3 Steps to Help New Leaders Ramp Quickly

It’s been said that “the beginning is the most important part of the work.” Whether you have just taken the next step in your professional career at your existing company or have transitioned into a new organization, when you land a new leadership position, the same notion holds true.

In a new role, you have a lot you want to accomplish. This means your first 100 days will be the most critical. During this time, if you’re not making decisions based on data and facts, you risk being unprepared to optimize the actions and decision-making criteria that will impact your future success. Consider the following three steps to help you quickly acquire important insights in your new leadership role.

1. Start by Talking to Employees

When you land a new position, what is one of the first things you should consider? We suggest tapping into the wealth of knowledge among your internal colleagues and team members.

That’s because those who have been working inside the organization for months or years undoubtedly have opinions about what works well, and what doesn’t. There are two key ways you can gather this feedback: in person, or through an anonymous online survey. We recommend a combined approach.

2. Collect Employee Feedback

What obstacles do your front-line personnel face? What do they need, and how well are those needs being met?

Much like a suggestion box, an Employee Opinion Survey provides a safe place for employees to offer improvement suggestions. When executed correctly, it can hone in on inefficient processes, internal breakdowns, and policies that work against the company’s best interests.

It can also uncover how employees feel about their experience with other colleagues. Your organization won’t be able to deliver a differentiated service experience unless all employees are working together, with a shared commitment to do their best for each other.

3. Take Action

Employee Opinion Surveys are an extremely valuable tool to new leaders. They are also a relatively simple diagnostic that can be executed quickly, as a way to gather unfiltered employee feedback you can use to help guide your priorities.

So, what’s the next step after you’ve gathered the feedback? Of course, employees will expect to see their input leveraged in some way. Talk is cheap, right?

Be sure to read through survey results and select specific issues to work on and correct. This process is proven to be a key driver of increased employee engagement.

Of course, partnering with a third-party firm, can ease the burden during those first 100 days as they gather the intelligence you need, analyze the feedback, and provide objective recommendations you can use to demonstrate positive change.

Today’s employees want more than just a paycheck. They want to be happy at work, realize a great future, and feel connected to something bigger.

Additionally, they want to work in an environment that values their opinions and takes action to improve their day-to-day experience.

By seeking input from employees–and using it to prioritize the most pressing issues to focus on first–you demonstrate that you value the opinions of others. As a new manager, this is exactly the type of environment you want to cultivate.

This article originally appeared on Satrix Solutions.