You got a new job! Now what?
So you nailed that job interview, you flawlessly negotiated your salary and benefits, and you’ve accepted a job offer at a new company. You have more to do than buy an awesome outfit for your first day at the new job.
There are five conversations you must have to ensure your success at a new company, according to Kim Janson, author of Demystifying Talent Management: Unleash People’s Potential to Deliver Superior Results. She coaches for the Harvard Business School and is the CEO of Janson Associates, a firm dedicated to unleashing people’s potential. She has more than two decades working in senior roles from SVP Leadership Development at Bank of America, Chief Talent Management Officer at H.J. Heinz Company and leadership roles at Hasbro, BancBoston Mortgage, and Bank of Boston.
In short, she has had to find her own success, and hired endless people and seen how we all tend to behave at a new company. Below, in her own words, are the five conversations you must have when you start at a new company:
1. The “What you need to do” conversation
You’ve worked really hard to land your new role, now you want to be successful! The most important thing you can do is start with great clarity and specificity about what you are accountable for, over what time and fully understand what a successful result looks like.
2. The “How you are doing” conversation
Being new to an organization, it is more important than ever to be sure you fully understand how your performance is tracking. You want to make a great impression early on by delivering great results. That means you need to track and get input before it is too late to make any necessary adjustments. If your new manager or peers don’t give you input on how you are doing, go asking for it.
A powerful question is: “If you were me and were to do this again, what would you do more or less of to be even more effective?” Coaching and feedback is essential for everyone’s success. It’s completely underutilized across the board in organizations. It is even more critical for those who are very new to a job.
3. The “How you did” conversation
You want to be sure you deliver great results right from the start of your new role! Get known for over-delivering! Because you did a great job clarifying performance expectations, this part should simply consist of reviewing and discussing whether you did what you committed to do. It should be that straightforward. Have specific examples and data to support your answer.
Gone are the days that people should fret the performance review. It’s merely the period at the end of the sentence that was started at the beginning of the year and written throughout the year.
4. The “Money” conversation
Establish great clarity of how you will be compensated for results after establishing clarity regarding your performance expectations. Understand fully what influences that compensation. Be fully informed and then execute accordingly. Being new to an organization, sometimes there are practices or assumptions that you don’t fully understand until you go through one whole performance cycle so be sure to as all the questions you have at the beginning.
5. The “How you need to grow” conversation
As you start a new role, start off on the right foot regarding development. Establish a plan on what you are working on over what time for what results. People learn most and best the first few months of a job so take advantage of this natural occurrence to soak it all up. Then, be a breakout employee by continuing to grow your skill set and experience base significantly each and every year.
Employees are a company’s biggest assets so when you increase your value each year, it’s good for the company and good for you. Be intentional on what to work on, perhaps through a 360. Get sponsorship on what you should work on from your direct reports or manager or peers. Look for a number of ways to develop. Make it part of who you are and how you operate, not something you do on rare occasions.
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