Showing up in our new role

It really is energising and encouraging to see an increasing number of people in my network securing new roles. Well done to all of you! 

As we start in our new roles I reckon its worth taking some time to give thought to how we’re going to show up and set ourselves up for success – not just in the role but in our whole life at this important time of transition. Thinking about this, I’ve collated some questions which might be helpful to prompt thinking:

What does success look like in my new role?

We can answer this from our own perspective and the perspective of others e.g. the boss, the team, the customers, our family, our partner etc. And if this role is an interim role, we should also think about how this role will serve us in developing skills and experiences to help us in the future.

What routine do I want to establish?

We might be coming out of a period of not working when we have developed new routines that we either value or do not value and should also think about the routine we had in our previous role and how this was serving us. As we start a new role, a new commute and establish a new routine, what do we want this routine to do for us? For example, do we want to use our time differently so that we can do more of what is important to us?

How am I going to be?

How am I going to behave? How am I going be authentic? What impact do I want to have? It can also be worth structuring our opening pitch that we use to introduce ourselves so that we land ourselves in the way that we want – what do we want people to know about who we are, what we’re here to do and what’s important to us? When doing this ‘authenticity’ is the word, our action has to match what we say or we’ll be found out as a fraud!

What is my gold?

What are my strengths? What is the value that I bring? By remembering these we can feel confident as we get to learn the role and the organisation. It’s not uncommon to experience self doubt and a lack of confidence as we find ourselves in a new situation, so remembering our gold can be really helpful and help us to replicate what we’re great at.

The beginning is the most important part of the work. Plato.

I hope that these are helpful and courage some thought about how you’re going to show up. We should also reconnect with these questions and our responses after a few weeks when we have understood more about the role, the organisation and how our initial choices are serving us; it won’t be long before we have established a new routine and set of habits, so it’s best to check we’re ok with how things are panning out early on.

Good luck to all of you starting new roles. Be amazing!