It has been one week since I started a new job, almost one year since I changed my last job and again extended my career horizon.
It is fascinating how any kind of change impacts the way I see the world, people, companies, development and myself. It is definitely true that the more changes you undergo and the more challenges you face, the easier it becomes later to adapt. When I first started to work in the big international company, I was very lost and at the same time excited about so many people around, processes, tools, but I remember I could not even grasp where in the structure I was and what was my role about. The open space, multiple departments, numerous locations. No wonder that a person, who is put into such work environment for the first time would feel like a piece of sand in Sahara desert.
Then I changed again and then again and again. And finally I got it: thanks to different experiences and opportunities, I got to the understanding how it all works and that it is just the scale which makes things look so complicated.
Some of my lessons learned after such different experiences are:
- Know your organizational structure. Know your “WBS element“, your “LEGO brick” and where you belong. This will help tremendously to see the structure as a whole and where you belong in it and see where you can develop if you’d like.
- Know the person you report to and the person above him/her and a person above them. It is not enough to know your direct supervisor. In case you wonder why? Answer is as following : you can not afford that your career and development are all in hands of one person. What will you do if they appear to be not competent enough? What is they will block your development? What if they appear to behave unprofessionally? Then you would have at least couple of options at hand how to influence your supervisor:)
- Learn about tools and processes, which are available in your company. Why? Because it will be easier to do your job from the very beginning if you know how things work in the company, rather than learning by doing only and running into mistakes, which could have been easily avoided. I’ve done it and I know the pain!
- Learn about development opportunities. As you know – begin with the end in mind. Imagine what you want to become within the company you work for. Don’t know how about you, but it gives me fantastic energy charge when I know what I want and where I want to be. Not only within the companies I have been working for, but thinking globally. And in case company will not help you achieve your goals, you don’t change the goals, you change the company. It definitely pays off to be true to oneself:)
Now, I still feel the anxiety when changing the environment, people, processes etc. I guess this is a normal feeling when you go out of your comfort zone. The fact is, though, that the more used you get to this, the faster you accommodate and in much shorter period you feel like ” at home” again.
Therefore, welcome changes and don’t be afraid to change and to undergo changes. This is the only way to grow.
