The first 90 days on a job are all about assessing the scope of your role and establishing connections. Even if you have fairly prescribed responsibilities, it’s still worth analyzing the scope of the position you’ve filled. You want to make sure it’s clear to everyone that you are a creative thinker and someone who is capable of finding better ways to do things.
Of course, the first and foremost requirement is that you do an excellent job at the assignments you are given. But you also want to avoid being typecast as someone with a narrow set of capabilities. If you can offer constructive suggestions about how the job could be done better, people will see that you are a creative thinker. Without being overly pushy, you want to be recognized as someone willing to volunteer new ideas.
The second part — about establishing connections — is equally critical. You want to spend the first 30 days reading your immediate supervisor, his or her bosses, and your colleagues. You need to understand what their personal objectives and priorities are, in addition to their sensitivities and hot buttons.
In the next 60 days, you want to build connections with all these key parties, using the knowledge you gained about how to read them and what their individual needs and priorities are. Listen more than talk. Show that you are willing to support your colleagues’ agendas, not just further your own.
The first 90 days offer a unique opportunity because the cement is still wet. Your colleagues will be assessing you, as the new kid on the block, and because their opinions haven’t hardened yet, you have a chance to shape what people think of you.
Over the past two years, I have gone through my own first 90 days, first when I was named President of ABC LTD and then CEO, as well. While I wasn’t new to the company, I did have a different role, and suddenly had to lead the firm and the group of senior executives with whom I’d previously been a peer.
I knew one of the first things they would be assessing me on is whether I was willing to make difficult decisions. We had an issue that needed to be addressed and I dealt with it quickly. It wasn’t a show of power, but rather an effort to make clear I was willing to make the tough calls. I didn’t move unilaterally. I made sure key stakeholders were prepared for the decision. If you don’t take advantage of that first opportunity to be decisive, and instead let a problem linger, you may encounter more institutional resistance later when you finally decide to take steps to resolve it.
Of course, your opportunity to positively effect change – and to shape people’s opinions of you – doesn’t end after your first 90 days. You want to always be proactive and offer new ideas, but it does get harder later when people have formed their opinions of you.
One of the tricks to sustaining the opportunities you have when you’re new on the job is to keep the cement wet. Keep growing and learning. Be dynamic and flexible but also avoid appearing inconsistent. Yes, that’s a fine line to walk. Let colleagues see you’re capable of adapting to change and thinking in new ways. The best way to prevent your feet hardening in cement is to always keep moving.
* post is from open source
No comments:
Post a Comment