A method for operating a user equipment (UE) in a millimeter wave (mmWave) communications system includes receiving a first wide beam beam-formed reference signal from a mmWave evolved NodeB (eNB) during an initial time interval, the first wide beam beam-formed reference signal carrying timing information, detecting a wide beam boundary between the first wide beam beam-formed reference signal and a second wide beam beam-formed reference signal during a subsequent time interval, wherein both the first wide beam beam-formed reference signal and the second wide beam beam-formed reference signal are rotated by a narrow beam beam-width during each intermediate time interval between the initial time interval and the subsequent time interval, and informing the mmWave eNB of an indication that the UE detected the wide beam boundary during the subsequent time interval, the indication being used to assign a narrow beam direction to the UE.