Di offer don sign, di laptop go land Friday, and you don dey lie down for night dey plan how you go prove for week one say na correct decision dem take to hire you. Good. Dat energy na asset and nobody here go talk you comot from am. Di only question na where you go spend am.
New job dey give you one thing wey you no go ever get again, wey be clean eye. For like four weeks, you fit see everything wey dey strange about dis place. Then you go stop to see am, because you don become one of di people wey dey work here. Almost all di advantage of dis twelve weeks dey come from using dat eye before e close.
Na dis be di shape. Week one to four dey buy information. Week five to eight dey buy one small, visible win. Week nine to twelve dey set di standard wey you want make dem hold you to. Work hard di whole time. Na composure dey aim am for di part wey matter.
Wetin exactly I suppose do for my first week?
Map who dey decide wetin, and write down everything wey dey confuse you. Na now only you fit get dis two things, and both dey harder every week wey you stay.
Di map no be org chart. Draw three column: who dey decide, who dey influence di person wey dey decide, and who dey hear last. Fill am by asking people direct, because for week one dem allow you ask anything and nobody go look you anyhow. Dat permission dey expire around week five. Ask every person wey you meet wetin dem dey work on, wetin dey block dem, and who dem dey run go meet when something stuck. Na di third answer go tell you how di place really dey run.
Di confusion list na di other half. Anytime something no make sense, write one line. Why two team dey own dis thing? Why deploy dey take one hour? Why nobody dey use di tool wey we dey pay for? Di confusion wey you dey feel for week one na di most valuable thing wey you get, and e get shelf life of like one month.
One practical thing, then make we go back to di job. Put your training inside calendar for week one, before di new role chop all di empty slots. Di person wey still dey go hard for week twelve na di one wey im week get floor under am, and body na di equipment wey ambition dey run on, no be reward for surviving di quarter.
How I go prove myself without shipping something wey never ready?
Spend di first month dey ask better question pass wetin anybody expect, and di second month dey finish one real thing. Speed on di wrong problem for week two dey read like say you no get experience, and e dey cost pass to undo am than wetin di wait for cost.
New hires dey do dis one backwards because di anxiety loud pass for di beginning. You dey feel debt to justify di salary, so you dey look for something to fix inside di first two weeks, and you go usually pick di thing wey spoil for reason wey you never learn. Everybody for di building don already try di obvious fix. Di question wey go earn you respect no be “why we no just do am like dis” but “wetin una try, and wetin happen?”
Meanwhile, na your questions be di output. New person wey dey ask sharp question for week two don already dey visible, don already dey useful, and don already dey teach di room something about how im mind dey work. Dat one na better first impression pass rushed pull request.
When I suppose make my first visible move?
Pick di win for week five and finish am by week eight. E suppose small enough say nothing fit stop you, and useful enough say person wey no dey your team go notice say you don finish am.
Choose from di confusion list, because dat list na catalog of things wey everybody don stop to see. Di best candidates no dey flashy but you fit finish dem: di report wey three people dey rebuild by hand every month, di setup step wey dey chop one full day from every new hire, di dashboard wey nobody trust. No announce anything at di start. Finish am, then talk one sentence about am for di place where your team dey talk, name wetin change instead of how hard e be.
Di day wey you finish am, write di row down: wetin you do, wetin change, who see am. You no go remember di details for eleven months time, and na eleven months from now person go come ask.
Wetin I go do with all di notes wey I take for week one?
Turn dem into di onboarding document wey nobody for dis company ever write, and give am to di next person wey go start. E cost you one hour, e make you learn di system twice, and na di fastest honest way to make people sabi you before your output plenty enough to talk for you.
Do am for week nine to twelve, while your notes still dey readable and di answers still fresh. Take di confusion list, write di answer wey you eventually find beside each line, cut di complaints, and keep di parts wey stranger go need. Send am to di next new person with dia name on top, and copy your manager, no be to perform but because dem no go ever sabi say e exist otherwise.
Two things dey make dis one worth one hour of busy quarter. Di first na say to teach na di fastest road to really own wetin you sabi. To explain di deploy process with mouth go show you exactly which part you dey pretend say you sabi, and you go fix dem dat same afternoon. Di second na wetin e dey do to how people dey read you. Gallup find say na only about 12% of workers strongly agree say dia organization dey do great job for onboarding new people, wey mean say di gap wey you just close na gap wey almost every company get and almost nobody dey fill. Di person wey fill am dey become di person wey others dey come meet, and dat one dey happen months before dia own work get time to talk.
Keep am humble and specific. Dis no be manifesto about how di company suppose change. Na one page wey go save di next person one full week.
How I go set di standard wey I want make dem hold me to?
For week nine to twelve, talk with mouth how you plan to work, then work dat way for people front. Norms wey you set for di first quarter, dem dey read am as who you be. Di same norms wey you bring for month nine dem dey read am as change of behavior, and change of behavior dey invite question.
Talk di small things plain. When you need two days for review, talk am and deliver inside two days. When you no go answer message after nine for night, no announce policy, just no answer, consistently, from di start. When you commit to date, hit am or renegotiate am early. Reliability dey boring and e dey compound faster pass brilliance, because everything wey anybody go talk about you for di next three years na summary of whether you do wetin you talk.
Dis na also di quarter to open di first real conversation about where you dey head. No be to ask for anything, just direction: wetin “strong” look like for di next level here, and wetin you go wan see from me for di next six months. Managers dey answer dat question well when you ask am early and dem dey answer am bad when you ask am for panic.
Na week thirteen be di one wey matter
Di plan on top no be slow start. Na start wey dem aim well. You still dey work with full intensity, still dey ambitious, still dey intend to be di best hire wey dem make dis year. Di difference na say by week thirteen you get map, one finished thing wey carry your name, one document wey other people dey use, one standard wey you set on purpose, and manager wey sabi wetin you dey aim for.
Compare am with di version where you sprint after whatever show first. Dat person too tire finish by week thirteen, and e no fit point at anything wey stranger go recognize.
Pick di first version. Then continue, because di twelve weeks never be di goal. Na setup for di three years.