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08-14-2010, 10:29 AM
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Career Ramp-Up for Women
Congratulations on your new job! It’s time to celebrate and brace yourself for this exciting and vulnerable time in your career: the first 100 days. Now that you’re on the job, make sure you ace it with this advice based on the book, Hit the Ground Running: A Woman’s Guide to Success for the First 100 Days on the Job.
Manage Your First Impressions While you’re trying to get established, others are trying to figure you out. Your early messages send big signals -- every choice reverberates. You probably don’t need the red designer outfit, but you do need to be proactive about your first impressions. Think about what the job is going to demand from you and determine what you can do to demonstrate that early on. For example, if you are leading a team that has lost trust, perhaps your first introduction should be a casual get-together versus a formal luncheon. Or if you are replacing someone very popular, have her introduce you around and openly demonstrate support. Take Advantage of Being New Avoid any tendency to hunker down and avoid attention. Meet the people who are important to your success, such as your boss, teammates, customers and staff. Get to know them and find out what’s important to them. When you are new to a position, you can see the organization with fresh eyes and spot potential opportunities or issues long-timers no longer see. You’ll never again have the advantage of being naive and uninformed. Ask good questions now; those same questions later might say you are incompetent. Remember to phrase your questions in ways that signal respectful inquiry, not doubtful undermining. Look for Quick Successes That Confirm Your Competence What are projects or tasks that create forward momentum and demonstrate your strengths? Seek easy initiatives that have a good chance of success and are relatively noncontroversial. Create Agreements with Your Boss Ask for regular progress check-ins with your boss until you feel you’ve successfully made the transition. Be sure you understand how your performance will be measured and avoid making promises you cannot keep, especially if variables exist beyond your control. Avoid Ms. Communication Start strong by broadening your choice of communication behaviors, some of which contradict our historic interpretation of the way females should act. First, avoid tentative language that may seem polite but might also signal a lack of confidence. For example, don’t say: “Perhaps we should think about increasing the advertising budget.” Instead, you should state: “For the desired results, we’ll need to increase the budget.” Second, women tend to apologize too quickly. Save the sorries for your own errors. Replace a phrase like, “I’m sorry, I just started. Can you explain that again?" with “I’d like to understand how this policy was developed. Can you explain it to me?” Finally, watch for shifting to the past tense. Keeping your language active and in the present tense maintains audience engagement and makes you appear confident in your convictions, even when you’re not sure. Notice the strength of the phrase: “My first reaction is that we should move ahead on this idea. However, I’d like to have more discussion.” It is more effective than: “I was thinking we should move ahead.” Create a Fail-Safe Support System Any big change if your life -- like a new job -- comes with a physical and mental price tag. Whether it’s a regular workout, a professional mentor or important family time, identify what you need to be successful, create space for it and then give yourself permission to use it. Start great habits now so that when you need them the most, they’ll be part of your routine. Finally, once you’ve completed your job ramp-up, be proud. But don’t bask in the glory for too long. As Carrie Fisher once said, “There is no point at which you can say, ‘Well, I’m successful now; I might as well take a nap.’” Similar Threads:
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