94: First 30 Days with Alyssa Percell

Charlotte Ward: 0:13

Hello and welcome to episode 94 of the Customer Support Leaders Podcast. I'm Charlotte Ward. The theme for this week is the first 30 days in your new role. So stay tuned for five leaders talking about that very topic. I'd like to welcome back to the podcast this week, Alyssa Purcell. Alyssa, it's lovely to have you back after uh uh such a long time actually. It's been a few months since we last spoke, but times have changed for you, haven't they? And we're here today to talk about first 30 days in a new role. So I would love to hear what your thoughts are there as as we uh each of us take on a new to us role.

Alyssa Percell: 1:01

Yeah, absolutely. I thank you for having me back. It's such a pleasure. Uh we always have a good time no matter what. So I really appreciate it. Um so recently I've actually accepted a position as a director of support for a new startup. You know, I think starting a new job is a stressful thing, you know. And from the minute you know that you're signing the offer, you begin to start to think about how do I want to approach my professional brand? Like what does success look like in the role within the first 30 days? How can I make an impact and a positive impression? And to be honest, I think the best thing that you can do for yourself in approaching a new position is give yourself some patience. That's something that I've learned over time, and something that I'm not always great about is.

Charlotte Ward: 1:52

Oh, you and me both.

Alyssa Percell: 1:55

You kind of have to give yourself a deep breath and congratulations to accepting and stepping into the next challenge in your career. And know that no matter how much time you may spend worrying or planning or thinking about the role before you even start, it may be entirely different from what you had initially expected. Success is a combination of bringing in your skill set and uh wanting to hit the ground running, but also having the humility and the understanding that it's so important to first focus on building relationships and getting an understanding of the business. So even if I wanted to sit here and tell you, here are the 30 things that I would do in my first 30 days, I honestly don't know until I'm sitting in the role. And I get time with the people who have been the product experts and leading the team. Um, I definitely have some ideas on projects and priorities that I'd love to tackle, but I think the first 30 days is really about finding your footing and focusing on developing relationships. The key to success in your career is not about what you can accomplish independently, it's about how you can work collaboratively with others in the ecosystem of a company.

Charlotte Ward: 3:15

I totally heard you when you said that you know you already have an idea of the things that you would like to do. When we get that job offer, we've had, you know, what three to six conversations. I had nine at one company. I will come back right. Um, you know, we've had several conversations, probably with people that are at different layers or different parts of the business. They all know what they're interviewing you for.

Alyssa Percell: 3:43

Yeah.

Charlotte Ward: 3:44

So they're very willing to talk to you about their challenges and issues that and and they're there to understand what problems of theirs you're gonna solve, right? Should they hire you? And through those conversations, we feel we have something of an understanding of the role we're stepping into, right?

Alyssa Percell: 4:02

But you never know until you're in it, right?

Charlotte Ward: 4:07

You never know.

Alyssa Percell: 4:08

You get a snapshot of it, and that's kind of what hooks you, and you become so excited, and you're like, I'm gonna lean into these challenges, I'm so energized. And that maintains through starting a job, but you get a little combination of reality as that begins. My primary focus in starting a new position, especially from a leadership perspective, is um really focusing on setting up expectations for relationships. Um, relationships, as I already mentioned, are so important. And I'll never forget the first time I became a people manager, I was recommended this book called Managing Up and Managing Down. And it had this idea of when you meet somebody new, um whether they're your manager or you're managing them, the first thing that you should do is have a level setting conversation to a degree. I don't like to get too business-y in a first conversation, but I love to just get to know one another. So I try to come to it knowing that it's not about me standing on a platform and sharing my testimonial. It's about finding out what is that middle ground and really opening myself up to understanding them. I love to understand where you're coming from, what's your favorite communication style? How do you like to be updated? And I find through that conversation, you can get to know somebody on a more personal level, but you're also setting expectations just through a free-flowing conversation. If you approach it like that from the beginning, you're gonna have just so much of a greater understanding of one another and a greater respect because you're approaching the relationship with purpose and intent and like obviously expressing how much you care, you know. So I find that helps set relationships up for success. And in your first 30 days, there's not gonna be a lot that you can deliver on. Let's be honest about that. In your first 30 days, take a deep breath, learn as much as you can, be organized, and develop relationships. Like that's the best that you can do without putting yourself under enormous pressure because it's already, you know, high pressure starting a new job. And you just want room to be yourself. If you're so worried about delivering within your first 30 days, you're not gonna make space to be your authentic you.

Charlotte Ward: 6:36

That's it for today. Go to customersupportleaders.com forward slash 94 for the show notes, and I'll see you next time.