Benchmarking performance in a new job

The first days, weeks and months in a new role can be a blur of new names, faces, tasks, responsibilities and targets. It can be a lot to manage while familiarising yourself with various new workplace dynamics.

On one hand, you’re focused on navigating professional relationships. On the other, you may be getting to grips with new processes, systems and ways of approaching your job. Without proper planning, it can leave little time for performance benchmarking; considering whether you are meeting your goals.

Being able to gauge your performance in a new role is important, which requires you to put structures into place. This means you can build confidence in your abilities and make a positive impact on your new company while making progress towards objectives.

The five steps we’ve outlined in this article will set you up for performance benchmarking and help you to start seeing results.

1. Ensure that you have clearly-established goals and targets from the outset

If you stand any chance of meeting goals and hitting targets, you’ll need to be clear on precisely what those targets are. As early as possible in your new role, you should make time to discuss this with your manager. A performance development planning meeting will help you to agree on what your targets are. You can define how success will be measured in your role and establish a timeline for meeting your key goals.

It’s a good idea to schedule recurring meetings with your manager to review progress. This will help you both to have continuous clarity, keep lines of communication open and ensure that you are receiving any support you require.

2. Understand what success in your role looks like

To be able to perform well, it’s imperative that you have a clear picture of what success looks like in your role. This can be measured in various ways, depending on what you do.

Success may look different to previous roles you’ve held at other companies, so don’t assume that you can predict this based on a job title. Every organisation has a range of priorities and will view job roles differently. Your manager should be able to outline this for you, aligning your own performance benchmarking with the wider goals of your organisation.

It’s important to establish the metrics that will be used. These could be KPIs such as improved efficiency, better conversions, more sales, or stronger collaboration across teams. Whatever you do, there will be a metric by which success in your role is measured. Find this out from the outset, giving you a clear picture of what you’ll need to do to progress in your new role.

3. Plan ahead

Once you know your goals, you should prioritise planning out a timeline against those targets. For example, if you have a project to deliver in six months’ time, break it down into monthly action points and goals.

Giving yourself incremental targets to meet will help you as you work towards the bigger goal. This way, you can continuously progress and avoid the complacency that may seep in when deadlines are months away.

This consistent approach will also allow you to balance different projects, goals and targets down the line, as you take on more responsibility in your new role.

4. Make time to measure progress against targets

It’s all very well performance benchmarking with goals, targets and schedules, but if you don’t take the time to review and assess progress, you’ll struggle to meet them. Make time for regular reflection, so that you can objectively review progress and move things around if necessary.

You can also enlist the help of colleagues if needed, so that you can combat overwhelm and collectively achieve departmental aims. Involving managers, teammates and other collaborators and stakeholders ensures that everyone is kept in the loop, can provide support and work together more effectively. Then you can also celebrate successes together, which can only ever be a boost for morale.

5. Ask for assistance

Too many people avoid asking for help when they need it. Shame and fear of failure can lead to covering up shortcomings and internalising concerns, particularly when you’re new in a role.

We all want to appear in control and on top of our work. There is a limiting perception that asking for assistance is an admission of weakness, or indicative of a lack of necessary skills. This is not the case, as many jobs require some level of collaboration and teams are created for a reason. People are there to help each other and asking for help is something we should all do more often.