3 mistakes to avoid when starting your new job

In this episode I’m diving into the 3 common mistakes we can all make when we start a new job.  In the next 6 episodes I break these mistakes down and show you how to avoid making them. I’ve learned these lessons, so you don’t need to. I’ll be helping you every step of the way. 

Here are the 3 common mistakes you want to avoid making:

Mistake number 1

I call this mistake ‘hitting the ground running’.

This is all about leaping too soon to deliver, without building real insight into what matters and developing an understanding of ‘how things get done in your new firm’

This mistake comes from a good intention, you’re keen to make a ‘big and best’ first impression and that’s entirely understandable - after all you’ve worked hard to get to this point.  You want to prove to the people who hired you just how right that decision was and you want to repay their confidence in you by ‘hitting the ground running’.

Hitting the ground running isn’t everything we imagine it might be.

It can lead to making assumptions about goals, challenges, and logistics that can make your first attempts at delivering something valuable fall flat on its face.  Leaping too soon to deliver without building real insight into what matters and building bridges with the people that need to be a part of your new world of work can be disastrous.  

Mistake number 2

This mistake is characterised by ‘Playing it small’
The reason we usually do this is because we’re doubting ourselves -  and talking ourselves out of stepping into our potential in this new role because we’re scared of making a mistake. 

Starting a new job IS scary.  Full stop.
And it can make our inner critic - that gremlin in our head - go into overdrive as they try to keep us out of danger.

Mistake number 3

This is all about the way we can limit our impact by just focusing on our own narrow job role rather than building bridges and creating influence through an extended network.

No matter what job you do, what level you’re at, where you work, or what your goals are, achieving more influence is critical for success. And it’s even more important in a corporate environment that is matrixed and layered with many different stakeholders.

Influence may be the untapped life force behind your career.  

It’s a super skill that we know is valuable but in my experience, we only try and build it when we actually need it for something specific - like a career move or launching a critical new project - and that’s a mistake.

These are the 3 most common mistakes I’ve made and that I’ve seen others make.

We’ll cover the antidote to these mistakes across this season of Her Career, Her Life and I’ll release a new episode every Monday.

At the end of this season of Her Career, Her Life I’ll be hosting an episode where I answer your questions so if there’s anything you’d like my advice on I’d love to hear from you just email me at [e-mail]