Just landed an exciting new job? As you move into your new endeavor, keep in mind that the specific actions you take within the first 90 days of starting a new job are absolutely crucial and essential for success. That’s the amount of time it will take to get to know the people around you and to ensure your onboarding plan is working.

Once past that initial trial period, things often drag on, which can be costly for your employer. According to senior HR executives, the time it takes for new hires to achieve a level of full productivity, on average, ranges from 20-26 weeks, depending upon the job. It’s my belief that poor onboarding is not a luxury you can afford. There’s too much depending upon your success in that new job—and people are counting on you.

The difficulties begin on day one
You suddenly feel overwhelmed. It’s tough to navigate the organization and know who exactly you should be building relationships with, and the most effective way to do so. The company culture is a bit different than what you thought, and you may start to question your ability to succeed in this new role. It is a confidence killer that creeps up on you.

Many companies prefer a ‘rapid fire onboarding’ process, where they simply whip up an organizational chart or set up introductory meetings with people you’ll be working with. It is a bare minimum approach to save on time, when in actuality, it likely increases employee turnover rate and leads to high costs or loss of revenue. This is a ‘sink or swim’ approach. You’re thrown into the deep end, forced to develop your own onboarding plan. And for those who are in this position, the first step is to get comfortable asking questions.

Newcomers are often uncomfortable with this, because asking questions has a stigma of weakness or naivety. The strong pressure to prove oneself doesn’t foster an open environment where you can ask open-ended questions and still be seen as a fully competent leader. The time you also spend in the first few months to engage and network with coworkers may also be seen as anti-productive, since it doesn’t necessarily lead to immediate or tangible results. But this is a fear you must overcome in order to successfully onboard. 

You’ve likely heard of burn rate, which is the rate at which a company is losing money. You have to think of your time on the new job in a similar manner. The time and salary you consume, or negative cash flow, needs to equate to positive cash flow or value added back to the company. As soon as you get over the learning curve and become “profitable,” the better. 

Know what success means
The first step in onboarding is to make sure you have a good, solid grasp on what success means in your role and organization. Make sure you sit down with your new boss to revisit and have a clear idea of key performance metrics. Now is the time to look at success and onboarding, and define milestones or checkpoints. What does success look like after 30 days, 90 days and one year?

Having an in-depth understanding of what the achievable goals are, based on immediate needs or priorities, is important in order to put your precious time and efforts into areas that will likely yield high value returns.

Additionally, if you see a technical gap, your first week is a good time to identify and request any specific learning criteria or trainings you wish to receive to get up to speed quickly.
When creating an onboarding plan, keep these KPI’s in mind, as many of your action items should revolve around what is yielding real results in your manager’s eyes.

Identify and secure early wins
The next crucial step in your successful onboarding is to identify problems that you can tackle within the 90 day ‘prove yourself’ timeframe. Additionally, the solutions that you put into place and develop must yield some sort of tangible output—whether it be revenue, process, a new product, or operational improvement.

Look at your long-term goals and objectives. The early wins should help move the organization towards achieving the bigger picture. However, it is important to not over promise by going after the bigger wins that can be long-term focused and very time consuming. Having a nice mixture and balance of long-term and short-term projects will allow you to secure early wins, while setting yourself up for the future.

Starting a few pilot projects will help you establish firm footing in the new organization. These projects give you good insight on how things operate, resources needed, key team members to involve, how progress is measured, and specific methodologies and metrics. 

Pairing up with the project management team or other senior leaders on a pilot project can also be very advantageous—the ones who interact with many cross-functional team members and can make critical introductions for you.

Your goal as a new leader in the organization is to get a firm understanding of the culture to recognize what is deemed a true “win” and what isn’t. Upon completion of the pilot project, revisit and get feedback from your manager and others both laterally and vertically in the organization.

Build alliances and trust
You’re at a clear disadvantage starting a new role in a new company, as you’re under high pressure to perform, and your internal network is likely very limited. The goal is to build and develop your network as quickly as possible, so you can navigate the unknown and focus on the value you can add back to team members.

The drug discovery and development process, for example, has many downstream and upstream stages such as genomics research, target identification, lead discovery, efficacy testing, manufacturing development, and clinical studies. You will need to be successful in identifying allies or team members that you can build rapport and establish trust with early on. This means fully exploring key team dynamics, hand-offs, and common goals shared between various groups to successfully push a new drug, molecule, or therapeutic to market.

Be an active team member and offer value where you can—this is how you build trust and earn respect. You are planting seeds to be a key resource that your team can rely on, when the time comes. This will also lead to higher visibility and more opportunities.

According to Harvard Business Review, successful newcomers set up numerous exploratory meetings, ask many relevant questions, offer expertise and assistance when possible, create mutual wins, and generate synergies and high-energy collaborations. They were more selective and less superficial when reaching out to team members. Overall, this demonstrated to be most effective way to network in a new job, and helps create ‘buy-in,’ whether leading by influence or example.

As your time is limited, having accountability and selectivity for various projects will play to your advantage. This allows you to say “no” to certain projects or areas where you may see little return of investment.

Prioritize and align with business strategy and mission
Whether joining a new startup or a well-established, large matrix organization, you will likely need to adapt your onboarding strategy to the particular situation, company culture and values, or immediate business needs.

Being quick and agile is crucial for success, as your successful onboarding will require making significant adjustments. This means not being stuck in your old way of doing things from your previous job.

Sitting down with your manager on a weekly basis, and discussing what contributes the most value, will keep you on the right track and ensure you are staying aligned within the organization.

Have a clear diagnosis of what really matters. There will be A-list priorities and B-list to map out and revisit often. Which priorities add to the company’s bottom line or have a direct impact on the team, consumer, or customer?

Revisit your 90 day onboarding plan
Review your progress of hitting milestones often to make sure you are on track and executing. As you take charge of your onboarding, this will dramatically reduce the stress of starting a new job and help you gain traction quickly in a new organization.

As a new hire, you also bring a fresh source of new ideas, expertise, and creativity. Over time, you will earn a reputation in the eyes of your peers and have a ‘voice’ to make significant contributions. This will further drive and boost the companies’ vision and strategy, as you continue to innovate and move projects forward.

Taking charge of your own onboarding will empower you to go into your new role much more confident and equipped to tackle the complexities and uncertainties centered on culture, politics, and other challenges. This will really put your mind at ease and make a big impact on your new employer and your career moving forward.