Starting out can be tricky. It is a time of trial. You are often being watched to see if you will work out. Here are some things you need to do to start out on the right foot and keep moving in the right direction.
Before You Start
- Say thank you. Contact all the people who helped you get the new position. On page 283 is a sample letter to go out to those you met in your search.
Consider doing something more for those who have been especially helpful in your search, such as sending them flowers or a gift. It's the only polite thing to do, but it is also pragmatic. Often people don't make this effort because they feel they'll be in the new job a long time. Today, when the average American changes jobs every four years, the odds say you're going to change jobs again soon. You need to keep up those contacts. Think about ways to keep in touch with them if you read something that someone on your list would appreciate, clip it and send it.
Right Away
- Don't fix things or do anything daring for the first three months. That is the biggest mistake people make. Take time to learn the system, the people, and the culture.
- You cannot possibly understand, in those first months, the implications of certain decisions you may make. You may be criticizing a project that was done by someone important. Or you could be changing something that will affect someone on the staff in ways in which you aren't aware.
- Make yourself productive immediately. This does not contradict the point just made. Do things that are safe. For example, install a new system where there has been none. This is "safe" because you aren't getting rid of some other system. What isn't safe? Firing half your staff the first week!
- Introduce yourself to everybody. Be visible walk around and meet people as soon as possible, including those who work for you. Too many managers meet only the "important" people, while ignoring those who will actually do the work.
- Don't make friends too fast. Someone who befriends you right away could be on the way out. That doesn't mean you shouldn't be friendly, however. Go to lunch with several people rather than becoming known as someone who associates only with so and so. Get to know everybody, and then decide with whom to get closer.
- Take over compensation of your subordinates immediately. Look at review and raise dates, and make sure no one is overlooked. You can't afford to wait three months to get settled while one of your people is stewing about an overdue salary review.
- Get your budget quickly. If it isn't good, build a better one. If you spend some time at the beginning trying to understand the budget, the things you hear over the next few weeks will mean more to you.
In The First Three Months
- Learn the corporate culture. People new to jobs often lose those jobs because of personality conflicts rather than a lack of competence.
Keep your head low until you learn how the company operates. Some companies have certain writing styles. Some expect you to speak a certain way. Certain companies have a special way of holding parties. Do people work with their doors open or their doors shut? All of these rules are part of the culture, and they are unwritten. To learn them, you have to pay attention.
I had a client, for example, who lost his job because his management style rubbed everyone the wrong way. He was a "touchy feely" manager who, when he wants his employees to do things, schmooze with them, saying things such as, "You know, I was kind of thinking about this and..." But the corporate culture was such that the employees liked and expected to be asked straight out. His style made them feel patronized and manipulated. And his own staff did him in.
Pay your dues before doing things at variance with the corporate culture. After you build up some credits, you have more leeway. Let your personality emerge when you understand the company and after you have made some contribution.
- Learn the organizational structure the real structure, not the one that is drawn on the charts. Ask your secretary to tell you who relates how with whom, who knows what, who thought of this project, who is important. You could be surprised.
- As far as subordinates are concerned, find out other people's opinions and then form your own. Consider that you may have a different perception because you have different values.
- Find out what is important in your job. For example, when I counsel people for a corporation, counseling is not the only important thing in my job. The people who come to me are sent by personnel, and I must manage my relationship with the personnel people. It doesn't matter how good a counselor I am if I don't maintain a good relationship with personnel.
- Pay attention to your peers. Your peers can prove as valuable to you as your boss and subordinates. Do not try to impress them with your brilliance. That would be the kiss of death because you'd have a very large reputation to live up to. Instead, encourage them to talk to you. They know more than you do. They also know your boss. Look at them to teach you and, in some cases, protect you.
I know one executive who found out that her last three predecessors were fired. She knew from talking to people that her boss was the type whose ego was bruised when someone had ideas. He had a talent of getting rid of this kind of person.
To protect herself, she built relationships with her peers, the heads of offices around the country. After a year and a half, her boss's brother took her to breakfast and told her that, unlike her predecessors, she could not be fired: it would have been such an unpopular decision that it would have backfired on her boss.
- Don't set up competition. Everyone brings something to the party and should be respected for his or her talent, even those who are at lower levels than you are. Find ways to show your respect by asking for their input on projects that require their expertise.
- Set precedents you want to keep. If you start out working twelve hour days, people come to expect it of you even if no one else is doing it. When you stop, people wonder what's wrong.
- Set modest goals for your own personal achievement, and high goals for your department. Make your people look good and you will look good, too.
Three Months And Beyond...
- You'll be busy in your new job, and may not keep up your outside contacts. In today's economy, that's a big mistake. Continue to develop contacts outside the company. If you need information for your job, sometimes the worst people to ask are your boss and the people around you. A network is also a tremendous resource to fall back on when your boss is busy and you will seem resourceful, smart, and connected.
- Keep a "hero file" for yourself, a hanging file in which you place written descriptions of all your successes. If you have to job hunt in a hurry, you'll be able to recall what you've done.
- You will also use it if you stay. If you want anything, whether it be a raise or a promotion, or the responsibility for a particular project, you can use the file to build a case for yourself.
- Keep managing your career. Don't think, I'll just take this job and do what they tell me, because you might get off on some tangent. Remember where you were heading and make sure your career keeps going that way.
Be proactive in moving toward your goal. Take on lots of assignments. If a project comes up that fits into your long term plan, do it. If one doesn't fit into your plan, you can do it or you can say, "Oh, I'd love to do that, but I'm really busy." You'll be making those kinds of choices all the time.
