Understand Culture
A newcomer is initially bewildered about the company culture. How much should you socialize? Do coworkers prefer phone calls, emails or face-to-face conversations? Some aspects may be subtle and could be easily overlooked. One way is to observe people. By coming a little early and staying a little late can give you insight into how people go about their daily routine and how things function.
Define Your Role
The first week is also a good time to have your manager clearly define your role. Things can get hectic, especially if the job you filled has been open for a while. Ask your manager how the organization measures success and how that is linked to evaluations. Take time to understand the course action you need to adopt.
No Timidity
Take time to spend some time with your colleagues by having informal conversations with a simple starter, such as, "That's a nice bag, where did you get it?" or "It's really nice outside, don't you think?" Most people are good-natured and like being talked to. Hunkering down with your own work can look like you are being timid and reserved. Build relationships from the first day.
Define Responsibilities
Meet your manager and discuss what the responsibilities of your position are and how your performance will be measured. It's hard to deliver if you don't know what's expected of you. Know your priorities?
Admit Mistakes
Never make the mistake of not admitting to your mistakes as it is natural for new hires to make plenty of them. Learning to own your mistakes and taking the blame for failures is the best way to go forward and not by thinking that if you don't admit them, nobody notices them. Make the correction and move on.
Keep the Boat Steady
Avoid implementing changes before you understand why things are done the way they are done presently. Demonstrate why change is needed and before proposing changes make a good case for why they should be made. Demonstrating the change can help you get the buy-in from others to support you ideas or else it can only lead to jeers, not cheers.
Ask for Feedback
To learn how you're doing ask your supervisor for a brief meeting after one month. Feedback is very critical to your survival. Discuss what you've done right, where you've hit some snags and how you can make corrections. Early feedback is what you need most to put on rails. A study has shown that 46% of newly-hired employees will fail within 18 months not because they don't have the right skills to do the job. Instead, the study found that 26% of new hires fail because they can't accept feedback, 23% because they're unable to understand and manage emotions, 17% because they lack the necessary motivation to excel, 15% because they have the wrong temperament for the job, and only 11% because they lack necessary technical skills.
