Getting Through The Warm Up Stage In A New Workplace

So, you properly warmed up before your interview and aced it. Now you’ve landed the position. What’s next? It’s never easy being the new kid in school, or the new guy at work. But don’t panic! There are ways to swiftly and easily warm up to a new workplace. Keep in mind that opportunities to learn and grow exist all around you, and can come from both your bosses and co-workers. It’s okay to not know everything right off the bat! Keeping a positive mindset will help you navigate any initial roadblocks. Below we’ve turned to the pros for ways to keep calm and carry on as you acclimate to your new professional environment.

We love this approach from Jennifer Winter at The Muse: “Don’t Be a Know-it-All. If you’re anything like me, your first instinct when starting a new job is to try to find as many ways to ‘prove’ to your new boss how capable you are. And this is fine—as long as you do more showing and less telling. As a former manager myself, one of my biggest pet peeves was hiring a new employee only to find he or she already ‘knew’ everything, and didn’t want or need my input. The truth is, if you lack humility and respect for those that are already there, you will have a much harder time convincing them of your skills, and you won’t come across as a team player. On the other hand, when I’ve resisted the urge to try to impress, and instead sat back and observed my environment, the results have been powerful. By really trying to understand what we were working to accomplish as a firm or a team, and by showing my interest through being attentive, asking questions, and taking a ridiculous amount of notes, I found that I was invited to more meetings, asked my opinion more often, promoted, and yes, even invited to join happy hour with the team after work.” As excited as you might be upon entering into your new position, make sure that you’re not figuratively running too hot–the best way to warm up to working in a new environment is make sure you’re listening and learning rather than making suggestions for improvements before you truly get to know how your organization works. Asking questions is a great way to demonstrate a sense of initiative. So recognize that you can learn a lot from everyone around you, and make sure to tap into their knowledge! This will help strengthen your workplace community right off the bat.

And this tip from Augustus Franklin at Social Hire is sure to put you in a great mindset for your first days in a new position: “Expect good things to happen. Our brain works in mysterious ways. One reality-shaping activity of the brain is the Pygmalion effect under which higher expectations lead to better outcomes. Studies in Neuroscience have shown that when we expect good things coming our way, the brain rewards itself with a dash of dopamine release(a neurochemical associated with the sensation of pleasure). This means that your projected vision of the new job already causes you to warm up to the place. It’s almost a self-fulfilling prophecy. Expect things to work out well at the new job and your dopamine-induced motivation will ensure they do.” Positivity is key! Keep your mood up by envisioning the success that you would like to see for yourself and the rest of your team as you find your footing at your new company. And your bosses and colleagues alike will take notice of your upbeat attitude, an asset to any professional environment. 

Remember that you’re not in this alone! As much as you are adjusting to your new organization, your workplace is also warming up to you. It’s okay to need a bit of an adjustment period–the steps we’ve outlined here aren’t meant to help you skip past that stage but to get through it, and to proceed in a way that will best show off your skills and strengths. Keep an open mind to the learning opportunities that every moment in your professional environment offers up. And make sure to maintain your sense of optimism, as expecting good things to happen is scientifically proven to help make those good things happen by boosting your mood. Join us again tomorrow as we close out the week with our final set of mood boosters through our Feel Good Friday: Warm edition.

This posting is brought to you by Contemporaries Inc., one of the best temp agencies in Boston MA. Also available for payrolling employees in Boston and Greater Boston