5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting A New Job
Reading time: 3 Minutes
Not too long ago I started a new job
Same company, but a new role with new people and new team dynamics. Coming in to a leadership position with a well established team can be difficult. You feel like an outsider at times
“Let me tell you about all the things I did right!”
I’d love to say that, but it would be a lie. What I can tell is what I WISH I had done in hindsight. Eventually I did get to most of these steps, but it took a long ass time.
Let me help you get through the process faster.
5 Things I wish I knew earlier whens tarting a new job especially a leadership role
(Items 1-4 are tactical, number 5 is a mindset to hold on to through it all)
1. Who’s Who In The Zoo?
This is pretty much how I felt when I first got started
Tons of great people, but I had no idea what all the roles & responsibilities were. Who do I go talk to about different topics? Who do I need to include in different discussions to make the right progress? What were the team dynamics?
Get a freakin org chart
Take notes on the organization & reporting structures
Who are the different lead/key individuals
Who are the subject matter experts
Once you understand the lay of the land, take some time to get to know people. These are the people you’ll be closely working with for the foreseeable future.
Go be friendly.
2. Plans, Policies, Procedures, Process, & Pipelines
(I’m sure there’s other good “P” words I could have used, but that seemed like enough for now)
Start with enough to have guidelines on things run on a daily basis
The last thing you want is to be fighting an uphill battle on something because you were didn’t understand how the basic operations work. Good news is that most businesses have some sort of standard operating procedure or at least a basic on boarding to get you started.
Still have questions? Thank goodness you understand your org & made smart friends already 😎
3. Learn Pain Points
Every group of people is annoyed by SOMETHING
Sometimes it’s a person, a process that they hate, or something that has bitten them in the past. Even the mere mention brings about a collective groan.
Pain points aren’t something you’re going to try to fix on day one.
Don’t try to.
There are 2 main goals in this step:
Identify things you may want to correct in the future
Understand how to navigate & communicate with your team
The last thing you want is to be “the new guy” who always strikes a nerve in every conversation
4. Focus on what you can control
One of my rules of life is:
“Control what you can, account/plan for what you can’t”
- me (Highly “leveraged” from a pillar of stoicism)
Imagine you’re baby sitting a group of children, all going wild
The difficult ones will take more time, more focus, and probably some help. Get control of the easy ones first. Put them down for a nap, then get ready to rumble.
Starting a new job can be a lot like that
Remember, you’re not coming in to this completely at zero. You were probably hired because of your background, skills, and experience
Lean in to what you know and take on what’s familiar first.
5. Breathe & Trust Yourself
Trust yourself, someone else already has.
Don’t take that as a stressing statement, consider it to be a vote of confidence. Someone PICKED you because they see something in you that maybe you don’t yet. It takes time.
Breathe.
One of the best exercises I’ve ever done for stress is to literally word vomit everything that bothers you on to a sheet of paper. Read through it, then take the tangible pain points & make a list. 📝
This is your action plan
Find what you can control today (see step 4) and start there. When you know your team (steps 1–3) you now have the resources to solve more than you realize 👍
Am I missing a tip? I’d love to hear your thoughts! Shoot me a message and let me know!
As always, thanks for reading.
See you next Thursday!
A.J. Zampella
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Little about who I am and what I’m here to do:
15 years in tech & 20 years as a DJ
Mid-career professional trying to thrive in work and life
I spend 100s of hours figuring it out so you can learn in <5 minutes a week!
Other Interesting Things Around the Web I do:
Free DJ Sets/Mixes on Soundcloud - Yes I still DJ pretty often too
#AJsBookClub - Big Book Guy. Join the conversation
Grim & Grind - My clothing line, all things Creepy & Caffeinated