New Role – New Organisation: Your 5 Steps to Early Success

Welcome to the 'arrivals lounge'.

Congratulations! You’ve landed your new role in a fresh organisation—a moment filled with excitement, anticipation, and perhaps even a little nervousness. You’ve navigated the recruitment process successfully, and now you find yourself in the “arrivals lounge,” ready to embark on the next chapter of your professional journey.

This isn’t just another job; it’s a pivotal moment that could redefine your career trajectory. You now have the unique opportunity to build new successes, establish positive habits, and shape a new reputation. It’s also the moment of truth: will the organisation live up to the promises made during recruitment? How does the business really operate? And crucially, how can you truly make a difference?

5 Steps to Early Success

To navigate this critical early stage effectively, we’ve distilled our experience into 5 Steps to Early Success - 5 essential steps:

1. Be proactive: Don’t wait for permission—step forward, introduce yourself, and actively engage.

2. Be curious: Ask insightful questions and demonstrate genuine interest in learning about the organisation and its people.

3. Be committed: Show dedication, set clear intentions, and maintain your focus despite early challenges.

4. Be clear: Quickly gain clarity on why you were chosen—how does your role align with the organisation’s current reality?

5. Be impactful: Identify and deliver early wins—showing your colleagues and leadership, “We’ve got a good one here!”

Ready to dive deeper into each step and help you to create your initial impact plan? Landing in a fresh organisation is a milestone mix of excitement, opportunity, and healthy anxiety. You’ve cleared the “arrivals lounge” of interviews, assessments, and references; now the doors open onto an unfamiliar landscape of people, politics, and promise. This moment can redefine your professional trajectory. It’s where you begin building new habits, forging a fresh reputation, and creating value that only you can offer.

Equally, it’s the organisation’s chance to deliver on the story it sold you: the strategy, culture, support, and freedom to make a difference. Over the next few months, you’ll discover how things really work, where the unspoken power lines run, and what problems most need solving. The window is short: for about 90 days you can ask “naïve” questions without raised eyebrows, walk into spaces uninvited, and re-frame how success is measured. Use it well.

Through two decades of coaching transitions—and backed by research from Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and leading scholars—we’ve distilled success into five simple, memorable steps, each beginning with “Be.” Master them and you’ll turn early uncertainty into rapid momentum.

1. Be Proactive

The greatest advantage a newcomer enjoys is permission. As Kelsey Alpaio notes in Harvard Business Review’s roundup for new starters, your “I’m new” card expires fast, so spend it rather than save it. 

• Walk the floor. Introduce yourself to adjacent teams, support staff, and cross-functional partners.

• Book the coffees. Schedule a dozen 15-minute virtual or face-to-face chats; arrive with one question that shows preparation.

• Volunteer early. Offer to draft meeting notes, test a prototype, or facilitate a stand-up—small, visible acts that demonstrate energy.

  
  

Importantly, find the balance between making a contribution, and not being seen. Don't be silent, and don't be the 'newbie in the room'.

From our own experience of taking on my roles and found that speedy impact depends on building a strategic network—one curated intentionally rather than passively inherited.  Conducting your own stakeholder exercise can be very valuable and create a long term support network for your success.

Proactivity signals ownership. A Forbes article on new-job success calls this the shift “from passenger to driver,” urging new hires to tie every action to the treasure they seek.  Importantly, don't just say "yes" to anything! Make sure it is aligned with your role and objectives, or that it is clear how you are adding value by taking on an initial assignment.

[You can ask us more about 'Be Proactive - Be Deliberate' as a topic.]

2. Be Curious

Curiosity is the oxygen of rapid learning. Approach each conversation with the mindset of a journalist:

• Ask “how” and “why.” Process questions uncover real workflows; rationale questions reveal unspoken priorities.

• Listen for metaphors and stories. They expose cultural DNA faster than org-charts.

• Capture insights daily. A running log of acronyms, systems, and concerns becomes your personal Rosetta Stone.

Think carefully about having two of three questions that you can use in this first wave of meetings. A positively framed question can create a highly productive conversation, the opposite can just help reinforce 'what is wrong with this place'. Some postively framed examples might be:

• "What do you think works really well in the team/business/organisation?"

• "What are most proud of in your role/being part of this team/in your time in the business?"

• "What do you see as the strengths of our team/business, and how coudl we use that more?"

When you are talking with your stakeholders a simple and effective question is to ask: "What are your expectations for my role/our team?" Asking this question to multiple stakeholders helps you to understand why your role exists and the answers are likely to go far beyond the limitations of your specific objectives and provide you with far more context for your role.

[You can ask us more about stakeholder analysis and engagement.]

3. Be Committed

New roles are marathons disguised as sprints. Michael Watkins, author of The First 90 Days, warns that transitions leave leaders “acutely vulnerable” unless they commit to structured learning and disciplined focus.  The first six weeks are key to success. Simply accept that work needs to take a priority in this short period of time. Reschedule personal commitments so you do not get overloaded, and exhausted. Talk to your partner and family and friends to let them know you are starting a new role and may need to take a step back for a while. Use your weekends wisely to recharge, reflect, and stay in touch with your loved ones.

• Write a 30-60-90 plan. Outline learning goals (people, products, processes), performance goals (quick wins), and personal goals (well-being, brand).

• Block time to reflect. Block 30 minutes every day and 2 hours at the end of each week for reflection: What has happened today/this week? What have I learned? So what does this mean for my role? How does this help me to deliver success? What is my next step? Who do I still need to meet? What do I now need to do?

• Signal reliability. Meet deadlines, follow up, and keep promises—small acts that compound into trust capital.

Commitment is a behaviour, not a declaration. When colleagues witness consistency under pressure, they bet on you for bigger projects.

4.  Be Clear

Even stellar organisations sometimes hand new hires vague mandates. Don’t confuse headline promises with operational reality.

• Pin down expectations. You could ask your manager, “In six months, what must be true for you to say hiring me was a great decision?” Or, you could be more precise and create clarity in objectives and expectations: "Can we be explicit in stating what 'good' looks like for my role?" (Many organisations have 6 monthly appraisal structures based on a underperform - perform - outperform structure. It is important to understand what 'perform' means, and from this we know what outperform and underperform mean too.).

• Map stakeholders’ metrics. Finance may care about cost-to-serve; marketing about NPS; operations about cycle time. Align your deliverables accordingly. Importantly, what matters to you may not be as significant to others. This process may help you create a dashboard of metrics that will help you to fufill your role and evidence success.

• Beware 'Brief Creep' and embrace 'Job Crafting'. The reality is that once you are in the organisation things can change quite rapidly. We have experience of job titles changing; new projects being assigned; structural changes being announced, bosses moving on, and even strategy changing direction. The answer is: 'Own your job profile' and maintain a living document of responsibilities and revisit it after major changes. If in doubt ask the question: "Things have been changing around here lately, so can I just confirm my understanding of our focus and my own objectives?"

In a useful article in Forbes magazine 'clarity' is listed as an essential factor, reminding newcomers that “ambiguity breeds anxiety—clarity breeds confidence.”  The key message is: 'don't be afraid to ask'.

5. Be Impactful

Nothing quiets scepticism like results. John Kotter’s 8 step change model emphasises “short-term wins” that are visible, unambiguous, and relevant to the larger mission.   Watkins echoes this: early wins buy time, credibility, and resources for longer-term plays. 

• Choose the right win. Look for problems whose solution is valued but neglected—issues in everyone’s blind spot yet within your skill set. Have confidence to bring in something simple that worked in your last organisation that does not exist in the new organisation. Be bold, when the solution is obvious. Stop something that does not make sense, and the existing team has not been able to see. Start something simple that creates a new energy, direction, or intention.

• Frame success publicly. Share out the win giving credit broadly; you gain allies and avoid the “lone hero” trap. Applaud the team win, not your win. Be authentic in your gratitude, yet still go further than you normally would. Look people in the eye and be clear in explaining the impact that they have made: "I just wanted to say thankyou, because you did this, we were able to acheive that..."

• Link to strategy.  Don't waste time doing something that does not really matter or is a 'nice to have'. Link it 100% to the team or organisation strategy. Show how your fix advances a key result for the team, or advances a key business target, and look beyond your own goals and be aligned with the team goals, and the organisation as a whole.

Impact isn’t about size; it’s about resonance. A streamlined report that saves leadership an hour each week can outshine a months-long overhaul nobody asked for. We are looking to hear someone say - "They were a good hire!" as a reult of this process.

Bringing It All Together

Proactive energy opens doors, curiosity keeps them open, commitment sustains momentum, clarity focuses effort, and impact cements your value. Together, the five “Be” steps create a flywheel of trust and performance that spins well beyond your first 90 days.

Remember, every organisation is a living system: roles evolve, priorities shift, and people move on. By embedding these behaviours early you build adaptability into your professional DNA—an asset no future re-organisation can cancel.

Invitation to Accelerate

Even with a roadmap, the journey can feel daunting. A short-term Co-Lab Coaching Partnership—three sessions over four months—offers:

• 'Time To Think' and reflect in a key phase of your new role.

• A Confidential Sounding Board for political puzzles and priority overload.

• Support in creating your 30-60-90 day plan and keeping it on track.

• Tactical Support in preparing for meetings, curating questions, and deciding on your 'next steps'.

If you’re ready to translate newcomer potential into lasting influence, let’s talk.

Your next success story starts now. Please contact: Steve.lewis@co-labpeople.com