HOW TO
PERSONAL ASSIMILATION TAKE CHARGE

Don Andersson

Orienting your own entry assimilation is essential. After you've been hired and your executive search ended, your new organization will quickly move on to its next challenge. With a "welcome," a brief overview of your benefits and some quick introductions you will be left to fend for yourself. Immediately you are at a make or break assimilation moment in your new opportunity and if you don't take charge of your own orientation, who will? This human resources leadership orientation and assimilation personal resource "How To" tool takes you through the other due diligence that must be completed if you are to he best equipped to assimilate quickly into your new opportunity and to orient yourself for quick long term success. You now have an opportunity to make an investment that will help you take charge of your own orientation and assimilation. At the nominal cost of $15.00 you can learn how to take charge of your own leadership development and learn how to: assess the business realities of your executive leadership orientation for success in your new position, quickly assimilate into your new position, make the one shift that is critical for your executive leadership assimilation success, recognize covert traps that can undercut your assimilation success. position yourself as a resource for the success of others - not as a job holder, identify partners for your leadership success, take charge of your own leadership orientation, describe what others expect you to contribute to their success, clarify internal business culture challenges your leadership must manage, use interviewing questions to expose covert expectations, understand the residual resistance imposed by past change which your business leadership must manage,

PERSONAL ASSIMILATION TAKE CHARGE Do your critical due diligence

After crossing the transition wasteland strewn with dashed hopes and white knuckle moments of despair, you've finally landed. Congratulations! It's time to celebrate. If you are committed to making the most of your opportunity, however, it is not time to relax. It is time to shift your focus, intensify your efforts and gird yourself against any temptation to equate your landing with your success. A friend of mine had just accepted a senior executive offer. He called to convey his excitement and to describe the many opportunities before him. We discussed what he was doing to prepare for a productive entry.

"I'm pretty sure I've got my bases covered," he said, "I'm eager and ready to get started."

A couple of months later I gave him a call to see how things were going.

"I can't believe it," was his immediate response. "I just can't believe it. Every day it's one surprise after another. I'm always being caught off guard." "What happened," I asked. "The only thing I can figure out," he answered, "is that I got caught up in the euphoria of landing."

It's easy to become euphoric when you have been presented with a new opportunity. That excitement, however, can entice you away from the preparation needed to become effectively oriented, quickly assimilated and to maximize your ability to be successful. If you are getting ready to enter a new position, you will find the following check list to be helpful.

Statement Yes No Specific results I am to achieve within my first six months have been reviewed with me. I have been told what standards will be used to review the success of my performance. Cultural nuances such as organizational priorities, values, hidden centers of power and influence and ways of making decisions have been explained. I know who the customers of my position are. I currently know what the customers of my position expect from me. The strengths of my predecessor have been described to me. I have clearly defined the objectives I want to accomplish through my initial impression. I have formulated the questions I want to ask of each of my customers. I am committed to being a resource that helps my customers succeed. I have defined the technical, interpersonal and team skills I must further refine to contribute to my success potential in this new position. I have a current year written plan, with objectives, for my personal and professional development. I am committed to investing a specific amount of my own financial resources in this current year to increase my success potential. A process has been developed to develop and enhance the working relationship I have with the person to whom I directly report. I have been given a "start up" budget that I can use to meet needs I identify and for which no money has been previously set aside. It could be helpful to use a coach / mentor to help me strategize and implement a quick start. To make your entry productive you must make a subtle but significant shift in your approach and continue your due diligence.