How do I excel in my new job?

The actions you take in a new role during your first 3 months have a major impact on your success or failure. If you build a positive image from the start, it will be decisive for the success of your role. If you make a few mistakes in the beginning, your role will become a tough one. The biggest challenge is to stay focused on the right things. It’s tempting to take on too much or waste your precious time.

It helps to have some questions to keep you on track. Below you find a checklist:

1 How can I create value?

This is the most important question. Why, and by whom, were you placed in this role? What do important stakeholders expect from you to achieve? In which time frame? How is your progress assessed? Remember the real answer may not be what you were told when you were appointed; it can also evolve as you progress and you learn more. Also remember that you have multiple stakeholders to satisfy, not just your clients, and they all have different views on what “success” is. It is essential to understand the full set of expectations so that you can reconcile and satisfy them. to the highest possible degree.

2 How should I behave? 

Strive to understand and adhere to the main standards of behavior for your new role. Think of culture as the immune system of the organization. It largely exists to prevent “wrong thinking” and “wrong behavior” from infecting the social organism. In violation of this you will be seen as “not belonging here”. If you are trying to understand the main formal and informal standards, remember that they differ across the organization (department, team and individual level).

3 Whose support is crucial?

Your success will likely depend on people over whom you have no direct authority; so you have to build alliances. The starting point for this is to understand and learn to navigate the political landscape of your new organization. Who has power and influence? Whose support is crucial and why? Build relationships. Be of added value. Reciprocity is the strongest foundation.

4 What changes do I make intentionally and unintentionally?

Just because of your presence you cause changes in the organization. It helps enormously to create clarity from the very beginning. Expectation clarity requires that as soon changes are designed, clearly the new rules of the game are stated to everyone involved.

5 What competencies do I need to develop to excel in this role?

“What do you have here, you will not get there.” The competencies that have brought you into your career so far may not be what you need to be successful in your new role, and it is all too easy to fall into the trap of your comfort zone. In other words, to become fully effective in your new role, you will have to develop yourself. This doesn’t mean you can’t get off to a good start right away, but the sooner you understand which new competencies you need to develop to excel in the role, the better. Failure to understand this essential point reduces the potential for future career advancement. Ask yourself these five questions as you start a new role and keep asking them regularly.