From Overwhelmed to Oriented
Habits to Assimilate New Leaders
Zero to 60.
Trial by fire.
Thrown in the deep end.
No one enjoys drinking from a fire hose on full blast.
Setting the right habits to learn, connect, and plan, can launch you from overwhelmed to oriented. Here are 5 habits to reduce the pressure during new leader assimilation and get you ready to lead from jump:
Setting aside time and a place to learn and to process
You’ll want to make sure you have a way to navigate, absorb, and digest all of the incoming info that will help you not only stay afloat, but also get ahead. In your first few weeks, ask yourself “What do I need to know?”:
Proactively think about what questions you need to ask, when, and to whom. These questions can add up, so prioritize the info you need and table what doesn’t feel urgent.
Schedule time on your calendar to ask those questions. Bite-sized insights and activities make the learning feel more manageable. That could be 5 minutes every day or even 1-3 times per week, but use your calendar to help you stay on track.
Establish how and where you keep information. Having a spot to jot can not only serve as a to-do list, but as a way to jog your memory when you come back to tasks, a place of reference as you gather info, and a mirror to reflect on. That could be a personal notebook, a business journal, or a digital note on your phone/tablet.
Block at least 5 minutes per day to review and process your notes to help feel more clear headed.
Pushing back against your bias for action
Your first few weeks should really be about taking it all in. Your main priority is to soak up information. No one is expecting you to swoop in and be a hero. Even with this in mind, you may feel overwhelming pressure to prove yourself. In new roles, human tendency is to believe that action adds value. Relax, sometimes true value is simply:
Questioning curiously
Listening actively
Learning intently
Connecting with cross-functional peers
We aim to have our village, our squad, our people in life. It’s true for work too. Developing trusted relationships will increase your engagement (and provide a release valve) as you are ramping up. No one leader can do it all. Nor can you do it all if you’re siloed in your team or department. You are going to want an informal group of trusted people to help ease the challenges and to keep a holistic perspective.
Show that you are excited to get started in your new role by introducing yourself and connecting with people across the organization.
Ask your manager whom to connect with and what key meetings you can attend.
Engage with other teams or departments that have an interdependency with or influence on you, your team, and your department. This will enable you to lead in context as you can take a broad view.
Nurture and maintain intentional relationships across your ecosystem.
Setting a culture of psych safety with your team
As a new leader, you might not be the only one feeling overwhelmed. Your team could be feeling a lot as you integrate in. To proactively get ahead of feeling overwhelmed, foster a safe space to admit those feelings and to do whatever is needed to take care of those feelings.
Build trust with your team.
Be vulnerable and share your feelings in a way that's productive to both team building and self care.
Involve your team’s input and engagement to co-create norms, shape how you all work together, and define expectations.
Mapping a 100-day plan
Successful leaders don’t fly blind. With a well-built 100-Day Plan, you can launch into your role feeling less overwhelmed and more oriented and intentional. Your plan should be customized to you, your needs, your new role, and your goals.
Set your goals and prioritize them. Along with your personal vision for success and the areas you personally want to improve on, integrate
the context of the business’ and senior leadership’s priorities,
the activation of your team considering their current strengths and development opportunities, and
ways to unlock pain points or bottlenecks.
Sequence the actions you will take. Keep in mind quick wins that you can take care of.
Lay out a timeline for each action, both in short term and long.
Identify the stakeholders who will shape or be impacted by your plan and note how you will engage, align, and/or inform them.
Determine the metrics to track progress and success.
Revisit your plan as you orient and update as needed.
Maybe we cheated on that last one. While it’s not a habit per se, your 100-Day Plan will ensure that your new, productive habits will lead you to success. Sounding like what you need in your new role? Demo the difference our habits can make.
