Creating a plan for the first three months of a role is a common approach when starting a new job especially if it is a sales role. In many cases, you may be asked during the interview process to outline how you will get to grips with your new responsibilities and what you expect to deliver in the first three months as part of the interview process. Building a 30 60 90 day plan as a manager is also expected, this allows your new hires to understand more about their role, the company, and your expectations of them.
Key Facts
- A 30 60 90 Day Plan is a three-month roadmap that turns onboarding, learning and early delivery into measurable actions.
- CIPD reported that 62% of UK employees said their line manager provided useful feedback in 2025.
- Gallup found in February 2026 that only 49% of employees strongly agreed they knew what was expected at work.
- Use three evidence-led goals: role clarity, social acceptance and task mastery. A 2025 Journal of Management review synthesised 256 studies and 183 samples on newcomer socialisation.
Table of Contents
- What is a 30 60 90 Day Plan?
- Benefits of a 30 60 90 Day Plan
- What to include in your 30 60 90 Day Plan
- Example Plan
- Manage your team’s performance with Factorial 🚀
What is a 30 60 90 Day Plan?
A 30 60 90 day plan is a roadmap that outlines achievable steps for the first, second and third months of a new role.
While 30 60 90 day plans are common in sales roles, other areas such as marketing, business development, and strategic leadership also use them. These roles typically have high-performance expectations, so a 30-, 60-, and 90-day plan can help achieve targets.
In some cases, a 30 60 90 day plan will kick start a specific project or form part of the transition to a change in approach to an area of the business, such as a new sales strategy. A 30 60 90 day plan for managers can help leaders taking on a new team ensure they are spending their time on the areas that will be most effective for their leadership.
A good plan should be specific enough to guide weekly priorities but concise enough to review quickly. SHRM describes performance management as planning, monitoring, developing and evaluating performance so that individual work aligns with organisational goals.
Benefits of a 30 60 90 Day Plan
It can be helpful to implement a 30 60 90 Day Plan for several reasons. A 30 60 90 day plan can:
- Provide structure for the onboarding process.
- Ensure alignment between the employer and the new employee on expectations.
- Allow the employee to showcase their strategic thinking and how they will take responsibility for their work as soon as they start.
- Motivate the new employee to hit the ground running and make their best contribution from the minute they start.
- Help to avoid burnout by breaking the more significant task of performing in a new role into smaller, more manageable tasks, which can help people stop feeling overwhelmed.
- Build trust with new colleagues as they can easily understand your work and how they can help you.
- Establish workflows between teams, employee to manager and individual work.
For UK employers, a documented plan also supports fairer early performance conversations. Acas states that an induction is not the same as a probation period and that probation terms must be included in the written statement of employment particulars where they apply.
What to Include in Your 30 60 90 Day Plan
| Phase | Main focus | Evidence to capture |
|---|---|---|
| Days 1–30 | Learn | Training, introductions, questions |
| Days 31–60 | Contribute | Early wins, feedback, KPIs |
| Days 61–90 | Own | Results, improvements, next goals |
Phase 1: 30 Days
In your first 30 days, you need to focus on building relationships to establish yourself in the new role and learn what you need to know technically. In addition, managers could use this first phase to introduce the team, company, and role to new hires. This gives managers time to observe how their new employee interacts and take in new information. At this stage, the first 30 days are focused on observing, learning and asking questions.
Tasks included in your 30 days section could be:
- Completing the onboarding requirements set by the company
- Getting to know the team, learn everyone’s names, their roles and one thing about them (professionally or personally)
- Training on the company’s systems and processes
- Confirming where onboarding tasks, training records and manager check-ins will be tracked. For repeatable new-starter plans, Factorial can help HR teams assign onboarding tasks, monitor completion and keep the first 90 days visible from one place: get started with Factorial
- Shadowing colleagues to learn more about your role or specific aspects of it
- Reading the company’s mission and spending time learning about the different products or services they have and how they work
- Reviewing your job description with your manager and ensuring you understand the details of each of the requirements for the role
- Studying the wider industry, competitors and trends
At the end of Phase 1, you should be able to move from a learning focus to a more action-orientated focus.
Phase 2: 60 Days
In the second phase, your plan should focus on implementing the knowledge you gained in the first 30 days. At this point, you should start contributing to the team and taking responsibility for your work, applying what you learned in the first 30 days. And in the position of managers, giving your new hire more autonomy over their day-to-day routine. It will allow them to gain confidence over their role and be motivated to contribute to the team.
- Initiating tasks or projects independently
- Contributing to team meetings
- Continuing to build relationships and actively develop a network of key contacts internally and externally
- Continuing to develop your understanding of the processes, tools and strategic approach of the company
- Sharing any insights that you have noticed or early wins that you have achieved with your team
- Starting to identify improvements based on your fresh perspective
- Establishing your key performance indicators in conjunction with your manager
- Agreeing a check-in rhythm with your manager, such as weekly 1:1s and formal reviews at days 30, 60 and 90. Gallup found in 2026 that fewer than one in three employees, 31%, strongly agreed that someone at work encouraged their development.
At the end of Phase 2, you should be able to demonstrate that you are actively working on your measurable goals, contributing to key tasks, and building strong relationships with key colleagues.
Phase 3: 90 Days
The third phase is an opportunity to reflect on your first 60 days and identify anything you can refine or change to work more effectively. Additionally, the last phase of the 30 60 90 day plan should be spent determining if this position is the right fit. For both the employee and employer, it’s important to be honest about what their goals, performance, and expectations. If it’s a good fit for both parties involved, then you can focus on how to optimise performance and fully master the role.
In UK employment contexts, avoid treating the 90-day review as an informal substitute for probation documentation. GOV.UK stated in April 2026 that ordinary unfair dismissal protection is expected to move from a two-year qualifying period to six months from 1 January 2027.
- Holding a 60 day review with your manager.
- Creating a personal development plan to keep track of your professional challenges and what you are doing to address them.
- If you are not already, starting to work independently should be part of this phase.
- Taking full responsibility for specific projects.
- Bringing data and your analysis to your meetings.
- Identifying and sharing any process improvements and your longer-term plans for your role.
- Taking the initiative to strengthen relationships across departments by supporting colleagues on their projects.
At the end of the third phase and your 30 60 90-day plan, you should have delivered the targets set for the first three months of your role and feel competent to set long-term goals for your contribution to the company.
How do you create a 30-60-90 day plan for an interview?
For a 30-60-90 day plan in interview settings, use conditional language. Say what you would learn, validate and test, rather than promising outcomes before you have internal data. Ask about immediate priorities, team metrics and the decision-maker’s definition of success.
How should managers and leaders adapt the plan?
A 30-60-90 day plan for managers or leadership positions should prioritise listening, stakeholder mapping and team confidence before major change. A 2023 ACM Web Conference study of more than 10,000 new employees found that new-hire networks were still measurably different from tenured employee networks after 24 weeks.
What are common mistakes in a 30 60 90 Day Plan?
- Writing vague goals such as “learn the role”.
- Skipping measurable outcomes for each phase.
- Making major changes before listening to the team.
- Treating the plan as fixed instead of updating it after feedback.
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An Example of a 30 60 90 Day Plan
A simple 30 60 90 day plan template will have three sections, each containing several SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound). Be careful not to set yourself too many. It’s essential to lay the foundations for success rather than creating expectations for yourself that you will struggle to fulfil. Working closely with your manager on your 30 60 90 day plan is recommended to ensure you focus on the right areas.
If you need a 30 60 90 day plan template Word document, keep it to one or two pages. Use five fields for each phase: objective, actions, stakeholders, evidence and review date. It should be a working document, not a book-length strategy.
An example 30-60-90 day plan for a new sales rep could be:
First 30 Days ‘Learn
- Ensure you meet all onboarding requirements.
- Complete training on in-house processes.
- Learn the names and roles of everyone in the team.
- Identify key stakeholders and how to build relationships with them.
- Understand the company’s mission, strategy and products or services offered.
- Schedule regular catch-ups with specific team members as required.
- Researching target markets and customer profiles.
Second phase: 60 Days ‘Contribute’
- Shadow a team member on their sales calls or meetings.
- Identify your personal sales targets and create a weekly plan to meet them.
- Start a journal to track your activities, progress and successes/challenges.
- Put yourself forward to manage a small project.
- Start to contribute to team meetings actively.
- Continue to put effort into building relationships.
Final round: 90 Days ‘Reflect’
- Review your first 60 days with your manager, using your journal for evidence and areas for improvement.
- Ask for feedback from team members and other regional managers.
- Amend your weekly plan based on feedback and what is in your pipeline.
- Create a personal development plan that includes new tactics to reach clients.
- Conduct your own data analysis and share the results with your manager or broader team.
- Identify projects or process improvements that you can own, test and report on.
FAQ
What is a 30-60-90 day plan?
A 30-60-90 day plan is a roadmap that outlines achievable goals and steps for an employee’s first three months in a new role. It helps structure the onboarding process and align expectations between the new hire and the company, ensuring a smooth and productive start.
How to make a 30-60-90 plan?
Structure your plan into three phases. The first 30 days should focus on learning and observing. The next 30 days (to day 60) should be dedicated to contributing and applying that knowledge. The final 30 days (to day 90) should focus on taking initiative and optimizing performance.
What are common mistakes in a 30-60-90 day plan?
A common mistake is setting too many or unrealistic goals, which creates unmanageable expectations. Other pitfalls include failing to align the plan with your manager’s priorities, not focusing enough on learning in the first month, or neglecting to build relationships with key colleagues.
How to answer 30-60-90 day plan interview question?
When asked in an interview, present a structured outline. Explain that your first 30 days will focus on learning the role, company, and team. State that the next 30 days will be for contributing and applying that knowledge, and the final 30 days will be about taking full ownership.
