

Take it step-by-step — This book is broken down into four the basics of good management, fostering trust with your colleagues, implementing management strategies, and adapting those strategies as the business evolves.

All forms of leadership — Expand your experience with techniques to help you address employee performance, stay open to feedback, manage stress, and balance your team's different skills—for the first 90 days and beyond.

Real-life examples — See these tools in action with reassuring stories about other new managers and how they learned from their missteps and their wins.

Learn how to be a respected and impactful leader with Your First 90 Days Managing People.

Genres: Business, Audiobook

Audible Audio

Published July 30, 2024

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Succinct and straightforward advice. Nothing here is earthshattering or novel, but solid.
The Audible version was convenient for listening at work, for work.

[Biggest Little Book Talker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great book/ audible!
I would recommend the physical book over the audible so you can highlight or take notes as you go. The first few chapters I had to slow down the audio too and back track to make sure I was getting everything.
Great book about the principles of become a manner, how to start off strong and keep the momentum going as well as deal with hard situations.
It is a lot of information thrown at you, I recommend listening to twice so you can make sure to get it all!
Here are some main take aways:
The basics
- Manager: Supervisor and influencer, someone who can work with others and inspire
- 3 P’s of effective management
- 1. People
- Best people in the proper roles to drive success to meat and deliver expectations
- 2. Process
- The right processes need to be in place and followed to ensure consistency and quality aka eliminating mistakes
- 3. Product
- Have Product that Meets the needs and the clients
- people always come first, business are based so relationships
- Put people in roles that builds employees up, provide training, trust employees in there area of contribution
- Get feedback to improve on inefficiency
- Product you deliver reflects your people and processes
- motivate, train, and provide feedback constantly
- Realize you will make mistakes and learn from them
Qualities of a good manager
- Great managers communicate, listen and get the employees to proceed everything as a reward
1. Strong communication (active listening)
2. Active listening
3. Demonstrate confidence
- People follow those they think will have them Succeeed
- 4 Ways to increase confidence
1. Posture
2. Direct eye contact
3. Remaining composed
4. Appear confident and give them a sense of security
4. Supporting team members
5. Manage through change and uncertainty
Pitfalls/ avoid
1. Not setting clear goals
2. Micromanaging
3. Not being receptive to feedback
4. Being to friendly
First 30 days
1. Always start strong
2. Foster trust
5 strategies to build strong rapport
1. Be Authentic (be self aware)
2. Keep your word
3. Praise in public and criticize in private
4. Create attainable challenges
5. Provide autonomy
“A manager exceeds when their employees succeed. When your team is successful you are successful.”

[Jens · Rating 4 out of 5]

- People first
- Trust and development
- Clear communication
- Adaptability

[Pattie Fore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Your First 90 Days Managing People" by CK Bray is a concise and practical guide for new managers seeking to navigate their initial months in a leadership role. Bray emphasizes that great leadership is a learned skill, not an innate trait, and provides a clear roadmap for developing these skills over the first 90 days.

The book is structured around actionable steps for each of the first three months, offering solid advice on how to build effective teams, communicate with clarity, and establish a positive workplace culture. Bray's approach is straightforward and easy to follow, making it accessible for those who might be stepping into a management role for the first time.

While the book doesn't present revolutionary new ideas in the realm of leadership, its strength lies in its simplicity and practicality. It's a short read, yet it packs in essential tips and strategies that can help new managers quickly get up to speed and start making a positive impact.

Overall, "Your First 90 Days Managing People" is a valuable resource for anyone looking to transition smoothly into a management position. It provides a solid foundation of advice that, while not groundbreaking, is undeniably useful and effective. Whether you're a new manager or looking to brush up on your leadership skills, this book is a worthy addition to your reading list.

Thank you to NetGalley and CK Bray for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

[Darya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book overall on the first 90 days as a manager. If you are a first time manager, this can be a solid guide in you first 90 days journey with good examples, some wisdom and constructive structure of different ways to approach situations that may occur in the first three months. The book is not too long and easy to read. Most importantly, it does give you recommendations on how to behave, think strategically, appear in front of your team and upper management, deal with team members in different situations.

[Andrew Marcelino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book provides good nuggets and tips for the first 90 days in an easy, digestible format. The book has many things that you’ll find in other resources, so there’s nothing really thought provoking and new

[Gryphon · Rating 3 out of 5]

didn’t really read anything revelatory but it’s a solid piece of advice on management

[Michelle Sanseverino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing super mind blowing but maybe a good refresher every now and then.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

As others have already mentioned on other platforms, nothing is particularly groundbreaking in this book. This book gives a decent expectation for first time managers in a relatively short read.

[Stevie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read

[Lauren Glenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Practical leadership help for managing well. Another work PD read.

[Tara Breuer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Your First 90 Days of Managing People is an excellent, easy, straight to the point, spot-on book designed to help guide new managers. This book if filled with great information on the qualities to have (and those to avoid!) to be a truly successful manager, not only from the view of those above you, but also from those that you are managing. Given that the success of your team, and happiness of your employees overall will be the true defining measurement of your real success of being a manager, the information is very applicable! Being a manager appears to be a balancing act between managing those you are actually managing, those managers you are reporting to, and the other managers from other parts of the company whom are also managers. Success is how you interact with everyone.

This is a very straight-forward (no fluff or filler in this book!), easy read and not long (at 132 pages). It is very direct and to the point so you wont spend a lot of time reading it (but filled with amazing information!), when your time is already limited. This would be a great gift for a new manager from his or her new manager (and/or mentor) whom is really looking to help develop the new leaders of the future.

I love this book! Geared towards new managers, this is also a great refresher of what people above and below the manager judge as a good manager. Exceptional managers are hard to find, this would really help to step up ones game if you can do some self-reflection to see how you can do better. This is also a great read for someone who thinks they may someday want to move into a management position, it is never too early to start thinking and acting like a manger.