Understand the People

One of the key factors in ensuring that your start in the new position is successful will be your ability to establish good working relationships with your colleagues at an early date. This will involve creating successful business relationships not only with those within your department or function, but also with individuals in other departments with whom you will have regular dealings, and who will often have a considerable impact on your ability to achieve success in your role.

Within your new department you will need to be accepted by your peer group. It is vital to remember that this acceptance has to be earned and is not automatically bestowed. The first few months will in reality be a sort of initiation process you have to go through to gain acceptance. Your boss and new colleagues will be seeking reassurance in many cases that you will not 'rock the boat' too much and yet have something valuable to offer to the team. Your colleagues and the boss will test you out during this period to identify not only your technical competence but also your style of working, attitudes, values and personality. This will often be carried out at a subconscious level but nearly always takes place. Your colleagues need to be reassured as much as you do that their values are compatible with yours and that you can make a contribution to the department.

There may be other difficulties to face as well. For example, it is not uncommon for one of your colleagues to have been passed over for the position which you have secured. You need to be aware of this at an early stage and adapt your behaviour accordingly. The impact of the way you behave in the first few weeks and months cannot be underestimated. It is the principal method by which your performance will be judged.

It is worth taking steps to make your face known outside the department, with the other divisions or parts of the organisation that you are likely to have dealings. A major problem in organisations today is the lack of effective lateral communication across divisions or departments, despite the fact that everyone is supposedly working towards the same overall objectives. Making the effort during the first few weeks of your employment to identify and get alongside your 'internal customers' and build a relationship with them can pay long term dividends for you, especially if you try to gain an understanding of their priorities and why conflict might arise between your respective divisions. Similar steps should be taken to establish relationships with external suppliers with whom you may have regular dealings.