Nail The First 90 Days

Starting a new role, whether it’s in a new company or within the one you already work for, can bring a range of emotions. Alongside the excitement for taking on a challenge, nerves are natural. They might stem from some uncertainty of what the day to day will actually look like. They might come from working with new people, who haven’t experienced your quality of work before. You might be taking on a broader remit that will require you to develop new skills. It might simply be a step up, and the expectations that come with that.

Having a plan to get up to speed helps allay those fear, climb that learning curve, and make a knockout first impression. Here are a few pointers.

Do Your Homework

Your first 90 days start before your official start date. Curate a reading list ahead of time — reports, finances, products — so that you have a head start, and plenty of intelligent questions when your real first day comes.

Set Your Own Agenda

Whilst there’s likely an onboarding process to go through, it’s imperative to do your own research ahead of time, identify the blind spots you’ll have when starting the role — whether its a skills gap, details about an ongoing project, market knowledge — and seek out help for these areas sooner rather than later.

Talk To Customers

Don’t rely on marketing to tell you who the customer is and what they want. Try to arrange calls with customers to find out how and why they use your product, or at the very least set up some call listening with the sales team or spend some time helping customer support. Most of your colleagues won’t have done this recently, so you’ll have up to date customer insights to share.

Shake Hands, Kiss Babies

Not literally, obviously. But first impressions count, and you’ll be making a lot of them when starting a new role. Think of it as a presidential campaign. You want to be visible, meeting as many people as possible, and letting them know what you’re about. You can ask your boss who they think you should get to know, but don’t just focus on managing up — build relationships at every level. These should be casual, get-to-know conversations rather than anything too formal, but it may be helpful to jot down a couple of notes afterward to help keep track of the personal relationships you’re building.

Avoid Unforced Errors

It’s unlikely you’ll get a huge win in the first few months. You’re much more likely you do something stupid that can set you back. Nobody is expecting you to know everything when you’re new to a role, so if you’re ever unsure about something it’s best to err on the side of caution and ask a dumb question rather than taking a risk and ending up with egg on your face.

Establish Rules of Engagement With Your Boss

It’s the most important relationship you have for your development, progression, and happiness so don’t leave it up to chance. Early on, it’s a good idea to have a 1:1 session dedicated to how to work best together. Ask them how often they like to catch up, the best way to share any feedback you have for them, what they like to stay in the loop on vs let you run with etc. Knowing how to make your boss’ life easier is never a bad lever to be able to pull. It’s a two-way street, so you should also be letting your boss know how to set conditions for you to thrive.

Decide What You Want To Be Known For

Starting a new role is a chance to self-reflect and course correct for where you want to be, and who you want to be. Decide, and live up to it. Be intentional. Want to be regarded as a mentor to up and coming stars? Find one and mentor them. Care about the local community? Get colleagues involved in some volunteering.

Get Small Wins On The Board

Find out what your colleagues’ problems are and help solve them, or at least try to add value in an area they care about. Even if it’s something minor, it shows that you care and want to be helpful. You can even share an article that you think will interest them. Really, anything that demonstrates you’ve gone out of your way to be helpful. This will help you build personal credibility.

Earn The Right To Make Changes

The biggest mistake you can make when coming into a new role is to try and make changes too quickly. It’s easy to see something that seems obviously wrong and want to fix it. However, without taking the time to learn the business and earn the trust of stakeholders, you’ll meet resistance. Humans are innately resistant to change and untrusting of those they don’t know.

It’s important to take the time to get a deep understanding of the business and the context as to why some things are done the way they are before making any recommendations for changes. Learn before you execute.

Every role and company is different, but it’s worth investing the time to learn before you execute. Focus on the ‘softer’ side of things — culture, people, politics — at first to build the foundations on which you’ll build your masterplan.