The 10 Important Questions to Ask in Your New Position
How exciting! You’re about to start your new role — a promotion, a new organization, a new team. You know the first 3 to 6 months will be intense as you get your bearings and try to figure out your new environment. And if your work responsibilities are remote or hybrid, you’ll have to employ some different strategies to acclimate to the position.
As you develop your plan for entry think about these 10 important topics that you need to focus on. More than simple questions, they are issues you need to understand deeply as a foundation for how you will lead, how you will add value, how you will develop your strategies and accomplish your goals.
- How does the organization tangibly demonstrate their value for people? You should have experienced this from your first interaction with recruiters and interviewers. Learn about the policies and processes that are in place to meet team members needs, and how they’re actually utilized. Look at the steps they take to develop people’s skill sets. Ask about the orientation process to help you connect with key individuals throughout the organization. Initiate casual conversations with colleagues to learn what they enjoy most about working there, along with some of their frustrations.
- How are decisions made? This reflects the organizational structure, the meeting cadence, the priorities, the processes, and the sources of influence. And while there’s a formal system, the informal practice is the one to pay attention to. You may have to observe it first to really understand the flow.
- How does the company make money? This is more than the obvious response of “by selling products and services.” This is digging into the cost and profit drivers, systematic pinch points, and the metrics used. Identify where cost cutting measures have been used in the past, along with decisions that inflate expenses. How have financial strategies evolved over the past decade and what’s the future direction?
- What does the customer want? Companies carefully monitor and try to influence their customers’ demands and preferences. Gain an intimate knowledge of these customers, both internal and external. Learn how responsive and agile the organization is to meet customer needs.
- What behaviors are rewarded? In your formal orientation you will likely be told the values and expected behaviors. Warning! Pay more attention to what people do than what they say. Observe how people conduct themselves and the associated results. If they get what they want based on how they behave, they’ll keep behaving that way and others will too.
- How do people communicate? Every organization has their own lingo, acronyms, cadence, tone, and style. Find out which conversations normally take place via email, phone, or face to face. Are they diplomatic or direct in tone? Is information provided to broad audiences or on a need-to-know basis? How do you “read between the lines” to understand the real meaning behind that email you just received? Violating these subtle but critically important nuances may create a rocky start for newcomers, while quickly learning and following them will make others feel like you’re a member of the team.
- How do people collaborate? In the best companies, the rigid organizational structures and silos of the past have been replaced by flexible teams, adaptable processes and systems, and broader information sharing. You need to identify every area of the organization that interacts and has a mutual impact with your role. Then understand their motivations and how to partner with these various teams to get results.
- What are the risks to business growth and how are they being mitigated? To start, look at the impact of semiconductor chip shortages, the pandemic, climate change, and supply chain issues. Are these fully external and uncontrollable forces, or can they be alleviated in the future based on different business decisions? Identify the impact of labor shortages and demands, product quality, customer needs, and product or service capacity. These volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) forces are requiring companies to operate very differently in the future.
- Who are the power brokers? This isn’t based simply on title or position on the organization chart. These are people who influence outcomes, drive decisions, and share information in confidence. They typically know many stakeholders, both internally and externally, have broad networks and know how to get things done. They want to know you, to determine how you can help them retain their status. You want to know them, to determine what value they can add to you. And you need to know their source of power, whether from expertise, association, secret information, historical knowledge, or leadership style.
- What are the persistent problems that are difficult to solve? One of the reasons you were hired is for your ability to solve problems. And even if you’re an expert in your subject matter, you still must learn how those problems manifest in this new environment, and the drivers that create them. Only as you better understand the environment in which they operate can you begin to think about how you will address them.
This list may sound exhausting, but they are all critical points of reference for you to become successful in your new role. Every person you meet is a source of insight to help you build your base of knowledge. So, start developing relationships from your very first interaction, commit to ongoing research, and make sure your values align with that of the organization.
Copyright 2021 Priscilla Archangel
Creative designed by 30000000190 From LovePik.com
0