Here are three tips for success on the first day, and all days, of a new job.
• Learn from the person in the position before you. OPE, Other People’s Experience, is a valuable resource to help you reduce the length of the learning curve in a new job. This is especially true when the person before you has done a great job. The really good news here is that success almost always leaves clues, a trail you can follow and from which you can learn. Some questions to pay attention to are: How did they make it work? What were their unique gifts? What can you do the same? What can you do differently?
Another way is to simply ask them. Contrary to popular opinion, it does not make you look as if you do not know what you are doing. The reality is asking makes you look both humble and wise enough to ask good questions. You do not have to reinvent the wheel or make it up as you go along. And not only does it make you look teachable and smart enough to ask, it honors the other person.
• Learn all you can about what you are doing. Become an eager and continuous student of what you are doing. The seasoned professional, the craftsman or craftswoman, is always learning.
• Make it your own. One of the best ways to be successful in a new position, or any position for that matter, is to make it your own. Put your own stamp on it. Barbara Glanz is the author of CARE Packages for the Workplace and a professional speaker specializing in motivating employees. She calls making a job your own putting your personal signature on your work. Barbara tells the story of a young man named Johnny with Down syndrome. Johnny worked as a bag boy in a grocery store and was in the audience when Barbara spoke at a meeting on the importance of putting your personal signature on your work. Johnny heard and ran with the idea, and began to include his own personal “thought for the day” typed on a small sheet of paper and placed in one of the grocery bags of customers that went through his line. It was not long before the line where Johnny was bagging would regularly back up because people wanted his thought for the day.
I first heard about this story almost 10 years ago now. It is my understanding that Barbara and Ken Blanchard of “One Minute Manager” fame are coming out very soon with a new book titled “The Simple Truths of Service – Inspired by Johnny the Bagger.” You can check it out at www.barbaraglanz.com.
Jeff Herring, MS, LMFT, is a marriage and family therapist.
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