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The New Job Challenge
Joel Ospa

Congratulations. You've just accepted an exciting new job offer… with a new company… perhaps in a new city. You're justifiably excited and proud. It's a really great opportunity with a leading company. You'll have more responsibility and better compensation.

So what's the catch?

Do you know how to succeed and flourish in this new job? Do you know how to introduce and establish yourself? Do you know what's involved in assimilating yourself into a new company, building new relationships, and understanding a new work environment and culture.

If you haven't thought about it, and don't have an entry plan… you're heading over a cliff and will probably be out of that company and your job in a year or so.

The probability of succeeding in a new job… that is, of staying with that company, in that new job for at least 2 years is only 50%. And by the way, if you've been with your current company for more than 10 years, the probability of success drops to 20%. Don't be too surprised. For obvious reasons, this is not something recruiters like to talk about. But, for most companies and professionals it is what happens. As a side note, be a little skeptical about everything you were told during the recruiting process. Recruiting is a bit like seduction. Not everything you heard is true, and you're not as perfect as they led you to believe.

The problem is not your technical skills or professional experience. Most people have the knowledge to succeed in their new job. The issue is that few people understand what's really required to succeed in a new environment, which is that you need to:

Establish and build a new network of effective work relationships with peers, subordinates and clients (internal and external)
Skillfully assess and understand a new corporate culture.

All organizations have an embedded culture… informal, unwritten guidelines and rules for working together. It's about how the work gets done, not what work is done. These are the norms and patterns for communicating, making decisions, providing guidance, supervision, setting goals, giving feedback, and a variety of other activities that are unique to every organization. They are a function of the organization's history… particularly the crises they have faced… and the experiences of the people who have worked there.

As a young professional joining a new company, what you don't know can really bite you. When you grow up in a company… that is join a company right out of college and move along a company career track, you build relationships over time, you learn in a relatively protected environment (and we mean "relatively") who the "good guys" and "bad guys" are, and how to protect yourself.

Now, think about "parachuting" into this new company in a professional or senior position. You don't have a clue. In addition, most successful people have developed real skills at masking their feelings… they are "smiling tigers"… friendly, but dangerous and unpredictable. So, you really won't feel the knife in your back from that smiling colleague. You may not know how badly that "new friend" really wanted the job you got, or just feels threatened by your potential. You don't know that the person you just insulted is the Director's landscaper's daughter. There are many opportunities for a misstep.

From the comments we've heard by many "new hires", one of the most common early experiences is the feeling of being isolated, not having the relationships. There is also the frustration of knowing what to do. But, not knowing how to get it done… from ordering stationary and a telephone, to getting approval for a new marketing campaign… It can be very disorienting. Welcome to Mars.

So what can you do?

Recognize that the challenge… and opportunity… is ahead of you to manage your successful entry and assimilation into this new environment.
Understand the entry and assimilation process.
Develop and manage to a specific, well thought out plan.

At this point, you're beginning to recognize the challenge. You should also understand that successful assimilation involves both an intellectual process (i.e. rational, thoughtful), and emotional one. There is a lot of knowledge and information that you need to acquire… which is generally the easy part.

Equally important, you have to deal with and resolve a number of emotional issues that will arise early in your new job… like feeling "homesick" and a little disoriented…. Like dealing with various frustrations and difficult relationships… Like stepping in "cultural potholes"… historically based constraints and idiosyncratic processes that are unpredictable and painful. E.g. you hire a consultant to conduct some market research. Your boss has a fit. What you didn't know was that the company launched a disastrous and embarrassing product 10 years ago based on "bad research".

Dealing with emotions is the difficult part and not easily "managed". So, let's look briefly at the process. Our observations are that people go through four distinct stages before they are broadly perceived as successful, contributing members of the organization, and not outsiders… hired guns… or, new hires.

These stages are: Entry, Exploring, Building and Contributing.

Entry refers to the initial process of introducing yourself and beginning to understand your new job, the organization and the people. During this stage, people are very interested in who you are and how you'll fit in.
Exploring refers to an extended process of developing a more robust understanding of the organization, the management processes… decision making, communications, etc., and people. Importantly, it also involves the initial process of building and establishing new relationships. This is also a period when nobody really expects you to accomplish a lot.
The Building stage is much more active. You have begun to actually do something…you're committing yourself. You're now expected to be making contributions and accomplishing your goals… to be building your track record of success. This is also the time when the organization has started to understand how you work… your strengths and weaknesses. And, your beginning to experience resistance and challenges of the political process.
After more time than you probably think is necessary, you have reached the "Contributing" stage. This is when the organization perceives you as an effective, successful and a member. You now have strong, established relationships and ties to many people within the organization.

Now that you have a sense of the process, you need to develop your entry plan. The plan needs to be done before you start the new job and should consist of the following:

Your introduction. A well rehearsed, short "speech" telling your new colleagues who you are.
A list of people you want to meet with over the next 30-60 days and a plan for the meeting… your "orientation list"
A plan for how you're going to clarify your responsibilities, and what the organization expects from you

Some tips on preparing your plan, and managing your entry:

Collect as much information about the company as possible. The Internet, or course, is a great tool for gathering information… both fact and myth. Ask you new boss to send you a package with as much information as possible about the company and the business.
Use your personal network (friends and colleagues) to ask about your new company. Do they know anyone who works there and, what do they think about them? If appropriate, see if you can get some introductions.
Preparing the introduction. Your initial entry will have tremendous impact on your success. It's trite, but true that you have "only one opportunity to make a first impression". What do you want to tell people about yourself when you first arrive… when you first meet them? Hints…
- Tell a little about who you are and where you came from and what you've done. You can mention your family. But, keep it very brief. Say that you have a lot to learn about the company, products and how things work; and that you're looking forward to spending more time with them
- DO NOT talk about all of the changes you're going to make and why you were hired to "shake things up". It's threatening, you're perceived as arrogant, and the message you're sending is that everyone who's there now doesn't know what they're doing.
Initial Meetings with your new Colleagues… Your "Orientation List" should be dynamic. Add people and reprioritize who you want to meet with as you gather more information.
- Meet as many people as you can. Take advantage of every opportunity. ·
- Be in a hyper-listening mode… collect information, evaluate, don't reach conclusions until you have more experience or information
- When you are meeting with someone, focus on critical work processes… decision-making, communications, how performance is evaluated, etc. For example, when looking at how decisions are made. One of the questions you might want to ask is: Are decisions "data based" or "relationship based". An easy way to find out is when you ask your boss if he wants to do "A" or "B" and the first question he asks you is: "What does M think about it?"… That's probably relationship-based decision-making.
- Focus on building trust and establishing relationships. One of the key things others will be looking for in you is: "Are you trustworthy". Most people have a good nose for B.S. Other issues are: can you help them succeed; are you a contributor or a user; and, are you easy to work with.

You're now on you're way to succeeding in your new job with a successful entry. In future issues, we'll present more about how you establish yourself, and cope with the emotional roller coaster of assimilating.