Onboarding on a senior role

My first (half) week on the job.

Hi,

I think this was an easy call on week 1 of this blogging experience: onboarding.

So, my first week has been sort of a half-week. I officially began on Wednesday, although I did something in the days before. I had to move my house, my life, and deal with bureaucracy. You know, the whole package. And last but not least, I got sick on my second day of work. Changes come packed with contingencies, but this is not what I want to talk about.

Some things I noticed during these few days and hours with my new colleagues caught my attention, and I want to keep my attention focused on these points for some time.

First of all, I felt the power of titles and labels. I’ll try not to throw all my impostor syndrome at this, but coming from a place where hierarchy and seniority were weak concepts and where gaining a client’s trust has often been a long and twisty process, it got me so confused to have a first interaction with an important stakeholder stopping and wanting to hear the opinion of the new guy he literally met only 15 minutes ago, as if he is sure that I am going to say something very smart. Of course, a single piece of evidence doesn’t make a proof, but I felt a general level of trust coming from the people around me at work, and it kind of felt “not deserved” with virtually no history in these relationships. I’m guessing the explicit seniority is influencing somehow, at least for a part of it. Unless, I do have to believe that I grew into attitudes that give the impression of greater stature and trustworthiness.

Second, and probably the other half of the coin, is the fact that as a senior employee, your experience and expertise are what got you the job. As such, the stakes are higher, and the expectations on you are greater than when onboarding an entry-level position. Unlike entry-level employees who are given time to learn and adjust, you are expected to hit the ground running and make a significant impact from day one (that doesn’t really go well with getting sick right on day two). I don’t feel a particular pressure from my peers at the moment; they are respecting my time, but I can clearly see that there will be no assessment periods from now on in my career. Unless I design them for myself with the right approach and mindset.

Lastly, there’s the inevitable difference in company culture and design culture. I can remember feeling the gap coming from a university culture and entering a company culture, but the willingness to learn and the enthusiasm makes it very easy. Now, with clear processes, values, and approaches sculpted for years in my mind, it’s way harder to keep an open mind and accept how much diversity can be found in the field of design to accommodate the culture you find yourself in. This, in combination with the previous point, is a recipe for disaster if anyone expects you to have a consolidated experience on practices that are common in the new context but you never touched in your actual past experience. Unless I’ll be clear and candid about what I know and can do, and what I need to learn.

Takeaways

As for the introduction, I want to be mindful and careful of these three points: trust, expectations, and culture. In particular, I want to stay humble and nurture the trust I am given. I want to manage people's expectations candidly by asking for help where I could lack experience and being proactive whenever I know I can bring value. And I want to be patient and stay in a listening position for as long as it takes to absorb the existing culture before I can bring any meaningful change.

Weekly retrospective

Thanks for reading and see you next week!
Tobia