Getting your feet under the real or virtual! desk

When you start a new job either remotely or on site, you’ll be aware that your boss, who probably hired, will have invested quite a lot of personal capital in you. Letting them down could impact quite negatively (on you both) so you’ll want to get off on the right foot.

The key to establishing a good relationship is communication. However, people manage others differently: some are very hands-on, keen to discuss things openly and often with their team, chasing a shared team objective; others less so. You may have to take the initiative and speak regularly with your new boss (face-to-face) in order to establish rules, guidelines and your joint expectations. What you must do is work out what things are most important to them. They may be facing issues that your skills can help with and, if you show quickly that you can do that, you’ll have gained their immediate regard and approval. 

Once you’ve set out a plan between you, then any steps you can take to implement that plan and exceed their expectations should please you both enormously. So, the initial conversation(s) with them should establish a) what is most important to them, and b) what they do expect of you in return? That will set the ‘joint plan’.

Of course, you must beware of any (seemingly) unrealistic expectations of you and if there’s a lack of suitable resources or the infrastructure simply won’t support your efforts, you must be prepared to describe fully what shortages you may have identified. (However, be careful you’re not being used merely as a stalking horse for disgruntled colleagues.)

Communication within the office or department is important and if you know of someone whose opinion your boss listens to more than others, then make sure that person is aware of your successes – whatever they are; they’re more likely to be relayed upstairs, to your benefit. If, for example, there’s a monthly target or sales project for the department to achieve, then work not only with the team, but the ‘right’ individual.

Of course, people will respect a good showing of initiative – but when someone appears to be a know-it-all there’s a difference, so be careful. If you can be seen by your boss to be asking the right sort of questions, e.g. what you can do to help the team, that will be well received by everybody.

Finally, anyone starting in a new role is going to be under scrutiny by all members of the team. Will they fit in? Will they be part of the team, or a loner? How will they really perform, or are our expectations to high? And these same questions will occur not only to your fellow workers, but to your boss. So, find out exactly what their expectations are (and are not), and strive to exceed them.

Starting a new job can be both daunting and exciting but the one person you must impress more than others is your boss. Different bosses have different agendas and the key is finding out what makes your one tick – and what makes them stop ticking. It’s up to you.