30 60 90 Day Plan: Templates and Examples for Managers and New Hires

Without clear structure, managers and their new employees can struggle to prioritize and make meaningful progress. A 30 60 90 day plan gives both managers and new hires a shared roadmap for the first few months: what to learn, who to meet, where to contribute, and how results will be measured. 

In this guide, you’ll learn exactly what a 30 60 90 day plan is, step-by-step instructions, role-ready templates, and real examples you can copy and adapt today. Along the way, we’ll show you simple ways to align your plan with real work rhythms, so it’s practical, visible, and easy to keep in sync.

TL;DR: All about 30 60 90 day plans

What you’ll get

• What a 30 60 90 day plan is, why it matters, and when to use it.
• A step-by-step framework for Days 1–30 (Learn), 31–60 (Integrate), and 61–90 (Lead/Optimize).
• A customizable 30 60 90 day plan template (plus role-specific variations for sales, management, technical, and support).
• Leadership guidance for a 30 60 90 day plan for managers and a practical 90 day onboarding plan for new hires.
• Ready-to-use examples you can tailor fast.

How to use this guide

• Pick the template that fits the role.
• Add goals, activities, stakeholders, and metrics for each phase.
• Share with your manager/new hire and align on check-ins.
• Review weekly and adjust lightly.

What a good employee onboarding plan looks like by phase

• 30 days: Context, relationships, and a few quick wins.
• 60 days: Own a workstream, hit milestones, remove 1–2 friction points.
• 90 days: Ship measurable results, document what works, set next-quarter plan.

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What is a 30 60 90 day plan and why it matters

So, what is a 30 60 90 day plan?

A 30 60 90 day plan is a short, structured onboarding roadmap for a new role, which split into three phases:

1. Days 1–30 (Learn)
2. Days 31–60 (Integrate)
3. Days 61–90 (Lead/Optimize)

It lists priorities, people, processes, and success metrics so both the employee and manager know what “good” looks like.

The purpose of a 30 60 90 day plan is to provide clarity and momentum. It helps align expectations, accelerates learning, and prevents the “what should I work on?” drift that derails early progress. It also gives managers a steady framework to coach and course-correct.

Up to 20% of employee turnover happens in the first 45 days—the window a 30-60-90 plan is built to protect. By aligning priorities, relationships, and success metrics from day one, a simple three-phase plan speeds time-to-productivity and lowers the risk of early exits. 

Here are just some of the benefits of having a 30 60 90 day plans as part of your onboarding:

• Faster ramp time: Less wandering, more doing—because priorities and stakeholders are already mapped.
• Consistent standards: Teams onboard the same way, with comparable success metrics and documents.
• Stronger relationships: Stakeholders are identified up front, which speeds cross-functional work.
• Measurable progress: Each phase ties to outcomes, output metrics, or customer feedback.

Usage scenarios for a 30 60 90 day plan: 

• New hires starting anywhere
• New managers inheriting teams
• Internal transfers moving into a new function
• Turnaround roles where a process needs stabilizing
• Roadmaps for promotions into a leadership positions

So how can you measure success using a 30 60 90 day plan? Here’s roughly what you should be looking for each in 30 day increment: 

• Day 30: foundational knowledge, key relationships, and a couple of quick wins.
• Day 60: independent execution, visible contributions, documented improvements.
• Day 90: sustained results, a next-quarter roadmap, and alignment on longer-term objectives.

How to create a 30 60 90 day plan: step-by-step framework

Lay out each phase consistently: what you’ll tackle, how you’ll tackle it, who you’ll partner with, and how you’ll gauge progress. Keep it to a single page and point to the essentials—docs, checklists, your task tool, and team channels—so it’s easy to use day to day.

Phase 1: First 30 days (Learning and observation)

Primary focus: Understand the business and your team’s rhythm. Learn the tools and processes you’ll use daily.

Key activities:

• Onboarding checklist
  
  • Set up logins and access: email, calendar, SSO, core tools, permissions.
  • Complete required training and review company policies.
  • Study the org chart to learn who owns what and escalation paths.
• Team 1:1s
  
  • Meet your manager, peers, and key cross-functional teammate.
  • Ask: “What does good look like in 90 days?”, “Where do we lose time?”, “Who else should I meet?”
  • Capture a stakeholder map: names, goals, expectations, and pain points.
  • Get a general sense of team culture.
• Process shadowing
  
  • Observe real day-to-day workflows  (think: customer interactions, ticket triage, order flow).
  • Note bottlenecks, workarounds, and tools involved at each step.
  • Draft a simple current-state sketch based on your observations to ground later improvements.
  • Flag a few “low lift, high impact” fixes to explore over your remaining 90 day plan.
• Product/service immersion
  
  • Use the product end-to-end and attend a live demo or walkthrough.
  • Review customer quotes, reviews, and top support issues to hear the voice of the customer.
  • Identify some pain- and gain-points you notice in customers to validate with teammates.
• Quick help
  
  • Pick small tasks that build familiarity and confidence (edit a shared doc, close a small ticket).
  • Log what you did, questions you have, and any easy wins you can help with as you go.

Skills & processes to absorb: Your task system and docs, how your team communicates (sync vs async) in team communication, escalation paths, and HR & compliance basics relevant to your role.

Measurement: Training completed; met with relevant team members; process notes documented; 2–3 quick wins identified; a rough 60–90 day priorities draft ready to review.

Phase 2: Days 31–60 (Integration and contribution)

Primary focus: Execute tasks independently, deliver milestones, and remove friction with small but meaningful process tweaks.

Key activities: Own a workstream with clear deliverables; propose 1–2 improvements; run or co-run a recurring update; share before/after documentation. Deepen use of dashboards, reporting, and automations in your task manager.

Skills & processes to deepen: Negotiating priorities and clarifying requirements, writing strong updates, contributing to SOPs, and building simple reports tied to timesheets, output, or quality.

Measurement: Milestones on track; one improvement launched with a basic metric (time saved, error rate reduced); positive feedback from key stakeholders on ownership and responsiveness.

Phase 3: Days 61–90 (Leadership and optimization)

Primary focus: Lead projects, own outcomes, and set up the next quarter.

Key activities: Propose a focused improvement initiative, document a playbook, align a mini-roadmap with your manager, and create lightweight metrics dashboards that pull from timesheets or system data.

Skills & processes to show: Prioritization under constraints, change management, simple delegation and coaching (even without direct reports), and clear decision logs.

Measurement: Quantifiable results shipped, a next-quarter plan aligned with goals, and visible leadership behaviors (initiative, collaboration, follow-through).

30 60 90 day plan template: customizable framework

You can use the structure below as a 30 60 90 day plan template for free—just drop it into a doc or spreadsheet and tailor it. It’s intentionally simple so it works for managers and individual contributors.

Universal template structure

Use this quick-start template for roles across any industry and role type. Take what works and tweak the rest.

Employee information

• Name/Role/Start date
• Manager/Buddy or mentor
• Key stakeholders (names + roles)
• Tools & access checklist

30-day goals (Learning phase):

• Primary focus: Understand the business, team, and tools.
• Key activities: Complete onboarding; team/stakeholder 1:1s; shadow processes; product/service deep dive.
• Deliverables: Process notes; quick-wins list; team goals summary.
• Metrics: Training completed; stakeholder map; 60–90 day draft ready.

60-day goals (Contributing phase):

• Primary focus: Independent execution and process improvements.
• Key activities: Own a workstream; deliver milestones; propose improvements; lead a recurring update.
• Deliverables: Milestone outputs; before/after documentation.
• Metrics: Milestones on track; agreed improvement live with basic metrics.

90-day goals (Leading phase):

• Primary focus: Lead and optimize; set next-quarter trajectory.
• Key activities: Launch/complete an improvement project; mentor or publish a playbook; align next quarter plan.
• Deliverables: Results summary; next-quarter plan.
  
  
• Metrics: Measurable impact; clear plan aligned with team goals.

Role-specific template variations

Sales roles:

• 30 days:
  
  • Focus: Learn product, ICP, and territory; shadow top reps; ramp on CRM and call flow via team communication.
  • Metrics: Certification complete; pipeline hygiene; first meetings booked.
    
    
• 60 days: 
  
  • Focus: Own a segment; run full demos; hit daily prospecting targets.
  • Metrics: Meetings held; opportunities created; stage conversion rates.
• 90 days: 
  
  • Focus: Manage a pipeline; improve forecast accuracy; test a new sequence.
  • Metrics: Closed-won; quota pace; sequence performance.

Management positions ( 30 60 90 day plan for managers/leadership positions)

• 30 days: 
  
  • Focus: Assess team strengths/gaps; map stakeholders; walk processes; observe culture; scope a small early win.
  • Metrics: Strengths/gaps summary; documented team goals; quick win scoped.
• 60 days: 
  
  • Focus: Establish 1:1s cadence; clarify expectations; pilot process upgrades; align goals.
  • Metrics: Meeting rhythm running; 1–2 process gains; draft OKRs.
• 90 days: 
  
  • Focus: Publish vision and quarterly plan; set cross-team rituals; delegate meaningful ownership; define reporting.
  • Metrics: Roadmap shared; reporting cadence in place; growth opportunities assigned.

Technical roles ( Eng / Data / IT )

• 30 days: 
  
  • Focus: Environment setup; codebase/product architecture; shadow on-call.
  • Metrics: First PRs merged; runbook draft.
• 60 days: 
  
  • Focus: Own a feature/system area; ship iterative improvements; strengthen tests.
  • Metrics: Shipped features; defect trend; cycle time.
• 90 days: 
  
  • Focus: Improve reliability/performance; document architecture; mentor on a tool or pattern.
  • Metrics: SLOs met; tech debt retired; docs published.

Customer service (Support/Success)

• 30 days: 
  
  • Focus: Product knowledge; ticketing flow; macros; tone guidelines.
  • Metrics: Training complete; first tickets resolved; early CSAT.
• 60 days: 
  
  • Focus: Handle full queue for specific categories; propose macro/process tweaks; contribute to knowledge base.
  • Metrics: CSAT; FCR; AHT within band.
• 90 days: 
  
  • Focus: Own a category; help with QA; assist onboarding a new teammate.
  • Metrics: category CSAT; re-contact rate; docs created and used.

30 60 90 day plan for managers: leadership-focused approach

New managers run two clocks: the team’s day-to-day and the company’s quarterly goals. Use this to design a 30-60-90 day plan for new managers that balances assessment, improvement, and strategy.

New manager priorities (First 30 days)

1. Team assessment: Map strengths, gaps, workload, and morale with structured 1:1s.
2. Process understanding: Shadow how work enters, gets prioritized, and ships; note friction but resist re-architecting too fast.
3. Stakeholder mapping: Meet your manager, peers, and key partners; record their priorities and dependencies.
4. Cultural integration: Learn how decisions are made, how feedback works, and how wins get recognized.
5. Early wins: Fix a small, visible pain point (reporting friction, meeting cadence, escalation clarity).

Checkpoint metrics: Stakeholder map complete; “How we work” draft published; one early win delivered with measurable impact.

Management development (Days 31–60)

1. Team development: Lock in weekly 1:1s, clarify roles/ownership, and set expectations.
2. Process optimization: Pilot 1–2 improvements (intake form, template, automation).
3. Goal alignment: Translate company goals into team objectives and key results.
4. Communication systems: Establish meeting cadences (standups, weekly review) and feedback loops (retro, wins).
5. Performance management: Address issues early with clear standards, coaching plans, and timelines rooted in HR & compliance norms.

Checkpoint metrics: Cadence running; 1–2 process wins live; OKR draft in circulation; any performance conversations documented.

Strategic leadership (Days 61–90)

1. Vision setting: Publish a clear team vision and near-term priorities (one to two quarters).
2. Long-term planning: Build quarterly and annual objectives, with success measures visible in simple dashboards tied to timesheets or operational metrics.
3. Cross-functional collaboration: Formalize rituals with partner teams (SLAs, shared dashboards, resource requests).
4. Team empowerment: Delegate meaningful responsibilities; create growth and stretch opportunities.
5. Success measurement: Establish a reporting cadence: throughput, quality, customer impact, and people development indicators.

Checkpoint metrics: Roadmap published; cross-team rituals live; delegates identified; reporting cadence in place.

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30 60 90 day plan for new hires

The best 30 60 90 day onboarding plan sets expectations, builds skills, and creates early wins while keeping the plan flexible.

Employee onboarding structure

• Pre-arrival: Send a welcome note, share the Week-1 agenda, confirm hardware/access, and assign a buddy.
• Week 1: Introductions, tool setup, product/service overview, and two small tasks to build confidence.
• Weeks 2–4: Shadow handoffs, meet core partners, own a small deliverable, and get clear on 60–90 day priorities.
• Month 2: Own a workstream; ship one process improvement; run or co-run a recurring update.
• Month 3: Lead a small project; document a playbook; align a next-quarter plan with your manager.

Manager’s role in 30-60-90 success

• Regular check-ins: Weekly 1:1s and formal reviews at days 30, 60, and 90.
• Clear expectations: Define “good” with examples and metrics; avoid fuzzy goals.
• Resource provision: Remove access barriers; assign a buddy; share the docs that actually help.
• Feedback loops: Provide quick, specific feedback; celebrate small wins publicly.
• Adjustment flexibility: Update goals as you learn; keep the plan living, not fixed.

30 60 90 day plan examples by role and situation

Use these drafts as a starting point. Replace the specifics with your tools, metrics, and stakeholders.

Sales manager 30-60-90 day plan example

30 days (Learn)

• Goals: Understand product and pricing; review pipeline health; evaluate team strengths and gaps.
• Activities: Listen to 8–10 calls; shadow top reps; audit CRM hygiene; meet with marketing, CS, and RevOps.
• Deliverables: Team capability map; two quick-win process tweaks (e.g., meeting prep checklist).
• Metrics: certification complete; pipeline coverage baseline; enablement plan draft.
  
  

60 days (Integrate)

• Goals: Improve forecast accuracy; tighten qualification; standardize discovery.
• Activities: Weekly forecast review; two enablement sessions; implement a qualification framework.
• Deliverables: Updated pipeline stages; coaching plan by rep.
• Metrics: Stage conversion lift; forecast delta improvement; activity quality indicators.

90 days (Lead/Optimize)

• Goals: Standardize deal review; align a quarterly revenue plan with marketing and CS.
• Activities: Pilot outbound sequence; implement a manager dashboard; start win/loss reviews.
• Deliverables: Quarterly plan; enablement calendar; outbound playbook v1.
• Metrics: Pipeline created/rep; win rate trend; forecast accuracy near ±10%.

New hire customer service representative example

30 days (Learn)

• Goals: Master core workflows, tone, and escalation paths.
• Activities: Finish training; shadow 10+ tickets/calls; resolve simple tickets with oversight.
• Deliverables: Macro suggestions; knowledge gaps list.
• Metrics: Training complete; first tickets resolved; early CSAT trend.

60 days (Integrate)

• Goals: Handle full queue for defined categories; escalate correctly; improve a macro.
• Activities: Own shifts; propose a tweak to reduce re-contacts; publish a short “how-to.”
• Deliverables: Updated macro; category “how-to” doc.
• Metrics: CSAT at or above target; FCR trending up; AHT within band.

90 days (Lead/Optimize)

• Goals: Own a category; assist with QA; help onboard a new teammate.
• Activities: Run a weekly tip; participate in peer reviews; document an edge-case guide.
• Deliverables: Category playbook; onboarding checklist.
• Metrics: Category CSAT; re-contact rate; docs created and used.

90 day onboarding plan: comprehensive integration strategy

A strong 90-day onboarding plan blends organizational, team, and role onboarding—so new hires grasp the mission, how the team executes it, and their part in delivering results.

Organizational onboarding components

1. Company mission and values: Why the company exists and how success is defined. Give real examples of what good looks like.
2. Products and customers: What you sell, to whom, and how value is delivered. Include a quick customer story.
3. Policies and compliance: Where to find standards, security, and workplace policies. Keep it simple and central.
4. Tools and access: One checklist to rule them all: SSO, calendars, folders, devices, and systems.
5. Team culture: How decisions get made, how feedback works, and the cadence of updates.

Measuring onboarding success

1. Time-to-productivity: How quickly a new hire handles core responsibilities independently.
2. Quality metrics: Error rates, rework, CSAT/defect trends appropriate to the role.
3. Engagement & retention signals: Short pulse surveys at days 30/60/90, first-90-day retention, and buddy/manager feedback.
4. Manager assessments: Evidence of skill growth, ownership, and collaboration.
5. Business outcomes: Contributions tied to team goals (revenue, throughput, NPS) scaled to the level and function.

Frequently asked questions  about 30 60 90 day plans

What is the 30-60-90 rule?

Think of it as a three-act ramp: 30 days to learn, 30 to integrate and contribute, 30 to lead and optimize.

• Days 1–30 (Learning): Absorb the business model, customers, tools, and team norms. Meet teammates, shadow key processes, and capture a few obvious “quick wins” (no heavy lifts yet).
  
  
• Days 31–60 (Contributing): Take ownership of a defined workstream, hit agreed milestones, and ship 1–2 small process improvements.
  
  
• Days 61–90 (Leading): Propose a focused improvement, mentor or document a playbook, and align a next-quarter plan. This is where you demonstrate independent judgment and measurable impact.

Every phase should have clear goals, named stakeholders, and simple metrics (e.g., time-to-first deliverable, CSAT, defect rate, revenue-adjacent milestones).

How long is a 30-60-90 day plan?

A 30-60-90 day plan lasts 90 days (or three months/a quarter), but the plan should be divided into three 30-day steps–this helps make it easier for both managers and new hires alike to set reasonable goals, get familiar with the company and role, and check in.

Review the plan weekly with your manager to adjust goals, unblock access, and confirm priorities. Treat it like a living doc: add links to checklists, dashboards, and briefs instead of stuffing everything into the plan.

What are your 30-60 and 90 day goals for this position?

Your 30, 60, and 90 day goals will be different depending on your industry and position, but here’s some of what you can expect in terms of goals:

30 days (Learn)

• Understand the business, customers, tools, processes, and team norms
• Meet team members and map dependencies
• Identify a few realistic quick wins

60 days (Contribute)

• Own a scoped workstream and hit agreed milestones
• Remove 1–2 friction points
• Run a recurring update or check-in

90 days (Lead/Optimize)

• Deliver a clear, measurable result
• Document what works (playbook/SOP/dashboard)
• Align a next-quarter plan with your manager

Should I bring a 30-60-90 day plan to an interview?

Yes—especially for leadership roles. Bring a lightweight 30 60 90 day plan template version that shows assumptions, example goals, and how you’ll measure success. Invite feedback and work with your manager to refine it if you’re hired.

Maximize new role success with structured planning

A good plan turns nervous energy into progress. Whether you’re designing a 30 60 90 day plan for new hires or a 30 60 90 day plan for managers, keep it practical: learn first, contribute second, lead by the end of month three. Share early, measure weekly, and adjust as you go.

Make every week count. Bring schedules, time, tasks, and team updates into one place—so your 30-60-90 turns into results faster. Get started with Homebase.

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