Change Agents
Your best chance to improve your business happens when you first start.
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Searching for a new job is really hard. Itâs not just the time and effort involved in applying for jobs, doing interviews and negotiating offers. Itâs the constant rejection, the ghosting and general poor treatment you get from potential employers.
When you do land a new job, itâs an exciting experience! There are new people to meet, new ways of working to learn and an entire culture to absorb. When you start you are in learning mode and trying to get up to speed as fast as possible.
If you do that too well, youâre missing your best opportunity to be a change agent.
One of the most important questions I asked new hires at the end of their first week was simple: âWhat can we do better?â It sounds like a loaded question, but it was genuine. I wanted to know what they saw that I did not.
The best people to improve an organization are the newest hires.
Once you are fully onboarded you become part of how the organization works. You start to adopt all the same bad habits as everyone else, and follow all the same flawed processes. After a few months, you likely wonât even see the problems as you get used to how things are done.
But in that first week, you see all the challenges clearly. Itâs your best chance to help the new company acknowledge and start to fix them! That short period of time between when you start and get absorbed is golden.
Now, I donât mean you should start a new job and start lecturing everyone about the ârightâ way to do things. That would be very counter-productive. However, you can start to ask the right questions about âwhy do we do thisâ and âhave we considered alternativesâ. Just by shining a spotlight on problems you are helping everyone else who might not see them anymore.
Yes, there might be good reasons for why they do things. It might be that what you perceive as a problem is not really a problem. Or maybe not! If you are afraid to ask in fear of seeming naive then you are losing that golden time entirely.
We call these new hires who point out problems âChange Agentsâ because they are agents of change. They have no vested interest in the status quo and as a result they are the best people to help create change.
If you can successfully create positive change, then you have a quick win at your new job. There is no better way to start a new position than having a quick win, and there is no quicker win than just pointing out problems and making sure everyone is aware of them.
So, if you start a new position, keep your eyes open. Write down problems you see. Even if your boss doesnât ask, volunteer to provide observations at the end of your first week! A great team will appreciate it.
And, if they donât appreciate it, you might have made a mistake in joining that company. Thatâs important to know as well.
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