The First 90 Days, Updated and Expanded. Michael D. Watkins

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      Preparing Yourself

      With a deeper understanding of the types of transition challenges you face, you can now focus on preparing yourself to make the leap. How can you be sure to meet the challenges of your new position? You can focus on basic principles for getting ready for your new role, as discussed next.

      TABLE 1-1

      Onboarding checklists

       Business orientation checklist

       As early as possible, get access to publicly available information about financials, products, strategy, and brands.

       Identify additional sources of information, such as websites and analyst reports.

       If appropriate for your level, ask the business to assemble a briefing book.

       If possible, schedule familiarization tours of key facilities before the formal start date.

       Stakeholder connection checklist

       Ask your boss to identify and introduce you to the key people you should connect with early on.

       If possible, meet with some stakeholders before the formal start.

       Take control of your calendar, and schedule early meetings with key stakeholders.

       Be careful to focus on lateral relationships (peers, others) and not only vertical ones (boss, direct reports).

       Expectations alignment checklist

       Understand and engage in business planning and performance management.

       No matter how well you think you understand what you need to do, schedule a conversation with your boss about expectations in your first week.

       Have explicit conversations about working styles with bosses and direct reports as early as possible.

       Cultural adaptation checklist

       During recruiting, ask questions about the organization’s culture.

       Schedule conversations with your new boss and HR to discuss work culture, and check back with them regularly.

       Identify people inside the organization who could serve as culture interpreters.

       After thirty days, conduct an informal 360-degree check-in with your boss and peers to gauge how adaptation is proceeding.

      Establish a Clear Breakpoint

      The move from one position to another usually happens in a blur. You rarely get much notice before being thrust into a new job. If you’re lucky, you get a couple of weeks, but more often the move is measured in days. You get caught up in a scramble to finish your old job even as you try to wrap your arms around the new one. Even worse, you may be pressured to perform both jobs until your previous position is filled, making the line of demarcation even fuzzier.

      Because you may not get a clean transition in job responsibilities, it is essential to discipline yourself to make the transition mentally. Pick a specific time, such as a weekend, and use it to imagine yourself making the shift. Consciously think of letting go of the old job and embracing the new one. Think hard about the differences between the two, and consider how you must now think and act differently. Take the time to celebrate your move, even informally, with family and friends. Use the time to touch base with your informal advisers and counselors and to ask for advice. The bottom line: do whatever it takes to get into the transition state of mind.

      Assess Your Vulnerabilities

      You have been offered your new position because those who selected you think you have the skills to succeed. But as you saw in the cases of Julia Gould and David Jones, it can be fatal to rely too much on what made you successful in the past.

      One way to pinpoint your vulnerabilities is to assess your problem preferences—the kinds of problems toward which you naturally gravitate. Everyone likes to do some things more than others. Julia’s preference was marketing; for others, it may be finance or operations. Your preferences have probably influenced you to choose jobs where you can do more of what you like to do. As a result, you’ve perfected those skills and feel most competent when you solve problems in those areas, and that reinforces the cycle. This pattern is like exercising your right arm and ignoring your left: the strong arm gets stronger, and the weak one atrophies. The risk, of course, is that you create an imbalance that leaves you vulnerable when success depends on being ambidextrous.

      Table 1-2 is a simple tool for assessing your preferences for different kinds of business problems. Fill in each cell by assessing your intrinsic interest in solving problems in the domain in question. In the upper-left cell, for example, ask yourself how much you like to work on appraisal and reward systems. This isn’t a comparative question; don’t compare this interest with others. Rank your interest in each cell separately, on a scale of 1 (not at all) to 10 (very much). Keep in mind that you’re being asked about your intrinsic interests and not your skills or experience. Do not turn the page before completing the table.

      TABLE 1-2

      Assessment of problem preferences

       Assess your intrinsic interest in solving problems in each of these domains on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 means very little interest and 10 means a great deal of interest.

Design of appraisal and reward systems __________	Employee morale __________	Equity/fairness __________
Management of financial risk __________	Budgeting __________	Cost-consciousness __________
Product positioning __________	Relationships with customers __________	Organizational customer focus __________
Product or service quality __________	Relationships with distributors and suppliers __________	Continuous improvement __________
Project management systems __________	Relationships among R&D, marketing, and operations __________	Cross-functional cooperation __________

      Now transfer your rankings from table 1-2 to the corresponding cells in table 1-3. Then sum the three columns and the five rows.

      The column totals represent your preferences among technical, political, and cultural problems. Technical problems encompass strategies, markets, technologies, and processes. Political problems concern power and politics in the organization. Cultural problems involve values, norms, and guiding assumptions.

      If one column total is noticeably lower than the others, it represents a potential blind spot for you. If you score high on technical interests and low on cultural or political СКАЧАТЬ