Create Your 30-Day Plan to Succeed in Your New Position
Everyone is enthusiastic when beginning a new position. Whether it is higher pay, better benefits, or more responsibilities, a new job means a new beginning. As you start this journey, I encourage you to create a 30-Day Plan to optimize your success and truly hit the ground running.
When we think about 30-day plans, our minds think of working out or meal plans. However, creating a 30-Day Plan to implement at the onset of a new position can indeed lay the foundation for career advancement and success. Aside from feeling confident to start, creating a 30-Day plan at the start of a new project or job shows that you are:
1) Intentional and Results Driven, and
2) Able to Develop and Execute a Plan for Success
As you are reading, think about how you can apply the 30-Day Framework into your professional life, whether you are starting a new position or have the desire to finish the year strong!
SMART GOALS
The actual substance of a 30-Day Plan is the goals that you set. In creating your goals, you want to ensure that they are SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Including goals that are not SMART could apply you to fall victim to a skewed depiction of your progress or productivity, which is counterproductive in creating a 30-Day Plan initially.
When creating your goals, you want to align them with current and relevant team and company goals. For instance, if your team is making strides to decreasing concern resolution, your goals should align with how you can achieve this. On the contrary, if your team has a specific goal of submitting a final proposal by the end of the month, it would not be the best use of time to create a goal aligned to brainstorming proposal ideas. Instead, you might consider implementing a timeline of checkpoints to ensure that your components are delivered well in advance.
Tailor your goals to your role. If you are a new school social worker, it would be wise to schedule a call to introduce yourself to all families on your caseload. Similarly, if I were starting as an administrative assistant, I might spend my first couple of days establishing important and reoccurring deadlines so that I can best support my boss. Regardless of your position, setting SMART goals will set you up for success.
PROGRESS MONITORING AND RESULTS
Once you have created your 30-Day Plan, now you must be sure to refer back to it. No document that is designed and then forgotten about can genuinely be helpful. Therefore, you must remember to refer back to your 30-Day Plan to note the progress you have made, what you have completed, and other relevant information. Your reflection is the part that truly makes 30-Day Plans productive. When reflecting on your progress to date, you can recognize precisely how productive you have been towards meeting the goals you set. You are also able to measure your impact and effectiveness in a role.
If you find that you have not accomplished anything by the predetermined deadlines, you must analyze what prevented you from doing so. Were your initial goals too lofty? Was there something that you were dependent on someone else to do? The purpose of analyzing the missed deadlines is so that you can identify the pitfalls. You can then address the pitfalls through revisions to your 30-Day Plan as a means of optimizing the time left. What's the saying? "It's not over until the fat lady sings?!" Now is your time to recognize, pivot, and go harder!
THE HUMAN SIDE
You must be show results and progress during your first month in a new position. However, it is equally essential to ensure that you know the people you work alongside. Although establishing work friendships is each person's prerogative, you must form working relationships with those in the office. Knowing the people's strengths on your team will prove helpful when you encounter technology malfunctions (which will happen) or have a specific question. You need to be aware of the people within your company and their strengths. Establishing relationships at the start of your tenure allows you to call on them when you need their assistance to complete a task, especially if it is at the last minute (we have all been there)!
Before you embark on the creation of your first 30-Day Plan, think about the following questions:
· Who do I need to know in the building? (They will help me)
· Who needs to know me in the building? (To move up the corporate ladder)
· What do I need to accomplish? (To be seen as an asset)
· How will I get it done? (Action, action, we want ACTION!)
Invest the time in early so that it will be the gift that keeps on giving. Happy 30-Day Planning!
