It’s Day One for Alex at ACME Corporation…plus a MollyMoh update!

“If I leave at 7:45 a.m. tomorrow, I can be in the office by 8:00 a.m. Perfect,” Alex told themselves.

Tomorrow is Day One for Alex at ACME Corporation, one of the companies on their priority “next phase of their career” list.

Alex’s heart rate is elevated ever so slightly asking themselves what they think “business casual” means as they go through the closet of options. “I think this will work,” as they lay out the outfit for tomorrow.

Alex is excited about a new opportunity at a company they’ve admired from afar. Alex believes in the mission, its leadership, and most of all their new manager, Charlie.

The next morning, Alex arrives right on time at the office. A heightened sense of nerves and excitement is felt as Alex takes a deep breath and opens the car door to take the short walk from the parking lot to the front door.

The heart rate calms slightly as Alex sees the same receptionist they met during the interview process. With a warm, calming, and welcoming presence, the receptionist smiles and with that five percent extra burst of excitement says “Welcome, Alex! We’re so excited to have you join.”

After filling out paperwork and a short HR onboarding, Alex was to meet right away with their manager Charlie in the conference room. They had great conversations during the interview process. Alex felt like Charlie would be a great people manager and partner to help Alex grow in their career.

A few minutes later, Alex hears Charlie’s voice: “Alex, so glad you’re here finally!”

After a few minutes of idle chit-chat, Alex notices Charlie isn’t acting quite as they did during the interview process. Charlie is a little more stressed.

“So, Alex,” Charlie starts. “We’re so excited you’re here. We think you’re going to love it here at ACME. I know during the interview process we were going to have you start running our new Helix program. Since you accepted, the team has decided we need your help running our existing Helio program instead. The execs think we need someone already at ACME to kick off Helio, so we’re going to have Jordan, who you met during the interview process, take the lead there.”

The heart is sinking on the inside, but on the outside Alex had to look like a team player, especially on Day One. “I wanted to be here, right?” Alex told themselves in the milliseconds after Charlie’s jaw-dropping update.

“Ok. You know Charlie, I had three job offers. I took this job at ACME because I believed in you and wanted to run Helix.”

Charlie’s head nods slowly in understanding.

“I know. It’s out of my hands, I’m sorry. Don’t worry, you’ll love the Helio program, and maybe in three months, we can see about you spending some time on Helix. Ok? Now, let’s get you settled. We have a 2:00 p.m. meeting today on the Helio program we’d love you to be a part of.”

So, what should Alex do from here?

When we talk about employee culture and well-being, how someone looks at their job in the context of their career is vital.

The first thing Alex should do, and this is the most difficult, is to believe Charlie. This is where a heightened sense of empathy is critical. It’s more likely than not that Charlie genuinely wanted Alex to lead the Helix program, but they were told about the change between hiring and onboarding. Charlie perhaps froze up, didn’t know what to do, or maybe they were told by their executives to not tell Alex.

If I were Charlie, I’d ensure the relationship between Charlie and Alex was strong. With career journeys ever-evolving, it’s important to preserve trust and transparency between a manager and their team for the health of their relationship. Charlie should have been empowered to proactively communicate this to Alex before Alex started Day One so Alex could make the decision that’s best for them.

As a next step, I’d advise Charlie and Alex to have a conversation centered around Alex’s career ambitions with actionable steps to determine if and how ACME can meet those ambitions.

And now for your MollyMoh update! We’ve entered the most fun part of the year for Molly (when it’s not 100 degrees). A time in which she can run and run and run all day and night. The sunshine is out, her water bowl is ever-refilled, and she’s basking in the glow!