Being new in a company is not always easy, especially when it’s your first work experience. There’s a lot at stake, and it’s normal to experience some stress with the uncertainty of what awaits you. As well as the pressure to respond to the demands of the job and the team.
If the idea of giving a meeting in front of your coworkers makes you feel nervous… If organizing your ideas when sending an email is often a challenge, or if you sometimes catch yourself thinking that you should be more empathic or talkative with those around you… Relax, you’re not alone. Thousands of people face things like these in their jobs daily. This fact and making an effort to solve it is the first of many steps that can bring about very positive changes in the work environment. In today’s coworking, open space offices, and new technologies, the mastery of soft skills is useful. Often makes the difference between getting a better job or feeling “stuck” for years.
How important is speaking for a group?
Is important. You don’t need to be a terrific speaker, but you do need to develop a facility when it comes to speaking in meetings, presenting ideas at a work meeting, or handling and interpreting criticism that may arise. Good communication skills are crucial in the work environment. This has been studied in leaders and middle management, where those who have better speaking skills are good to connect emotionally with people.
To help you successfully overcome this adaptation period, we encourage you to follow these tips:
1. Take care of the image you show.
Strive to make an excellent first impression – you never get a second chance. Some people are fast to judge. The least risky strategy is to conform to the company’s rules and conduct codes. “Where you go, do as you see”.
2. Inform yourself about the company and your mission in it.
To be efficient in your work and meet expectations, you will need to know the company and its goals. Learn how to figure out how is the best way to contribute to achieving goals through your work. It’s a good idea to check the company’s website, activity reports, and all the documentation available to you about it. And complement this information with what your superiors and colleagues can offer you.
You should have the answers to questions such as:
- What is your mission in the company?
- What achievements are expected of you?
- Who was in charge of your functions until now, and how they did do it?
- How their work was evaluated?
- How it could be improved?
- What new challenges arise?
- Who do you answer to, and what support you can count on?
- What are your skills?
- What autonomy do you have for decision-making?
- What are the work and communication procedures within the company? etc.
There will be other issues that interest you too, such as holidays or other rights, but it’s a good idea to wait a bit, and not ask about them in the first week. Our priority is to prove that we can live up to the trust placed in us and the demands of the job.
3. Get along with your coworkers.
You’ll find it easier to integrate into the work team if you take part in social events. Having breakfast with them, going to company lunches, or staying for a drink after work will help you bond with your colleagues and helps you get to know them and they get to know you better as well as help you keep up to date with company and work-related issues.
4. Constructive criticisms.
The contributions and proposals of someone new are always interesting to hear. But avoid making lightly judgments about the work of other colleagues. Before, finding out about the circumstances that led to doing the work in that way, be interested in the reasons for continuing to do so, and recognize the value or merit of the work done. And then constructively, that is, offer solutions, with respect and consideration.
5. Be a real team player.
We understand that you’ve just landed in the company and you’re eager to prove yourself. But remember this, none of your contributions will be as valued as your ability to work as part of a team. Also, you’ll rarely be solely responsible for your achievements, so sharing credit or recognition for them will not only promote cohesion with your colleagues, and future team productivity, but will most likely be the fairest thing to do.
6. Act wisely.
No matter how quickly you get up to speed, like any newcomer to the company, there is a lot of information that escapes you. For this reason, the best way to avoid messing up is to stay optimistic and avoid negative assessments about anything or anyone in or outside the company. You know, “We are masters of the unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out”.
7. Ask for feedback and solve your doubts
It is normal for you to have doubts about how the company works, even about your work. To clear them up, you must know who to ask and when is the best time to do so. There are 3 golden rules that you must follow if you don’t want to be a burden to the person in charge of welcoming you into the company:
- If you can resolve the doubt yourself, do it.
- Write down questions as they come up so you can ask them all at once, rather than interrupting others’ work intermittently. Write down the answers if necessary, but avoid asking the same questions over and over again. It never hurts to ask your supervisors and peers to check your work, to find out if you are meeting their expectations, what can you do better, and how to achieve it.
- Be patient and flexible. Adjusting to a new environment takes time, and sometimes requires making some sacrifices, but it is worth it. Keep in mind that there may be colleagues who have been hurt or disappointed with your hiring, you must give them time to adapt and accept you. If you contribute to creating an enriching and productive environment, you will have the most favorable scenario for your personal and professional development.
Communication skills
These skills are the effective means of persuading, motivating, inspiring, building trust, and connecting emotionally with a variety of audiences within organizations. Furthermore, public speaking skills are often seen as a proxy measure of your broader skills and so it is unlikely that someone can achieve or maintain a senior position without being a technically proficient speaker.
Faced with the expectation of speaking in front of an audience, it’s perfectly normal to get a little nervous. So the best way to deal with it is to acknowledge your nerves, rather than hide them, as this will bring you several benefits:
First, it will ease that nervous feeling, as you won’t have to worry about hiding them, and it will help people empathize with you. Put themselves in your shoes and be more forgiving of your mistakes. Looking others in the eye, adopting a confident posture, and moving as much as we can in the space we have available are some of the techniques we can use to increase our sense of comfort.
Another key is to use less information, and more metaphors and stories. It has been shown that these resources are much more persuasive than pure data. Thus, in meetings or presentations, it is better to alternate technical information with practical examples to make them more memorable.
Question the audience, whenever possible, ask or conduct questions. This way, they will feel that they are part of the presentation, and they will have a more constructive attitude.
The importance of flawless writing
Our message must have a clear goal and be properly argued. An email riddled with inaccuracies goes far beyond its content, and not in a positive way. At best, it conveys the image of a careless person or someone with poor training. Puts us at a disadvantage, because whoever receives the email is already amazed at how bad it is written before looking at the content of the message. Something true in all cases is that situation generates a certain distrust of that person’s capabilities person.
More and more companies are becoming concerned about how their employees write. Not only because of possible mistakes but also because of the exact message. There is a lack of planning before writing, to be clear about the points you want to talk about. Above all, there is a lack of reading afterward to review the content and make sure that we have included everything we wanted to and that we have done it. People don’t do it because of lack of time, but then that leads to confusion and misunderstandings, so revising it saves a huge amount of time.
Emotional and social skills
Technical knowledge may be essential to getting a job, but beyond these formal skills, it is the soft skills that the business world is increasingly demanding, and that can open or close doors to a possible promotion. And among all, the most important is empathy. This works both ways: learning not only to put yourself in the shoes of others but also (and above all) to allow others to put themselves in your shoes.
But how do you do that? By opening up to others and talking more about your emotions, so they get to know you a little better. We have to use more emotions in our communication, from how you feel about a meeting at work to your impressions of a movie you’ve seen. Many people put up a wall at work, and that’s counterproductive. You don’t promote only those who are most prepared, but those you trust the most.
Other skills that play a very important role are assertiveness and conflict management. The first is to stay in the middle ground, avoiding being neither too submissive nor too aggressive with your proposals. The high level of competitiveness also generates a lot of conflicts, so being able to manage them properly is a highly valued skill. People feel offended by the way we communicate because what your family and friends may pass on to you, at work is less tolerable.
We communicate factually, making value judgments. If you give me a document and I don’t like it, I would say: “this is wrong, ‘you’ve done it wrong…”
When what I should do is approach you in a personalized and empathetic way, giving feedback with a positive meaning. Instead of “you” or “I”. Try saying: “In my point of view, this review or this report can be improved”, or, “I think you can try to do it better”.
How do I develop these skills?
The first step is to be aware that there is something we need to improve. From there, and following the idea of getting to know us a little better, a good practice is to choose someone we trust and who can keep track of our performance. Let them know where we want to improve and they can let you know if at any time you are not working on the goals. Sooner or later, it will pay off.
Communication is, without a doubt, a necessary skill in any work area. There is a fine line that separates an eloquent professional from someone who is too formal, unnatural, or even so informal that they are not taken seriously.
If you’re working with a new person or you’re new in a job, communication can help everyone feel more comfortable. People who don’t know you yet, can’t read your body language, so good communication helps them understand your needs and emotions.
