New beginnings are exciting – be it at work or in professional life or even starting a new hobby. The excitement and the newness, at the same time, can also bring along anxiety and jitters.
At the start, one usually faces a dilemma and doesn’t really know where to start. The possibilities sure are endless but there are significant risks as well. A few steps to manage this change at a professional level that I swear by:
Being Open and getting comfortable with uncomfortable:
Change is hard—even when it’s the right thing for us. Change can bring multitude of emotions during change – to feel shocked, overwhelmed, anxious and depressed and even fearful but it can be extremely rewarding if done right. There will be a lot of learnings; many uncomfortable discussions, multiple times when you would have no context / no SOP, activities / documents / terms that may be completely new – and that’s perfectly fine. Keep the learning hat on and note down all such things, reach out to your buddy/ manager, look up on open sources wherever possible.
Being Vulnerable:
Under new circumstances, it is better be vulnerable and set low expectations and then exceed them instead of setting high expectations and being unable to meet them. Once people around know one needs help, only then will one receive help.
Ask questions:
Esp at the beginning, ask pointed specific questions and lots of them. It’s better to come across as naïve in the beginning that dumb 6 months down the line when it would be expected. Assuming incorrectly may be more harmful than asking questions and being vulnerable.
Making space for new:
An extremely important step is creating the endings to let new role take up that space. Plan right and transition well. If not managed well, things easily go down south – at professional and personal front.
Communication:
Communicate well and frequently with both the new and the existing stakeholders to minimize friction and for a smooth transition.
Learn and Unlearn:
Learning curve esp in the beginning is steep. Accept and take that challenge. It is equally important to unlearn many things which may be done differently in the new role/team.
Reading up:
Fortunate to have been born in an era where all information is easily available, and accessible with multitude of open learning platforms. Additionally, there are multiple internal platforms, onboarding material that each team has for new joiners, team members. Its not a bad idea to take up a course on the new profile too.
Active Listening:
The most powerful tool which is sparingly used in our daily lives. In the beginning, especially, this is the most important aspect of building those relationships than making your value felt.
Stakeholder Mapping:
A critical step; to be repeated periodically:
Identify the stakeholders – who are the promoters, defenders, latents, etc. Power/Interest Matrix (PIM) is one such powerful tool to map and classify stakeholders in the right buckets.
Find mentors:
Having a mentor can be the differentiating factor in a person’s success. It is important to have one who can guide well, give a pep talk when needed and also provide productive feedback to work on.
Network:
Within the team, organization and external sources. Find out the best practices and how industry operates. Create professional relationships – they always help.
Being Observant:
Understand the power and team dynamics; learn from non verbal cues.
Try to link your past learnings into the current role:
Map what existing skillset can augment your new profile. Eg: a Sales representative can leverage their stakeholder management skills and negotiation skills to be successful as a Project Manager.
Practice Self Care & Self Acceptance:
It is critical to remind yourself that you don’t have all the answers. It is ok to make mistakes (without repeating them 😉 ). Trusting in the Infinite Potential has made me successful so far and would continue to do so. Slow down, when required. Journal, be mindful and meditate. Physical activity like running trains me for the mental tenacity that is required to deliver in an ever-evolving VUCA world.
Whenever I feel stuck, I remind myself: I have everything I need to begin. Even the most accomplished people may not always have the solution to everything.
I read somewhere that helps me in such a phase:
Start where you are.
Use what you have.
Do what you can.