this video is brought to you by EA how to Plus EA how to plus is the most valuable community of personal executive and virtual assistants around the globe being a member of EA how to plus gives you access to replays of brilliant EA how-to webinars as well as an invitation to our small group coaching sessions exclusive content and major discounts to become a member visit eahowto.com or click the link in the video description the first 90 days in a new role will set the tone and determine your reputation for the remainder of your tenure in this video I'm going to talk about the things executive assistance should and shouldn't do in their first 90 days on the job the first thing on my list of shoulds is to win hearts and Minds and not with cookies for the love of all that is good please don't bake for the office let's make that your first shouldn't in terms of winning hearts and Minds you're going to set up one-to-ones with members of the leadership team your exec's direct reports heads of departments and other employees you're going to be a great listener get a sense of how they work what is and isn't working for them and what they need from you and from your exec build relationships and be approachable make an effort to go for coffee or after work drinks but remember you're always at work which leads us nicely into a second shouldn't you should not get too comfortable too quickly with your new colleagues being sociable is good being the drunk newbie not so much the next thing you should do is learn the robes attend orientation sessions and if they haven't been arranged for you take it upon yourself to organize some of your own meet with someone in finance to understand the process for reconciling expenses connect with HR to ensure you understand how the company HR system works take initiative to learn about how things work something you shouldn't do is fret about not knowing everything right away to process it takes time chill the next should I'm going to chat about today is building rapport with your executive connect and find out what their schedule looks like what their priorities are who is important what the pain points are and what they expect from you do all of this but also get to know them as a person if you would like a checklist to help you out with this check the link in the video description for my free template you should also have honest and open conversations during one-to-ones with your boss about what is and isn't going well one-to-ones are different from your everyday catch-ups one-to-ones are weekly or fortnightly meetings that generally go for about 45 minutes and are focused on your development and your ways of working they're not about the day-to-day tasks and this segues us nicely into our next shouldn't you shouldn't be afraid to push back a little don't feel that you have to say yes to absolutely everything even if you don't agree with it just because you're new and you're wanting to make a good impression you'll gain far more respect being assertive than being a yes person remember that it's always better to under promise and over deliver always are you ready for our next here it is you should find out as much as possible about the company what does the company do who are the customers who are the competitors what are the goals this will take some time don't panic if you don't understand all of this in the first 90 days it may take longer than that now while you're attending orientations participating in one-to-ones and just generally learning the ropes you should also be building your business manual I've always done this as an A to Z an alphabetical Manual of everything I need to know in my role if you're lucky enough to have Handover notes these will be useful to you but in my experience they will require some updating and some expanding documenting processes is a great way to learn and make yourself useful at the same time because there is a very good chance that there are a lot of processes that should have been documented but haven't been it will help you a lot and your colleagues will love you for it something you shouldn't do though don't be dismissive or overly critical of practices that are new to you or that you don't like take your time to learn about the culture of the company before jumping into critique you'll be able to make changes that's fine but take time to understand why things are the way they are and who owns the processes you're wanting to change before you jump in and give a critique that would make Simon cow cringe I have two motions let's keep it going you should follow through on your commitments this is good advice for your entire career but let's face it proving yourself in the first 90 days and building your reputation early on is extra important you don't yet have the benefit of the doubt I said it earlier I'll say it again under promise and over deliver and your final should for your first 90 days on the job you should maintain a list of your accomplishments I use my done list in Trello for this which I talk about in more detail in my short course the definitive guide to Trello for executive assistance Shameless plug you can keep your list in whatever form you like just make sure you do it this list will come in very handy when appraisal time rolls around that is all for now if you found this video helpful be sure to give it a thumbs up and subscribe for more fabulous executive assistant content I would also love to see you at one of our brilliant webinars remember to visit eahowto.com to find out more and to become an EA how-to plus member whether you're just starting out your assistant career or you're a seasoned professional EA how-to has resources for you that you will love we also pride ourselves on being the kindest most genuinely useful community of assistance you will ever meet so see you then