When considering moving to a new job or position most executives will have the fundamental tools they will need in mind. Using online and offline platforms to search for that perfect vacancy, updating your CV and making a powerful impact in interview. All these factors obviously have to come first in order to secure that next great executive career opening, but it does not stop there once you have been offered the post.
Once you decide to take up the offer you will need to have a smart plan for those first few weeks and months in your new job. Excellent first impressions at the interview and on meeting your new team are essential in order for you to make an impact and begin laying down your own unique foundations.
Studies show that for managers and leaders in industry, up to 50% fail within the first year. With that in mind lets look at some top tips and tricks to ensure that you are on course to succeed from the outset.
You Have Time to Plan Ahead
You may be searching for a new position or you may have been headhunted and are hence gathering information about the new company you could possibly be working for. Either way, the recruitment process and the subsequent notice period (if there is one) is a great time to start planning those first few weeks and months in your new post. In fact, asking at interview what is likely to be asked of you in that early period can help you structure any future plans you may have.
Accept You Need to Learn and Network to Get the Knowledge
If you been in an executive or managerial position within a company for some time you will have been in a situation where you do not need to prove yourself. You are likely to have become used to boundaries and structures within your organisation and may have become a little complacent. But a new company will bring a whole new package of people, structures, and processes. You need to learn fast about this new company, and all the logistics that go with it. In a way you are to some extent starting from square 1 so don’t be afraid to start learning again so you can fit your knowledge and experience into those new boundaries.
Don’t Distance Yourself from Your Team
It is always difficult getting to know new faces and teams and as an executive or manager it is going to be quite easy to shut yourself away in your own little office. But they need to know you as much as you need to know them. A change of leader always brings a time of uncertainty and doubt. Getting to know your team as soon as possible will allow you to understand processes and how the team works and also help them move forward too.
Where Will Your Best Alliances Be?
It is through getting to know your team and associates that you will be able to determine where the knowledge and real power lies. This in turn will enable you to create robust allegiances and alliances which could prove very useful in your early days.
Hold onto Your Own Identity
It maybe that in starting your new post you find that your predecessor was a great loss to the team. Hence you may find yourself battering against a wall of resentment. You may be faced with responses like “Well, Big Joe didn’t do things like that…”; or “Big Joe told us to do it in a more streamlined way…” etc. At times like this it can feel much easier to go with the mob feeling. Don’t. If you do you are losing control, respect, power and your ability to make appropriate changes in the future. Stick to your guns and deal with the anger and resentment.
Quick Results Spark Confidence
There is no doubt that you are going to be compared with your predecessor you need to show that you are up for the job with concrete results. Where you can in your new job, make time to move forward certain areas so you can make quick results that will resonate positively with your team, associates and management.
Hold Back with Major Executive Changes
Starting your new executive role can be exciting for you and it is likely you will want to go in and make your identity known by making big changes. Slow down. A change of manager will have been a daunting time for your team – especially if your predecessor was well-liked and had been in post for some time. Making any changes as soon as you walk through the door is likely to cause further mistrust and even anger. As you get to know your team, and processes, keep a schedule and plan of how things will move forward under your command, but allow the first period to be a time of little further change.
Have You Brushed Up on Your Pitch Lately?
If you have been in a previous executive position for some time it is likely you have not had to sell yourself too hard. Your immediate associates and network know who you are, how you work and what to expect. Now you need to shake yourself out of your complacency and start selling yourself again – so brush up on your pitch. This may mean going back to the fundamentals of your business philosophies and approach and refreshing them in your own mind, so you can share them in a new and engaging way.
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