Things to Remember During Transition

What is it like to switch jobs and move to a new organization?

After 3 years I changed jobs and am now working in a different organization, yet in the same company. You would assume that there would be some things that are different, but on the whole, you are working for the same company, right? After switching from the services side to the business and then back to the services I have come up with a few common experiences.

1. No matter how much you knew at your previous job, the new position has a different culture that requires assimilation into. Learning the new culture requires you to be very observant. Attending your first meeting will tell you a lot about the culture.

2. Write out your observations about the new group in your first month or else you may lose the fresh perspective you bring to the group.

3. Be humble and deferential to leadership, they are going to help your ideas gain traction if you are in a leadership role or if you need their help in making changes.

4. Don't be afraid to ask questions about how things get done. This is especially if you are experienced and they expect you to get busy. You want to get productive as quickly as possible, that is one of the reasons they hired you above others.

5. Leave your old position well. You want your successor in your previous role to be more successful than you were.

6. Ask your new supervisor how you can help them be successful. Get to know them. Is there something that keeps them up at night you can help with?

7. Do you have a competency map you can share with your new supervisor? Or your Career Development Plan? I would recommend you share the Competency Map first and the Development Plan after 90 days.

8. Study the organizational structure and get to know what the name of the influencers are. You also want to find out the undocumented org structure. Who has the ear of the leaders? This is especially important in a networking based organizational culture.

9. At times, it may feel like you are walking through a mud field, especially when you are trying to get something done. Things are going to take more time until you know the decision makers or get savvy about the new processes.

10. Ask the obvious questions. This is your time to preface all your questions with, "I know I am new here..."

11. Listen first before telling them the way your previous organization accomplished something similar.

12. Get to know the people in your new organization, you need their understanding of the 'tribal knowledge' that is undocumented and sometimes unsaid.

13. Acknowledge and thank your previous supervisor for letting you go to the next assignment. Supervisors are the ones that bear the brunt of training the new you. Your replacement may not know as much as you did. Whoever replaces you will require some time to get up to speed. It is your previous supervisor that remains accountable for projects you left behind.

Until next time...