One of the assigned readings for our Quarter 1 retreat was an excerpt from the book The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels by Michael Watkins. The premise of the book is that, as a new employee or leader of an organization, you have 90 days to prove yourself and lay the groundwork for your success. Ninety days to reach the “breakeven point” where you become a net contributor of value to the organization, rather than a net drain on its financial and human resources.
Early on, Watkins identifies some of the main challenges facing outsiders coming into a new organization, including:
– Lack of familiarity with the organizational structure and informal communication networks
– Lack of familiarity with, and difficulty assimilating into, the corporate
– Lack of credibility compared to someone promoted from within the organization
– Difficulty for insiders to adjust to working with someone from outside the organization
During our Q1 retreat, we were encouraged to tackle these challenges at our placement organizations using strategies outlined later in the book. At the time, I took the challenge to heart, practicing Watkins’ Do’s and Don’ts for success and planning for the five critical conversations to have with my supervisor (situational diagnosis, expectations, style, resources and personal development). Yet, ninety days into my GHC fellowship, I felt like a failure. My projects had stalled due transport and budget issues. I was still hopelessly out of the loop when it came to office politics and gossip. And I didn’t feel like my coworkers appreciated my contributions to the team.
But then I wondered, as GHC Fellows, can we really be expected to reach the “breakeven point” in just 90 days? How applicable is that benchmark when you’re not only an organizational, but a cultural outsider as well?
In addition to the organizational challenges listed above, GHC Fellows must simultaneously try to navigate the social and cultural structure of their new surroundings; to tap into those informal communication networks so we don’t end up paying the “mzungu price” for every taxi ride; to forge productive, meaningful relationships with our coworkers and neighbors with a vocabulary that’s often limited to “How are you?” “I’m fine.” “Thank you.” and “How much?”
As GHC fellows, we manage not one but two transitions: one to the organizational culture, and one to the national culture. So, shouldn’t we be given double the amount of time to prove ourselves? For me personally, things looked a whole lot better 180 days into the fellowship. I was reenergized coming off of our mid-year retreat. My coworkers had started coming to me for answers and advice. And I had just been given an opportunity to work on a new supply chain management program, which I’m now managing at our sites in Malawi, Ghana and Uganda.
What a difference an extra 90 days can make.