Your New Position: Green Fields or Looming Mountains?
You’ve earned a new position, and you’re diving in with a lot of optimism. Not to mention a million ideas for projects and initiatives you want to implement. On day one you plow forward full steam ahead…and immediately hit your first brick wall. Soon you hit another, and another. Your big plans are getting roadblocked, and your time and attention is getting tied up in everyone else’s’ demands.
Net, net: soon enough you feel frustrated that you’ll never get anything done—and that you’ll fail at your new position because no one will let you just do your job!
While I commend your proactive approach, I reluctantly point out you’re suffering a misunderstanding of what your new position actually entails. Even if you feel you aren’t making any progress, you are likely doing exactly what your position requires. Navigating roadblocks and negotiating everyone else’s demands is an important part of every position. It’s just not one that you foresaw in the excitement over your new appointment.
Look Beyond Your Optimism
When we take on new positions we see green fields—nothing but open skies and endless possibilities. We rarely see all the stuff that’s already there waiting for us. Work left half-done by our predecessors. The expectations of our stakeholders. People who see the “new guy” as the solution to all their problems. And that’s to say nothing of the big rocks of the business calendar and IT’s multi-year projects. Yes, there are green fields in front of you…but look to the side and you’ll see mountains casting their shadow.
(And in case you think things are different when you enter a newly created position, consider this fact: your organization created the new position because enough undone responsibilities piled up to necessitate creating a new position to handle them!)
Now, I would never tell you to set aside your vision and strategy for your new position. Far from it. Having your own unique agenda is a hallmark of successful IT performance. But so is meeting the needs of others, fulfilling existing obligations, and mirroring the movements of the business.
So as you’re looking forward to your new position, I invite you to make two lists:
- 1. What you personally envision accomplishing within your position.
- 2. All the external demands and responsibilities waiting for you.
Plan on taking care of this second list first, and spend extra attention on those areas where the personal goals of what you want to do intersects with the external goals that you have to do. If not, you will limit the volume and impact of what you actually get done, and you will continuously find yourself butting heads with brick walls. (And I doubt that’s what you got so excited for when you heard about your promotion!)
