Imagine that you’re the new coworker on the team. All eyes are on you as you step into your role. How can you build rapport and credibility in the first 30 days?
Whether you work in accounting or fin-tech, one method of fitting into the organization is to use the ASK-LISTEN-DO process. Meet with senior leadership, peers, subordinates and clients to better understand their goals and perspectives. Humbly point out the value you bring by offering your credentials. Ask how you can help each group achieve its goals, and listen for concerns and challenges. Finally, take action and follow up with the results.
The ASK-LISTEN-DO process is a simple one, and with a few more specific strategies, you’ll be on your way to becoming an integral and valued team member.
5 No-fail strategies for building rapport and credibility in your first 30 days
You never get a second chance to make a first impression, so knowing how to build rapport, establish allies, and earn trust is critical to your success. Accelerate your onboarding process with these five strategies:
- Build a strong relationship with your boss. Your new boss has the greatest ability to help you succeed quickly. Ask questions, and get directions to help them meet their goals. Avoid negativity or blame, prove that you’re proactive and be friendly with peers: always support your boss.
- Don’t let the skills for which you were hired atrophy. There is no financial growth without professional growth, and professional growth requires personal growth. Be proactive in pursuing professional growth opportunities that take you outside your comfort zone.
- Learn your finance firm’s history of decision-making and experiences before offering solutions that might ignore what happened previously. Prescription without diagnosis is malpractice, so the best thing you can do is listen. Gather insight by asking great questions. Say, “Tell me more about how we got to this point.”
- Clarify mutual and measurable expectations often. Ask your boss questions like:
- What do you need me to accomplish in the next 30 days to feel like I’m acclimating quickly?
- How will you measure my success in terms of both effort and results?
- How will you be evaluated as it relates to my achievements and onboarding?
- What are the most considerable challenges others before me have faced in their first 30 days, and what can I do to overcome them proactively?
- Introduce yourself and be friendly to everyone. Regardless of anyone’s role or position in the company, build strong relationships now to reinforce your value on the team.
Your recruiter can help you with more specifics regarding either the role you’ve accepted or the company you’re working with.
You don’t have to know it all
New employees often feel compelled to prove that hiring them was a good decision. As a result, they try to know the answer to every question or have solutions for every challenge. Continue to build rapport and credibility by:
- Listening more than fixing to build credibility.
- Valuing what your new company values.
- Always speaking positively about others.
- Demonstrating humility.
Once you create your first cycle of success, you can go after bigger goals, such as strategic redevelopments, organizational initiatives, or reshaping the team with systems and structures. True change comes from months and years of work. The first 30 days are the foundation upon which you’ll build all other initiatives.
