New role, promotion or new employer? Here's how to start well.

Before you start

Starting a new job well begins before day one. Whatever the induction looks like, onboarding yourself is part of the job.

• Close the last role properly. Hand over cleanly, thank the people who helped you, and leave nothing behind that will follow you.
• Write down what you think the new job is. Then check it against what you were told in the interviews and the offer, and note the gaps to ask about.
• Rest. Even a few days between roles changes how you arrive.

The first 30 days: listen

• Meet the people who matter. Your manager, your team, your peers, and the people who depend on your work or whose work you depend on.
• Ask the same three questions of each. What is working? What isn't? What would you do in my place? The same questions make the answers easy to compare.
• Keep a list of what everyone complains about. The patterns tell you where the real problems are, and who already cares about fixing them.
• Resist fixing anything. Unless something is on fire, note it and wait. You will fix the right things later, with more support.

Days 30 to 90: choose

• Pick the two things that matter most, and say so. Telling people your priorities is half of delivering them.
• Agree with your manager what good looks like at 90 days. Write it down, and check in against it before the 90 days are up.
• Find the person who knows how things really get done. Every organisation has one, and they are rarely where the org chart suggests.

What if you were promoted in place?

This is the hardest version: the same people, and a different relationship. Your old peers will watch what changes, and so will your new ones.

• What changes. Who you speak for, what you can share, and who you can let off steam with. Find a new place for that, outside the team.
• What you have to let go of. Your old work, your old seat in the team, and some of the ease you had with people. That loss is real. It is also the job.

What not to do

• Arrive with a plan you made before you met anyone.
• Say "at my last place, we..." more than once.
• Mistake being busy for being useful.
• Wait for your manager to tell you what good looks like.
• Keep quiet when the job is not the one you were offered.

When a conversation helps

The Discovery Session is free: 30 minutes, online, and not a sales call. Tell me about the role, how you got it and what you want from the first year, and we will work out what would help. If a strong induction and a good manager are all you need, I'll say so.

The Starting well track is new role and promotion coaching for the first 90 days, whether you have been promoted, moved sideways or joined a new employer. Online, or in person in Dublin.

Some employers fund coaching for a promotion or a new senior hire.

Questions people ask