It’s the first day on a new job.  You may have a new boss, new peers, or a new team. You may have arrived in this place for any number of reasons; some of them good, like a promotion, and some reasons not so good, like your company lost a major contract. Either way you are beginning something new and you are uncomfortable.

Each new beginning brings its own challenges. I challenge you to think of them as the beginning of new opportunities.

“The beginning is the most important part of the work.” – Plato

Three new job challenges that are really opportunities:

You have a new boss who doesn’t know you or your capabilities. You are beginning to work for a new boss.  You feel like you have to prove yourself all over again.  Relax, if you were great and successful before, you will shine again. Take heart, if things didn’t quite work out on your last job, now is your chance to shine.

Here is a simple formula for beginning to be successful in your boss’s eyes:  They key to being a successful employee isn’t doing what you think is right and hoping the boss likes it, it’s about finding out what the boss thinks is right and doing that well.  Remember, the boss sets the vision for the team.  The job of the team members is to work together to accomplish the vision that is set for the team.

You are on a new team and your peers don’t know or trust you yet. On your old job you had chemistry, you knew how to work together and who to trust, and they trusted you. Or maybe, your old team never had that kind of teamwork.  Now you are beginning your new job and the trust just isn’t there.  What can you do?

Here is a simple formula for beginning to establish trust between your peers:  The key to successful teamwork is to focus on understanding your role on the team and executing that flawlessly. Trust will naturally grow from there. Do your job in a way that helps the team and each of your peers achieve success.

You have a new team to manage that you haven’t worked with before. Your new team wants to know why you are here.  Every team wants to be successful and yours is beginning to wonder if you can lead them there.  It doesn’t matter if you have done this well before or not, you are starting fresh on your new job.

Here is a simple formula for beginning to lead successfully: The key to successful leadership is to achieve the purpose of your team by consistently delivering small successes for each member of your team. Each person needs to see proof that the team can be successful while at the same time seeing that they can achieve personal success.

I hope you give these simple formulas a try when you are beginning a new job. They have always worked for me.