Christopher Global

As a contractor or consultant, you are hired under the perception of being a seasoned, if not a subject matter expert, of the skill set the company is looking for. The onboarding process should be minimal, and integration into the team and environment should be reasonably seamless; because you are a seasoned professional. Once integrated, the contractor will produce value quickly. In my consulting engagements, the ramp time for me to show value has been two or three weeks. By this time, I'm leading meetings, facilitating conversations, and fully tracking outcomes and deliverables for multiple teams. The question of importance is how do you leverage these expectations, knowing very little about your company and team on day one?

I want to walk you through my personal three to four-step process that has proven effective in engagements at more than ten high-profile, top fortune companies.

Step one – Listen/Learn

Walking into any company, you have much to learn. You have past experiences that back your credibility to perform your role, but at this point, you haven't done anything for your end client. Therefore, a humble approach is always the best approach. Learn to engage with your team, your manager, and other leaders. Become a student of the current state of operations. Ask very pinpointed questions that dig into the culture, delivery methodology, the key players, how the team strategizes, what are the pain points, etc. Your first two weeks should focus on consuming as much information as possible!

Step two – Lead (lightly)

Know the difference between confident and comfortable. There's no fault in being confident in your capability, but it's an absurd rouse to feel comfortable after two or three weeks. The reality is your lacking experience delivering for this client. It's acceptable to be confident in your ability to facilitate conversation or to take the lead on scheduling meetings for additional discussions. However, you should NOT be comfortable in your ability to make any decisions that could impact your team or your project. If challenged to make these decisions, you should seek the advice of your hiring manager, SMEs, or other resources with tribal knowledge of the project or assignment. Nothing is lost admitting you don't know everything. Of course you don't; you just got there!

Step three – Manage

After two or three weeks, you're building relationships and gaining trust. You've facilitated a few meetings and understand their purpose and relevance to your assignment. Now you're at the managing stage, where you should be more comfortable with your project information and work surroundings. Great, so how do you manage? A good three-step model for team management is 1) build relationships first, 2) support the individual, and 3) manage the work. This approach shows that you respect each team member as your priority. Second, show them you're there to support them in whatever they need. Third, discuss what's on their plate and how's it coming along.

What this approach does is it helps you to gain your team's respect first. It is safe to assume that most who interact with you will know what you’re there to do. Whether they will follow you or not when you lead is the question. Have the right approach from the beginning.