It was the first day of the school year for many kids last week, and I think I know how they all felt... it is my first day at my new job tomorrow, and I am feeling nervous and excited.
It's tough enough starting a new job – you don't really know the company, you don't know the culture, you may not even have much clue as to what you're doing. But when you're starting a new job as a manager- as I am tomorrow- you have not only the ever-watchful eyes of your boss, you also have the scrutiny of your reports. Of course, they may not have malicious intent, but you can bet they'll want to watch you, especially at first, to make sure you know what you're doing and what you're talking about. They may even be waiting for you to trip up.
So I am going to need my wits about me during these first few weeks, one of my biggest challenges will be to maintain a sense of humour, and keep my ego out of it! There is no doubting that I will screw something up at some stage this week, so I hope I will be trying to handle it all with grace and humour.
I'll be investing most of time and enegry this week getting to know my new team and allowing them to get to know me and my work-style. This is important, because I don't expect them to be as excited to be working with/for me when they don't know who I am. So I'll be mixing it with them, getting to know their strengths and weaknesses, both as individuals and as a team, whilst allowing them to learn about me. This time will also help me to figure out the company culture and social structure of the team, as well as identifying where our challenges lie.
Hopefully it'll be a fun week, and all-in-all, I reakon my best bet is to be approachable, remain humble, and be ready to learn everything as quickly as I can.
Wish me luck!