Leap, Learn, Grow: Surviving The First Few Months In A New Job

The first few months in a new job is much like the first few months of high school. You worry about not knowing anyone. If people will like you. If your linen joggers are stylish enough? You might also worry if you will understand all the new stuff you’re supposed to learn or master the skills necessary to succeed. Humans have this wonderful ability to write stories in our heads when we don’t know what to expect from a new situation and the associated worry can feel overwhelming.

The good news is these are all normal things to feel and most people probably feel some level of anxiety about a new job. Diving headfirst into something totally unknown and facing all new people and things and ideas is tough. The other good news is that you can help yourself not only survive the initial fear and worry but get past it quickly and be on your way to mastering those new skills and delivering results.

I’ve put together a list of some of the primary lessons I’ve learned after my recent transition to a new team. I hope that these will help ease the move for you or reassure you that you’re not alone and encourage you to persevere.

1) Wear your joggers. Seriously, it’s important to be your authentic self. You were likely hired for reasons other than just your resume and excel skills. Authentic people make the workplace stronger and more diverse by increasing the exchange of ideas, conversation, and pushes others to find innovative solutions to difficult problems. Be authentic in the workplace. The benefits of diversity are huge.

2) Over communicate. I can’t stress this one enough. I learned this the hard way recently and discovered that I had let an important business partner down by not communicating. I assumed things were fine instead following up with questions and updates in a timely manner. In situations like this it’s helpful to lean on your manager for support and strategies. They can draw from experience to help you implement best practices and to deal with any confusing or frustrating topics. Also lean on your coworkers for tips on handling tricky situations or balancing the workload. You don’t know what you don’t know and neither does your team. And because most teams operate at a blazing pace there isn’t time to constantly check in. If you don’t ask the assumption may be that you are fine. So it’s on you to open up the dialogue and bring your questions to light. You’d be surprised how much communication it would take before a manager or teammate says that’s enough.

3) Understand the time it takes to get up to speed. Before I joined my new team I had the chance to speak with my skip level and he gave me some great information. He told me how long it typically takes someone to grasp their role and responsibilities and to start producing results and the reasons why. This helped to set expectations early on and gave me some time to get acclimated. I was also fortunate that my manager gave me a detailed launch plan, which helped to focus some of the chaos I felt. If you weren’t given one and you feel lost I’d suggest asking your manager to build one for you. It might not make sense right away but it’s a great starting point to dive in to the work and to start understanding all the key areas and people involved. A simple one could involve weekly benchmarks, important people to connect with, as well as helpful resources and trainings to review.

4) Lastly and probably most importantly take risks and make mistakes. Being courageous and willing to try new things is important in your new role but may seem counterintuitive. The tendency may be to hide at your desk and not stand out until you do something good. But failure is an incredible learning mechanism and motivator. It gives us opportunities to hone our ideas, gain insight into our processes, and to take risks without fear of heavy consequences. It can also be the fountainhead from which amazing ideas spring. If you’ve got an idea run with it (maybe run it by your manager first), and focus on what you can learn along the way, not just the outcome. You might not start off with a win but it may lead to a sweeter victory in the long run.

These are just a few things that I’ve learned in my first few months. The transition process will never be perfect and your confidence may be low in the beginning. But having some ways to manage the overwhelming amount of work and organizational nuances that are being thrown your way all at once is crucial. Be authentic. Ask questions and have a voice! Build or lean on a launch plan (and perhaps a pump up jam or two). And don’t be afraid to take risks and make mistakes. As my manager says “you’re not going to break anything.”

I’d love to hear what you’ve done to successfully jump into your new roles!