Her Career, Her Life Elise Finn

In this episode I’m diving into the 3 common mistakes we can all make when we start a new job.  In the next 6 episodes I break these mistakes down and show you how to avoid making them. I’ve learned these lessons, so you don’t need to. I’ll be helping you every step of the way. 
Here are the 3 common mistakes you want to avoid making:
Mistake number 1
I call this mistake ‘hitting the ground running’.
This is all about leaping too soon to deliver, without building real insight into what matters and developing an understanding of ‘how things get done in your new firm’
This mistake comes from a good intention, you’re keen to make a ‘big and best’ first impression and that’s entirely understandable - after all you’ve worked hard to get to this point.  You want to prove to the people who hired you just how right that decision was and you want to repay their confidence in you by ‘hitting the ground running’.
Hitting the ground running isn’t everything we imagine it might be.
It can lead to making assumptions about goals, challenges, and logistics that can make your first attempts at delivering something valuable fall flat on its face.  Leaping too soon to deliver without building real insight into what matters and building bridges with the people that need to be a part of your new world of work can be disastrous.  
Mistake number 2
This mistake is characterised by ‘Playing it small’
The reason we usually do this is because we’re doubting ourselves -  and talking ourselves out of stepping into our potential in this new role because we’re scared of making a mistake. 
Starting a new job IS scary.  Full stop.
And it can make our inner critic - that gremlin in our head - go into overdrive as they try to keep us out of danger.
Mistake number 3
This is all about the way we can limit our impact by just focusing on our own narrow job role rather than building bridges and creating influence through an extended network.
No matter what job you do, what level you’re at, where you work, or what your goals are, achieving more influence is critical for success. And it’s even more important in a corporate environment that is matrixed and layered with many different stakeholders.
Influence may be the untapped life force behind your career.  
It’s a super skill that we know is valuable but in my experience, we only try and build it when we actually need it for something specific - like a career move or launching a critical new project - and that’s a mistake.
These are the 3 most common mistakes I’ve made and that I’ve seen others make.
We’ll cover the antidote to these mistakes across this season of Her Career, Her Life and I’ll release a new episode every Monday.
At the end of this season of Her Career, Her Life I’ll be hosting an episode where I answer your questions so if there’s anything you’d like my advice on I’d love to hear from you just email me at info@elisefinn.com
 

If you’re too keen to ‘hit the ground running’ by leaping to deliver in a new job, project or initiative you’re in danger of landing flat on your face. In this episode, I explore this mistake and give you some practical advice on how to avoid making it.
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Here’s what’s waiting for you inside this episode
Today we’re looking at mistake number 1 which I describe as ‘hitting the ground running’ 
If you’re new in a job there are a lot of things you don’t yet know.  If you’re new to a business you can 10X that challenge.
Despite how much due diligence and research you might have done into your new company there are just so many things you don’t know when you join a company - the sort of information you only find out from an ‘insider’
If you’re too keen to ‘hit the ground running’ by leaping into action on a new project or initiative, before you know some of this stuff, you’re in danger of landing flat on your face.
I’d suggest you invest time upfront in really getting to know some of your key stakeholders.  Meet them, talk to them - really listen to what they can tell you because it's likely to be gold dust to you
And this all means getting really skilled at the art of listening and building conversations with strangers.
And this isn’t that common a skill.  Not everyone is naturally skilled at listening - it’s actually quite rare.
I’m all about practical advice that you can apply straight away, so here are my three tips for learning to listen: 
Make the conversation about them and not you
Tune in to what’s happening to you
Make it a discussion!
 

Do you ever secretly fear you’re in over your head in your new job? Are you receiving praise that you think is unwarranted? 
Do you think you might get exposed as a fake? Do you often wonder why they hired you?

If this is you, you’re not alone. Over 70% of the population has experienced Imposter syndrome. I have and I’m keen to share my lessons and free exercise, so you can tame your Inner Critic and stop feeling like a fraud. 
In this episode and the next I’m going to cover the second common mistake we can all make when we start a new job (go back to episode 1 if you’d like a summary of all 3 common mistakes).
Mistake number 2 is all about ‘Playing it Small’.
Playing it small is almost the opposite of hitting the ground running, I characterise it as ‘sliding into’ your new role, not wanting to ‘make a splash or a fuss’. It’s a bit like hanging around the edges at your teen disco, not wanting to create a stir, not wanting to stand out, too afraid to have an opinion of voice a challenge.

Power Stories capture you at your best, demonstrate what you’ve already achieved and hint at what you’re capable of. 
Your power stories will be different to mine and it’s important you uncover them as they can lead to great things!  They help to bolster your self-confidence and remind yourself of what you’re capable of. By telling them to others you can make sure they’re aware of what you’ve achieved and give them a more complete sense of who you are.

In this episode we move onto mistake number 3, failing to build influence. 
This is a big mistake and I’ve made it several times in my career.  I think it goes hand in hand with the mistake of 'playing it small' because when we play it small we tend to operate in a small world. We interact with those who'll help us get the job done, and those who we’re friends with.  We tend to ‘keep our head down’ and avoid the limelight.
I can describe all of this so well because I practiced it to perfection - I used to call it ‘flying under the radar’ this might sound clever and I guess that was my way of justifying it.  For years in my early career I limited my sphere of influence, because that kept me in my comfort zone, but I also wanted the career success that you only see when you move beyond your usual boundaries and get uncomfortable.  And therein lies the challenge that many of us face.
 
If we want to be successful we have to get uncomfortable - very uncomfortable - and we have to get used to that feeling - almost learn to embrace it!

This is episode 7 and we’ve already started to address mistake number 3 - failing to build influence. In the last episode I talked about the need to get really clear on your personal brand - what people say about you when you’re not in the room. In this episode (and the next one too) I dive into the detail of 'influence'. I explain what I think Influence is (and what it isn’t) and also why it’s so important.
If you didn’t already listen to episode 6 on personal branding I’d really encourage you to go back and do this work on thinking about what you want to be known for before you continue with this work on influence. When you’re clear on your personal brand and you’re ready to build a strong and valuable sphere of influence you’re in the right place.
In this episode I dive into the detail of influence, and I'll show you how influence starts by building trust and giving value, ahead of receiving anything.