The First 90 Days (11 page)

[5]Chris Argyris, “Teaching Smart People How to Learn,”
Harvard Business Review,
May–June 1991.

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.

Overcoming the Barriers

Promoting yourself turns out to be hard work, and some of the barriers may lie within you. Take a few minutes to think hard about your personal vulnerabilities in your new position, as revealed by your analysis of your problem preferences. How will you compensate for them? Then think about the external forces, such as commitments to your current boss, that could hold you back. How can you avoid that outcome?

To borrow an old saw, promoting yourself is a journey and not a destination. You will have to work constantly to ensure that you are engaging with the
real
challenges of your new position and not practicing what Ron Heifetz terms “work

[6]

avoidance.” It is easy to backslide into habits that are both comfortable and dangerous. Plan to reread this chapter and its questions periodically, asking, “Am I doing all that I can to promote myself?”

ACCELERATION CHECKLIST

Lists like this one appear at the end of each chapter to help you crystallize the key lessons and apply them to your
situation. Use these questions to guide your analysis and tailor your 90-day acceleration plan.

1. What has made you successful so far in your career? Can you succeed in your new position by relying solely on those strengths? If not, what are the critical skills you need to develop?

2. Are there aspects of your new job that are critical to success but that you prefer not to focus on?

Why is that the case? How will you compensate for your potential blind spots?

3. What do you need to do to ensure that you make the mental leap into the new position? From whom might you seek advice and counsel on this? What other activities might help you do this?

[6]See Ronald Heifetz,
Leadership Without Easy Answers
(Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1994).

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Chapter 2: Accelerate Your Learning

Overview

Chris Bagley headed the quality function at Sigma Corporation, a medium-sized durable goods company. When Chris’s boss left to become-vice president of manufacturing at White Goods, a struggling manufacturer of appliances, he offered Chris a job as general-manager of its largest plant. Chris jumped at the opportunity. Sigma had built a strong manufacturing organization. Chris had joined the company right out of engineering school and rotated through most of the major manufacturing functions. He was highly skilled; however, he had grown accustomed to dealing with state-of-the-art technology and a motivated workforce. He had toured the White Goods plant before taking the job and knew that it did not come close to measuring up. He was determined to change that—and quickly.