A First-90-Days Framework Helps New Economic Development Leaders Inherit the Map

Podcast - Your First 90 Days with Paul DiGiuseppe

Navigating the first 90 days as an economic developer: A strategic approach

Econ Dev ShowDane Carlson

A lot of leadership transitions fail for a simple reason: the new person inherits responsibilities faster than they inherit context. That is what makes a first-90-days framework useful.

Paul Digiuseppe's conversation with Dane Carlson gives a thin but clear example. Digiuseppe describes meeting with his predecessor during the transition period, receiving detailed notes, speaking with her more than once, and following a first-90-days plan that helped him gather perspectives on downtown, the business resource center, and other issues he needed to monitor.

That tells us what the framework is really for. It is not just a generic leadership book concept. It is a transition tool for capturing local context before the new leader begins acting as if they already understand the place.

The Problem Is Context, Not Energy

Most new leaders start with energy. The real problem is that economic development is a context-heavy job. The incoming director may know the formal responsibilities on day one, but that is not the same thing as knowing what the community is worried about, what downtown really needs, how the business resource center is perceived, or which local issues deserve closer attention than the org chart suggests.

That gap matters. Without a structured transition process, the new leader often has to build a mental map of the place while already performing in public. They are expected to make decisions, reassure stakeholders, meet local leaders, and appear in control before they have had a fair chance to understand what they inherited.

A first-90-days framework helps slow that down just enough to prevent avoidable mistakes. The point is not delay. The point is disciplined learning.

The Tool Organizes the Handoff

A first-90-days framework usually performs several jobs at once.

It organizes the handoff from the predecessor. It gives the new leader a sequence for structured listening. It helps separate immediate responsibilities from longer-range interpretation. And it creates a disciplined period for gathering local perspective before trying to reset direction.

That may include reviewing detailed transition notes, meeting with the outgoing leader when possible, identifying responsibilities that begin immediately, talking with stakeholders about how they see the work, and building an early watch list of issues that deserve attention.

That is what makes the tool useful. It does not pretend the new leader starts from zero, but it does recognize that leadership knowledge is inherited in layers. The job description is one layer. The place itself is another. Good onboarding has to transfer both.

Economic Development Onboarding Is Strategy Work

Economic development organizations often treat onboarding as an HR concern. That is too narrow.

For a place-based leadership role, onboarding is also a strategy concern. A director who misunderstands downtown politics, overlooks the role of the business resource center, or fails to grasp how stakeholders interpret current priorities can create friction early, even while trying to move quickly.

A first-90-days framework reduces that risk by making diagnosis part of the early job rather than an accidental byproduct of it.

That is especially important in economic development because incoming leaders are under pressure to be visible. Boards, elected officials, business leaders, and residents often expect immediate confidence. The framework does not remove that pressure, but it gives the leader a better operating method inside it.

It turns the first three months into a learning period with structure instead of a performance period without enough grounding. That matters because economic development decisions rarely happen in isolation. A downtown issue may involve property owners, city staff, merchants, elected officials, residents, and years of local memory. A business resource center may carry formal responsibilities and informal expectations that are not written anywhere. A workforce issue may look technical until it touches housing, transportation, or trust.

The new leader needs time to see those connections.

Speed Can Be a False Signal

One common failure mode in leadership transitions is assuming the fastest visible action is the strongest leadership signal. Sometimes it is not.

Speed can look confident while still being poorly calibrated. A new leader may move quickly because they want to build momentum, but without enough local interpretation, that momentum can attach to the wrong issue or send the wrong signal.

That is where the first-90-days framework matters. It gives legitimacy to listening. It says the new leader does not need to prove competence by skipping the diagnostic stage. In fact, the framework assumes the diagnostic stage is part of competent leadership.

That does not mean a new economic development leader should disappear into research for three months. The work still has to be visible. Relationships still have to be built. Immediate responsibilities still have to be handled.

But the leader should be careful about confusing activity with understanding. The first 90 days are not only for showing motion. They are for learning where motion should go.

Informal Onboarding Is Usually Too Thin

The weaker alternative to a first-90-days framework is informal onboarding.

That usually means a few introductory conversations, some scattered notes, a stack of documents, and a general expectation that the new leader will figure it out.

That approach can work in simpler roles, but it is weaker in economic development because so much of the work depends on local nuance. Informal onboarding transfers tasks unevenly. It often misses the difference between what the organization officially does and what local people believe it is responsible for. It also makes it easier for the new leader to overlook weak signals that only become important later.

A first-90-days framework creates more discipline. It gives the transition a shape, a sequence, and a purpose.

It also protects the organization. Boards and local partners often expect a new leader to make quick progress, but they rarely give enough thought to what knowledge has to be transferred for that progress to be durable. A framework makes those expectations visible.

It asks a better question than, "When can the new person start?" It asks, "What does the new person need to understand before their early decisions start shaping the work?"

What Boards Should Do With It

Economic development boards and incoming leaders should use a first-90-days framework to make local knowledge transfer more deliberate. What needs to be learned from the predecessor? Who should the new leader hear from early? Which local assets or problem areas need multiple perspectives before action begins? What responsibilities are obvious, and what expectations are informal? What should be watched closely, even if it is not the loudest issue on day one?

Those questions help the organization use the transition period to capture interpretation, not just information.

They also make the first 90 days more useful for everyone else. Stakeholders understand why the new leader is listening. The board can align around what context matters most. The predecessor's knowledge is less likely to disappear. The new leader gets a clearer starting map.

The Better Way to Think About the Tool

Economic developers should not think of a first-90-days framework as a management cliche. It is a practical onboarding tool for a role where context is part of the job.

The lesson from Paul Digiuseppe's episode is that a good start depends on more than energy and competence. It depends on predecessor handoff, structured listening, and a disciplined effort to understand how the place actually works.

That is what a first-90-days framework does when it works well. It helps a new leader inherit the map, not just the keys.

Transitions expose whether an economic development organization has its information organized.

Sitehunt helps communities keep industrial site data, project requirements, and property intelligence in one usable system, so a new leader does not have to reconstruct the whole map from scattered files and institutional memory.

Because leadership transitions are hard enough without losing the facts that make project response work possible.

Learn more at sitehunt.io.