New job. New employer. And new headaches when staffers resist your new approaches.
More Americans will confront this challenge. How can you champion enough change to justify your hiring -- without rocking the boat so much that you endanger your latest gig?
Failure to strike the right balance often derails newcomers.
"They push too hard, too fast and do it in a nondiplomatic way,' says Ben Dattner, a New York industrial psychologist. Yet few corporate orientation programs help recruits 'work through what's the best approach to get up to speed in the new job," reports Michael Watkins, a Harvard associate professor of business administration and author of the new book, 'The First 90 Days.'
It's up to you to manage your early days well, navigate a different business culture and win support for your game plan. For starters, make sure you understand what kind of workplace you joined. A troubled enterprise is more likely to welcome radical fixes than a successful one.
Freshly hired executives increasingly turn to an outside 'onboarding' coach.
Such services can be costly. The coaching division of recruiters Korn/Ferry International typically charges a company about $10,000 to counsel a newcomer for six weeks.
Make a pitch during the courtship for your potential employer to cover some assimilation coaching. Describe it as evidence of your commitment to get up and running fast, recommends Marti Smye, the division's president.
Alternatively, pay for the advice yourself. Judi Glova coughed up $500 for four assimilation sessions with executive coach Paula Robb during her first month last summer as a public-affairs director of Roche Pharmaceuticals in Nutley, N.J. "It gave me the confidence to feel I at least had the first steps" needed for acceptance, the 36-year-old manager remembers.
Ms. Glova learned to identify players with the power to block her ideas, for example. She spent extra time getting acquainted with them before their meetings and deliberately sat beside them during lunch. Today, those colleagues help with her requests.
Source: Managing Your Career by Joann S. Lublin, The Wall Street Journal, Nov. 25, 2003
What happens when you attempt to take on a new position without a personal onboarding coach?