During the first four weeks of work, it may feel like you’re only going through the rigmarole of paperwork and making sure that payroll has your correct information, but there is so much more to it. You MUST understand who is watching, and listening. During the first three dozen interactions, you’re having with people on the staff, in your department, and on the management team something is happening, and you should be paying attention.
The first thirty days of your time at a new job are critical because although no one expects you to totally know your job, they are watching to see how you react to the situations your predecessor used to be responsible for, and what they maybe wish he or she would have done during those types of scenarios. There is a reason that you are taking the position – whether the person was fired, or promoted makes no difference to you. They either did something so great that you have big shoes to fill, or so terrible that your organization may have lost faith in your position all together. Understand that you may not know all the ins and out of the position or the organization, but what you should be doing is working extra hard to be responsive to the big three – your team, your peers, and your management.
Most people get caught in the trap of trying to please one of the aforementioned big three. They either break themselves trying to establish with their team that they are competent and worthy of the position, or spend so much time in water cooler talk with peers OR management that they forget the whole. There is a reason your team is in place. There is a function that it serves and there are facets of it that no matter how good management is, does that no one is really aware of. If you’re too busy trying to please any one of these big three, you may miss the whole. If you allow yourself to be present, at your desk and on your email you will find that people will send you inquiries or you may be cc’d to inquiries sent to your team – this is what you should be focusing on. Understanding the things that people aren’t talking about, then utilizing that information to fact find with your leadership, your team and your peers. How did your predecessor handle those inquiries and who should ‘be in the know’. Understanding this will give you a huge advantage going into your first quarter of understanding the big picture. Your contract verbage will fill in what your management grades you on, and your peers will gladly jab at you about what the last guy or girl did well or poorly.
I am posting with the intent to add all that is significant during my first 30 days – While it happened & in hind site. If you have opinions, questions or concerns please list below and I will address accordingly.
Leaders Check 