My First 90 Days: Slow Down and Take the Time to Learn

In this series, professionals share how they rocked — or didn’t! — the all-important first 90 days on the job. Follow the stories here and write your own (please include the hashtag #First90 in the body of your post).

After starting many new jobs throughout my career (maybe ten or more), it’s very clear to me that the most important thing to do your first 90 days is to buckle up, strap yourself in, and take the time to learn.

There is always a tendency to jump into a new job and immediately start doing things – take charge, volunteer for projects, and get things done. While all this is important, it pales in comparison with the importance of taking time to slow down and use this important time to learn.

The most important thing which drives success is your willingness and ability to learn. In the first 90 days, most of your time should be spent learning, listening, and meeting people.

There are many things to learn in a new job. You need to know the people, how the job works, how the company does business, and a myriad of business processes and practices around you. These take time to absorb, and if you skip this important period and jump into work too fast you may create more damage than good.

Here’s an example. When we were acquired by Deloitte in late 2012, we went through a very accelerated learning process. I had to learn how to work in the new company, who to align with, how to get things done, and how to manage all the administrative details (how to get paid, file expenses, book travel, and much more). Initially I was impatient to get through all this “learning,” but now, two years later, I realize that many of my initial efforts were wasted. People told me it would take two years to “figure out Deloitte” and they were right.

How Do You Make Sure You’re Ready to Learn?

You have to slow down. When you start a new job you’re nervous about making a good impression. You want to drive impact, and prove that you’re a high performer. So how do you take this time to slow down and learn when you feel such pressure to succeed?

Let me give you what I’ve learned over the years.

Take time to meet people. Early in your job, you should take extra time to get to know everyone. Ask people what they do, how you can help them, and how they get their work done. While you may feel rushed to “get things done,” in the first few months it’s much more important to meet people and see what they do. Take people to lunch, invite them to coffee, and just ask them about their lives. You’ll be happy you did. I would recommend you keep a list of who you’ve met, so you start learning people’s names quickly.For me, I”m a bit of an introvert – so my tendency is to “get things done.” What I’ve learned is to force myself to just get to know people, ask them questions, and slow down. The time you spend getting to know people the first few months will pay for itself many times over later.
Take time to learn the systems. Every job and every company has a bunch of IT and software systems to use. If you skip over learning them and figure “I’ll dig into this later,” you’ll be sorry. There’s never a better time than in the beginning. And believe me, the better you can use the systems the more productive you’ll be. We use Salesforce extensively in our company, and everyone who did not take the time to take the training and really learn the system has suffered. And we can see it — they don’t fill in leads correctly, they don’t close deals, and they don’t share their work. The time spent learning Salesforce pays for itself many times over.
Read the stuff you’re given. You’ll probably get an employee handbook, procedures, and lots of documents to read. Take them home and READ THEM. Again, this is the best time. If you don’t, you’re likely to realize later that you forgot to do something very important. At Deloitte we have lots of compliance training to force us to read — and I’ve always been happy I did. (I learned more about PII than I ever thought I’d need to know.)
Ask lots of questions. In your few months you have the right to ask lots and lots of questions. “Why do we do it this way?” is a fine question to ask. Sometimes there is no answer, but sometimes there is a very good answer. “Who should I talk with about this process?” or “How do you get this particular thing done?” are all great questions to ask. Once you’ve been there a while you’ll be “expected” to know these things, so don’t be shy to ask now.
Take whatever courses you’re asked to take. If you have onboarding courses or new hire orientation, make sure you don’t miss them! These are often fantastic ways to get started, meet other newbies, and feel a part of the place. Once you get started working hard, you’ll find it harder and harder to get away.
Make yourself a list. As you start to get to know the new job and company, you’ll find lots of things you want to learn more about. Make a list, so as you meet more people you can ask “by the way, I was wondering why we xyz?” You wont cross everything off the list in the first 90 days, but you’ll learn a lot just by reviewing the list regularly as your first year goes on.
Find a buddy or two. Early on, it’s important to get a few buddies to help you during your first few months. If your manager doesn’t assign you someone, ask for it — and if that doesn’t work, just ask people around you if they’d be willing to serve. Take your buddy to lunch and make sure they know how much you appreciate their time.
Stop and think before you act. If you’re a manager, make decisions slowly.Finally, during this critical first few months, be wary of making any major changes or decisions that affect the organization. You may think you know exactly what to do, but it often takes time to understand the culture and learn why things are as they are. Take your “grace period” to figure this out before you redesign or thrust some major change into the team. Remember also that your reputation and credibility has to be established. If you start making big decisions early, people might discount your thinking before you have a chance to really succeed.

I’ve had the opportunity to jump into several companies at an executive or senior level, and even then this advice works. Most of the big decisions you make during your first few months are likely to be wrong, because you really don’t know how everything works yet.

Remember that sometimes you have to go slow in order to go fast. The more you learn early, the better decisions you’ll make and the more productive you’ll be later. 90 days goes by fast. Use the time carefully and you’ll be glad you did.

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About the Author: Josh Bersin is the founder and Principal of Bersin by Deloitte, Deloitte Consulting LLP, a leading research and advisory firm focused on corporate leadership, talent, learning, and the intersection between work and life. Josh is a published author on Forbes, a LinkedIn Influencer, and has appeared on Bloomberg, NPR, and the Wall Street Journal, and speaks at industry conferences and to corporate HR departments around the world. You can contact Josh on twitter at@josh_bersin and follow him at http://www.linkedin.com/in/bersin . Josh’s personal blog is at www.joshbersin.com .

The most important thing which drives success is your willingness and ability to learn. In the first 90 days, most of your time should be spent learning, listening, and meeting people.

How Do You Make Sure You’re Ready to Learn?

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