So the classic perception is that the new boss can–and will–make sweeping changes to an organization and staffing.

I can’t say this is very wrong.

I happen to be fortunate that my new staff is excellent, but there aren’t enough of them. And the systems? Well, let’s just say that we need to tweak them a bit, but I have a great foundation on which to work.

But I was having a conversation this morning with my senior network engineer, and we made the observation that I have about 6 months until I won’t be able to easily make big changes. So I need to move fairly quickly.

I plan to take the following steps:

1. Assess
2. Propose
3. Execute

I’m almost done with step 1 now, and I hope to do step 2 next week. One thing I plan to do a bit differently, however, is that I will first get feedback from my staff on the proposal. After all, they already know the systems and players.