Tag: new

Being New: Balancing Quick Wins and Long-term Investments (9-20-23)

Last week was about being new and engaging with self-doubt.  This week is about balancing quick wins with long-term investments.

Whenever I start a new role, I’m flooded with things that I could do.  There are fires to fight, projects to jump in on, training to take, relationships to build, priorities to establish, etc.  At this point I often become consumed with an urge to get a quick win.  It’s like a clock starts the moment I begin the role counting how long it takes me to demonstrate my value and that I’m an asset to the team.  I also have a desire to earn a quick win to build some positive momentum.  As a result, I often find myself in a situation where I am trying to balance gaining quick wins vs making more long-term investments with my time and energy.  Do you ever find yourself in this predicament?

What does this have to do with anything?  Everyone wants to have a quick win.  I know early on in this role, one of my favorite moments was when I came home and was able to tell my wife, “I actually provided value today!”  There’s nothing wrong with wanting to dive in and begin attacking the problem as soon as possible.  At the same time, it’s easy to get so focused on chasing activities that would be a quick win that you don’t appropriately invest in the things that set you up for long-term success.  For example, you don’t take the time to understand the culture and how decisions are made.  You don’t take the time to build strong relationships with your co-workers.  You don’t take the time to understand the challenges and their root causes.  You don’t the time to ensure you’re clear on what your overarching priorities are.  You don’t take the time to create create the necessary organization and structure to help you execute those priorities.  All those things are important.  NONE of them are quick wins.  They are all activities that take a significant investment of time and effort.  Throughout my career I’ve come to learn and appreciate that while the quick wins give me some momentum, it is the long-term investments in the right things in the beginning of a new role that will provide the sustainable fuel to succeed.  As I get older, I’m learning to better appreciate the need for and getting better at balancing both quick wins and long-term investments.

The challenge: Whether you’re in a new role or have been in your role for a period of time, how are you balancing quick wins with long-term investments?

Bonus thoughts: In the spirit of vulnerability, there are times where I feel like I’m moving sooooo slow in this role.  Part of it is because I reached a point in my old role where I knew things and could act with speed.  Part of it because this role is trying to navigate a lot of uncharted territory, which requires time.  While I might be moving slow now, I keep telling myself that I’m creating the necessary infrastructure that will lead to more substantial success.  Selfishly, if I am able to do this right, I think the value I’m able to generate after making these investments in building the right infrastructure will far outweigh and erase any amount of slowness I had the first few months in the role.  Only time will tell.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Being New and Embracing Humility (9-6-23)

I took a new role about 3 months ago, so for the next few weeks I want to explore things I’ve learned from that experience.  We will start with being new and embracing humility.

I was competent in my last role.  I knew what was going on.  I knew how to solve problems.  I knew who to reach out to for different things.  I felt awesome about myself.  Then, I started my new role and all of that was gone over night.  I had tasks I didn’t know how to do, surrounded by people I didn’t quite know, and had a major knowledge gap in certain areas (technology 😉).  It’s jarring to go from being competent to being incompetent overnight.  Have you ever felt this way? 

No one likes feeling incompetent, and the temptation is to try to hide that from the world.  I’ve found the best thing to do is to embrace humility and be willing to own the fact that I’m new and don’t exactly know what I’m doing.  I had conversations that went like this, “Hey boss, I’ve never done this task before and have no idea what the expectations are and what I’m supposed to do.  I’m D1 (situational leadership).  If you don’t explicitly tell me to do something I won’t know what to do.  Can you spell this out for me?”  I’d also have situations, especially when talking with the Tech@Lilly team where I’d say, “I need to stop you for a moment.  I need to summarize to make sure I’m following.  I think you’re saying X.  Is that right?”  Sometimes I was correct, and sometimes I was off in another galaxy. 

What does this have to do with anything?  While it may have felt awkward and a little intimidating to be vulnerable about my incompetence, embracing humility and having these conversations ensured I was learning what I needed to learn in order to perform at my best.  Additionally, I think my colleagues appreciated the vulnerability and clarity, so they knew how to help me.  Think about the people you work with.  Would you want them to be open about where they need help or would you rather them try to bluff their way through it?  I’m assuming you’d want them to be honest, which should give us all encouragement to be open about where we are with a given task.  Finally, if I want to be a good leader, then being open about what I don’t know and where I’m less skilled sets the stage that it’s okay to be open and vulnerable, which are two traits of a great culture.   

The challenge: Will you be brave enough to embrace humility?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry