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<\/strong><\/p>\nGuest Blogger Coach Cay Villars<\/strong> A few years ago I taught a program, Best Practices for High Impact in a New Position<\/em>, to participants in the UW Masters in Biotechnology Program.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To kick the program off, participants shared the worst practices they had seen from people starting out in a new job.\u00a0 The most startling yet entertaining practice was \u201cfall asleep in the monkey cage.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Apparently on the first day of work a new animal keeper decided that a nap with the monkeys was an acceptable practice. I regret that I did not ask whether the monkey was in the cage at the same time.<\/p>\n While this example provided untold hours of enjoyment for employees sharing the story with peers, management was less than amused and acted quickly to make this the last on site snooze (or anything else) the keeper did at the company.<\/p>\n Aside from fun stories about activities guaranteed to help people lose their job on the first day, there are a few other frequently practiced yet more subtle \u201cworst practices\u201d that might be best avoided by those new to a position.\u00a0 I thought I would share a couple of them along with powerful best practice alternatives.<\/p>\n This may sound extreme, and yet it is probably one of the worst and yet most frequently practiced behaviors by new employees, particularly those transferring between companies.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It certainly is a frequent practice among scientists, who get trained to \u201cput their stuff out there\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 There is the belief that \u201cshowing your stuff\u201d wins points.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Unfortunately what that behavior ultimately wins is a reputation of \u201cone-up-man-ship\u201d.\u00a0 Colleagues will feel disrespected and disconnected, as this behavior is a no-brainer way of alienating people as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n A counter intuitive best practice approach is to listen and collect information first (follow the edict \u201cPeople don\u2019t care unless they know you care\u201d) by conducting informational interviews with all the key players you might interact with in your new position.\u00a0 This includes your manger, direct reports, peers and managers in other departments.\u00a0 Build relationships by showing an interest in their needs and what they feel is important to the organization.\u00a0\u00a0 This will give you opportunities to identity how you can best apply your skills and knowledge to support their effort.\u00a0 It will help you understand how to build strong relationships and ultimately, how to positively influence others.<\/p>\n When you follow up and deliver according to what they need, you will immediately be recognized as someone who delivers while meeting the needs of others.\u00a0\u00a0 People remember those individuals who pay attention and support their ideas.<\/p>\n Many employees adhere to the belief that it is not necessary to have an in-depth understanding of the company\u2019s growth goals, customers, products or services because that is \u201cmarketing\u2019s job\u201d.<\/p>\n The cost to this (lack of proactive) behavior, particularly since the economic downturn, is that many who have adopted this practice are former employees in the layoff line.\u00a0 The most valued employees understand customers, what customers value and how their role adds value to the company and to customers. Customers include external customers as well as \u201ccustomers\/employees\u201d in other departments of the company who depend on the services you provide.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0If you can demonstrate that you can add value to all customers, it is much easier to get promoted and much harder for companies to let you go.\u00a0 And if you do get laid off, your resume can be filled with how in the past, you added and delivered value to customers, colleagues and thus the bottom line of any company.<\/p>\n Every company benefits from people who know how to save money and improve the bottom line while delivering high value products and services. The best power practice is to be proactive about learning everything you can about your company.\u00a0 If it is allowed by management, review your company\u2019s strategic and\/or annual operations plan.\u00a0 Talk to managers and peers and interview sales or marketing to learn about products and services.\u00a0 \u00a0This information (along with the stakeholder interviews) will provide powerful insights as to how you can help improve organizational efficiencies and add value to internal and external customers.<\/p>\n Sometimes the beliefs that we need to be self sufficient or that we have to know everything in a position are extremely self limiting. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0People who get fast results know that a best practice is to find someone who has been successful doing what they want to do and model his or her best practices.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A power approach is to identify a mentor or coach either internal or external to the organization who is willing and capable of guiding you based on their school of hard knocks experience. \u00a0\u00a0Invite the person to lunch, share your outcomes and see what develops from there.<\/p>\n There are many great ways to learn how to add value in organizations for those who are proactive about constantly learning what it takes to do a great job and are willing to take positive action.\u00a0 Those two traits, along with the ability to work well with others will continue to be the most valued and thus sought after characteristics in organizations.\u00a0\u00a0 An\u00a0 employee who demonstrates these characteristics early on in a job quickly becomes sought after as an indispensible resource, rather than avoided as a corporate liability.<\/p>\n If you would like a summary of the key questions you should answer in order to quickly make a positive impact in a new position, email me, Cay Villars, at cvillars at biotactics dot com.<\/p>\n
\nWritten October 1, 2012, Published On October 5, 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n\n
Worst Practice #1: Tell everyone you meet in the new company what you\u2019ve achieved, how you did it in your last job or experience and why that is better than what they are doing now<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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Worst practice #2: Focus on \u201cdoing your own job\u201d and never bother to learn how to add full value to what the company is trying to accomplish.<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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Worst practice #3: Depend strictly on your academic training to guide you in order to know what to do to successfully bring your greatest value to an organization<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n