#215 Graham and Kevin – The First 100 Days

The First 100 Days with Kevin Appleby and Graham Arrowsmith "How do you approach the vital first 100 days in a new role?" Today, we're talking about this question, which Kevin recently posted on his LinkedIn profile. As listeners may well know, Kevin teaches seminars and this is something he was thinking about; can you offer help with the first 100 days of a new job, in the classroom? The first 100 days - feedback from LinkedIn The number of views on that post has been 10,051. We had Matt Clark on the show a while ago. He was talking about using LinkedIn and the power of LinkedIn. If your audience is B2B (Kevin's is), and you do it in the right way, you can get an awful lot of eyes on your posts. You can open up conversations with very new links and hence create a usable network. One of the comments on Kevin's post was this: There are so many things to think about, but for me the starting point is always to invest time with my new teams and key stakeholders around the business to build new relationships, gather their views and show that I care about them. You want to make a new impression when you enter a new role. What you want to do is create strong bonds with those who are going to effect your performance. Reading around... Kevin's been doing some reading around this and a lot of people were saying it's useful to create a stakeholder's map, note down who they are. How much power do they have in an organisation? And how much interest do they have in what you're doing? Draw 4 boxes and 2 axis with these questions position on them. http://thenext100days.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/What-do-you-do-to-make-a-sale.mp4 Arguably, within that first 100 days, you should be looking at those people who are making a real difference within your organisation. You might want to pick and choose who you pal along with and support to achieve the goals of the organisation. That's the idea of looking at stakeholders; you want all those sales and outward-facing people in that top corner. Ask the most basic questions Another comment on Kevin's post was ask the most basic questions. During the first 100 days, you have a bit of grace to ask the silly questions. So, ask them! Sometimes you can get funny looks but actually, if you're new, asking the most basic of questions helps you understand the business at a fundamental level. This also helps another point that was said: start at the bottom and work your way up. Then, when you're talking to the important people you'll be smarter! Say 'no!' in the first 100 days Now, this is an interesting one for the first 100 days of a new role. You'd think being the yes-man would be the best pathway. However, Oliver Deacon says that, by saying 'no' to as much as possible, you avoid getting dragged down in the nitty gritty trivia. Take as much time as possible. Oliver goes on to say: This looks like a recipe for doing well in a big company. From what you learn you can create an opinion quickly, which helps you learn quicker and generate awareness. Responsibility from the company How many companies have given you a good induction? How many companies have given you a bad induction? It's very common to achieve a new job and be thrust in the deep end without some sort of float. A helpful suggestion Kevin makes is this: Ask yourself what type of induction do you need? How do you almost arrange your own induction course? This is probably worth putting this on your to-do list! It's not all about a HR bod coming to you with a bunch of policies you need to look at. It's about how you can make a difference in the next 100 days in a very practical way. 30 day chunks A part of being observant in your new role is observing the culture. The politics of the work place can be hard to navigate whilst working, and/or moving up the ladder. Victor Kohanski states culture can eat strategy for lunch! Victor also mentions the idea of splitting your 100 days into smaller chunks.