If you think about people engaged in a physical activity in which they use something to hit something else, they must get their tools ready, aim and then fire. Onboarding is all about working with others to hit a target. The steps are the same and the order counts.
Ready yourself by preparing in advance and jump-starting learning and relationships. Ideally this starts before day one and continues on indefinitely.
Aim by testing your hypotheses with others in your early days, doing far more listening than talking.
Fire when you're ready to start making the appropriate impact. In our book, The New Leader's 100-Day Action Plan, we describe the value of pausing to accelerate. It's often helpful to pivot off an imperative workshop to fire the gun and launch your change management efforts.
