Your perspective matters, no matter your level of experience
How to value, document and bring up your questions and concerns during your first weeks at a new job.
Our Podcast guest on Teams At Work, Ryan Donovan, CTO at Hootsuite, correctly said, “The job to learn how to build new relationships as a leader will never be done. New generations entering the workplace look at things differently, and we as leaders need to keep listening and adapting accordingly.” 2021 has been an exciting year for my career start in Product Management, and Ryan has encouraged me to summarise one of the key take-aways that I would like to share with my peers and anyone who is starting at a new team.
Who am I to judge the working styles of experienced managers?
My first weeks at Bunch were everything new members dream of when they want to get on top of things quickly. The trust I was given from the start made me discover new behaviours, vocabularies, smart principles and adjustments of popular processes. I was spoiled with new learnings. While I was endlessly grateful for the steep learning curve, I of course didn’t feel aligned with 100% of what I was observing and struggled to figure out where to put my thoughts.
To give you an example, I had just studied various theories at university on how we should stop celebrating workaholics and focus more on mental health in organisations. I also kept debating with peers that it will become more and more difficult to acquire talent from our generation without providing clarity on healthy working principles from the start. At the same time, I saw the team working extremely long days, being online late at night, and reading messages in the weekend. I noticed that it stressed me out and that I didn’t want to adopt these styles. I didn’t feel comfortable sharing how I felt about it right away because I kept telling myself, “Who am I, as an entry-level PM to judge the working styles of experienced managers.” Today, I would encourage myself to value the impressions instead of judging them.
What to do with your impressions on the first days
Observe don’t Reverse
Meanwhile, I have onboarded new team members myself and I have experienced what it feels like when a new joiner suggests turning a process upside down because of flaws they have spotted. Suggesting significant changes at the very start risks being counter-productive because one often doesn’t have enough data on why a process is a certain way. While feelings can hardly ever be evaluated as right or wrong, there is often an optimal time and space to suggest improvements that benefits you as a team member and the manager. And that perfect time usually isn’t the first day for various reasons.
Let your journal be your gossip partner
You’ll likely need to vent within the first days and weeks of your new job. And sometimes, expressing your feelings is all you need to reflect upon happenings with a clear mindset. I would suggest making your journal your best friend. Don’t watch your words, be as dramatic as you want and share everything you feel. This makes you feel heard, and you don’t risk sharing intuitive thoughts too early. But again, you must document them.
I would follow the good old saying to sleep over it if you have the opportunity. Sometimes a 15-minute screen-free break already helps me see things from a different perspective.
Analyse your impressions and evaluate your confidence
Read your impressions and focus on the language you use. Evaluate how much background information you have and how much energy it costs you. Focus on formulating questions around interpretations which are based on little background knowledge and come with high frustration and prioritise them for your next chat with your manager.
Gain clarity in your next 1:1 — Don’t wait too long
Now comes the crucial part. After listening to yourself, giving it time and reflections, don’t hold back with sharing your thoughts. Make sure to schedule time for it in your next 1:1 with the responsible team member.
Use a feedback framework to share your thoughts
Try to avoid to spill your thoughts and questions messily. Make it easy for your manager or team member to pick up on your concerns by using structure. I really like using the Situation, Behaviour, Impact feedback model which focuses on your feelings and guarantees that you don’t make false accusations.
Example:
- Situation: When I receive messages late at night
- Behaviour: and you don’t indicate whether it is urgent or not
- Impact: it makes me feel stressed about work
Lastly, follow-up on improvement, if your manager doesn’t do it
I am extremely lucky to have an excellent listener as a manager who cultivates a learning organisation and an environment where it is easy to speak up. This environment has proven to be successful several times. For example, as more members started feeling stressed, the company quickly introduced new experiments. Next to a monthly paid day off, the team has agreed on no meetings past a specific time, two mindful mornings per week, and is continuously investing time in everyone’s mental health. Everything turned out great for me, and yet I wish I had documented my first impressions more to now be able to understand new joiners better on topics that still need improvement.
No matter how much experience you have compared to your team, your thoughts will likely reflect those of other new joiners and that alone makes them valuable to the team. You teach the team what it is like to work with people of your personality, your generation, your identity and more. See it as a superpower that you need to learn how to make use of, and you can contribute to the company’s success right from the start.
