August 13, 2019

How to be credible (while still being mostly full of shit)

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Every organization is a minefield of acronyms and legacy policies.  When you are new to the function or the org, you will need to get up to speed quickly.  While there is a “language” of TBM, it will mostly be understood by only professionals in this field.  The language you really need to learn is that of the business or industry you are supporting.

Here’s how I’ve found you can scale the ladder quickly and be looked at as a credible business manager quickly.

  1. Most importantly, you’ve got to be willing to put in the hours.  I know we all have families and other responsibilities.  But when you start a job, you have to be willing to get in slightly earlier than the decision makers and stay later.  I’m not just talking about optics.  Treat this as boot camp where you will do nothing but learn the org.  Take as many people out for coffee (or a beer after work) as you can over the first three months.  Learn the way they talk.  Understand the way they dress (every job has a defacto uniform).  Get to know their problems with technology.  People love to complain, so this shouldn’t be too hard to figure out.  Without the hours you’ll never gain credibility.  Don’t worry, this doesn’t have to go on forever.  Look at it as an investment.
  2. Stop dicking around on the internet…for three months.  Look, everyone wastes some amount of time at work on the internet.  Hopefully it’s not too much, but I’m not here to judge that.  What I’m asking you to do is not open an internet browser at work for anything non-work related for the first three months.  This could be at a new job or a new role in a legacy employer.  Here’s what’s going to happen.  You’re going to get massively bored without any other stimulation.  Out of sheer boredom, you’re going to spend more time than you could imagine looking at spreadsheets, org charts, and system maps; just to pass the time.  This information is going to sink in.  Suddenly, you will be the person who knows everything about the org.  That’s massively valuable and three months is a small commitment.  Do you think you have the will power to pull this off?
  3. Understand the personalities of the management team.  What’s important to them?  Some folks are big picture people who rely on you to know the details.  Some are the opposite.  At my company, a well-formed dissenting opinion is valued.  Try to read the org and provide what’s needed.  Seems obvious, I know.  But many people go into an org and try to run the playbook from their last company.  This usually doesn’t work.

That’s it.  You will still have a lot of work to do to add value.  But if you do those reasonably simple things, you will quickly get a lot more credit than you probably deserve.