Going into a new role, you likely want to make a big impact. In the first few weeks you get your head round things, and then start to take some serious action! Good work!!!
As a normal human being, you think it’s your god given right to fix things that are broke, and with that – try and get some kudos for the same…
The trouble with this attitude is, it takes more than a week to truly understand why the problems exist in the first place. Diving in, reacting and “fixing” a problem appears on the outset to be an honourable thing to do – how brave you are – but ultimately, you’re likely alienating your new co-workers, and probably don’t understand the crux of the issue anyway.
The moral of the story here is to pick and choose your battles, don’t try and fix everything straight off. Think about it a little – there’s no rush to impress within 2 weeks – do your research and most importantly, speak to the people already there to garner as much information/data as possible for the months ahead.
It’s easy to fix everything, it’s not so easy to fix it properly. Deliver well, don’t deliver rubbish, or worse – deliver nothing at all.
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You are becoming wise, my friend. It took me a while to learn this one. As a consultant, I move from place to place a lot. Clients always ask for your opinion, but they are in the situation they are in for a reason!
If I plunge in with my “good advice” too fast, I encounter resistance and defensiveness. Often, being right is not enough – you have to gently bring the client to an understanding of what needs to be done. Most of the time, they resist advice anyway. It takes time to change. You can alienate people very easily with well-meaning advice.
The rest of the time, I used to speak too early, before I truly understood the situation. It is better to hold your tongue and have people think you are stupid than it is to open your mouth and prove it.
Overall, you have offered great advice. I wish I had received it earlier