Successful Onboarding: How will your 100 true connections in the first 100 days propel your career?

Much has been written about making the best out of the first 100 days in a new job. But how do you ensure your lasting success without knowing any people?

Bottom line: In my own experience nothing beats the first 100 connections you make in your new role.

Before I started my new role as Head of Marketing at the leading Aerospace & Defence company in the world, I sat down and designed my approach to succeed in this vast multinational organisation across all continents.

Of course, I applied all the “first 100 days” rules which I came across from various sources: Basically, they can be summarised with “Plan – align – act – review and avoid any ?judgements”.

However, I then asked myself:

“What will truly ensure my success to achieve anything with someone I don’t even know yet, in the mid-term as well as in the long-term?”

I created my success principle:

“Make 100 new true connections in the first 100 days”

It literally meant that I studied the organisational chart not only of my function and HQ, but also of all divisions (there were 3) across the globe.

Notably I did not only go top down, but also bottom up: I knew that the real action happens on the ground, whereas the strategic thinking and decisions happen in the top tiers.

I asked my closest colleagues, whom they believed I should meet – yes, in 2016 we primarily met and had a chat over coffee or lunch.

Within 3 days I had my “100 connections I must make before 100 days” list ready.

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How did I prioritise?

Here are some pointers for you:

Colleagues - Stakeholders - Internal Customers - Value Creators - "Happies"

1.????Start with the colleagues in your function and on your floor (or metaverse office): This seems obvious, but I have come across countless new executives who simply looked up. This will not save your job!

2.????Identify the internal stakeholders of your function: in my case this was anyone touching marketing & communications across all Business Units and countries.

3.????Identify your internal customers: Business Unit Heads, Sales & Service, Key Account Management, Business Development, Product Management (all growth!), Finance (budget!), Human Resources (good people!), leaders of fast growing or declining businesses (best opportunities!).

4.????Meet the value creators / value chain experts: understanding where we create the most value for our customers is key for any marketing leader, so I went to see responsible people in Operations / Production, Engineering, Supply Chain Management, Customer Training & Service and of course my external stakeholders like agencies, market research, etc.

5.????And finally, I crosschecked my newly created network and ensured I knew the most important people who would make me happy every day: the guards at the entrance gates, the welcome desk ladies & gentlemen, the maintenance staff, the support contacts in IT & Security, drivers, catering, and many more.

?If anyone, the category 1 of my colleagues and category 5 of unsung heros truly gave me the smiles when I came in the morning and left late at night. No surprise, my colleagues always asked me: “how comes these people know you, many of them by your name after such a short time?”

Is this an onboarding strategy for extroverts only?

Actually, the “100 connections in 100 days” works for you as well if you are an introvert.

Just greet people with a smile when you enter and leave a building or room. Just remember names and say them. Just create your list and get to know them – even when you prefer to listen more than speak.

Don't be anxious - you will receive much more in return than you ever hoped for.

Once you apply this simple principle of being curious and open to the members of your new organisation, you will build the strongest foundation for your future success. In particualr if you change jobs internally, like I did, there will be new opportunities much faster than starting your search when you need it so desperately.

?Another key lesson for your success:

The people who decline to see you or let you “hang”.

I did my tracking of how many times I had to ask for an appointment with someone and the insights were significant for my future success.

Turns out that the people who say they are too busy to see you or give you an appointment months later, also will be your biggest foes.

Truth was that some colleagues in the divisions out of fear declined any approach for months with the most used reasons: exhibitions, customer meetings, too busy, and so on. Without any fail, these colleagues were the biggest roadblocks in getting key improvements done in the coming years. A major cause for inefficiency in any organisation, isn't it?

How to deal with this resistance? How to overcome silo-thinking? That’s the topic of the next blog!

Let me know if you are interested and/or share your own experiences below!

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