How to Introduce Yourself to Your Coworkers on the First Day

Introductions have been a part of our lives ever since the first day of school. Yet, they are one of the most terrifying aspects of meeting new people for more than half the population on Earth. As we grow up, they surprisingly tend to become even more intimidating than they were while we were kids. That is a strange yet real metric. As a result, introducing oneself at work is by far the most stressful part of starting a new job for most people.

Researchers across the world spend 12 hours/day at times to understand why facing one’s own personality and presenting it to the world is such a threat for billions of people across the globe. While the answers are yet to be found or are being processed, there are actually some ways which can make it easier for you to introduce yourself to people.

 

Let’s Take a Look at How to Introduce Yourself to Your Coworkers on the First Day of Your New Job.

To some people’s advantage, some companies introduce coworkers during orientation. While the basic name introduction is done for all employees across all companies on the planet, the real networking and communicating is up to the employee himself. In fact, not building work relationships can be a bigger problem for people in the long run. Your introduction is a chance to establish a rapport with the rest of your team/organization. Using that time to the best of its efficiency can be highly rewarding in the long run.

 

Let Your Personality Speak

Most people will tell you to try and gel in - to be more formal if the environment of the work organization favors that or be more relaxed if the environment is not that rigid. However, as a communications researcher, my understanding says that your introduction is the one thing you can fully control. While it is not appropriate to share all tiny details about your life with other people, keeping the introduction as humane and light hearted as possible will not go wrong.

A good way to start will definitely be to introduce your name along with the position you will be working for however try to convey it in a manner that does not establish authority or inferiority over other people for being passed judgment on is also a very quick thing to happen to newcomers.

Consider this: Hi! I’m Alex. Nice to meet you! It’s my first day today as an Operations Manager and I’m so excited to meet all the other team members. I’m already learning so much. This is a great opportunity.

While having a smile throughout goes without saying, adding a little more warmth and humility to the statement will let other people know who you are, what you do and yet, respect you innately.

If you like to make jokes, make them by all means. No need to shy away from being humorous. Just remember to make appropriate jokes only. Making the environment around you a little lighter will always be appreciated.

 

Add a Question at the End of Your First Statement

Everybody will be interested in getting to know you, by default - for you are the new one. It is great to have all the attention for yourself and sometimes, we tend to forget that the key to building work relationships is having two-way communication. So, what is the best way to ensure that the interaction is two way? Simple! Ask a question at the end.

Let’s look at the above example itself: Hi! I’m Alex. Nice to meet you! It’s my first day today as an Operations Manager and I’m so excited to meet all the other team members. I’m already learning so much. This is a great opportunity.

While you already introduced yourself, consider adding: How’s it going for you so far? Which team do you work with?

Asking that question will convey to the listener that you are not there to assert authority but to develop a relationship or at least an acquaintance to remember. However, simply asking the question is not enough. Don’t consider that your job is done just because you asked the question. Instead, really pay attention to the answer as well to get to know the people around you.

You see, developing interactions is only just the first step. It takes a lot more to build meaningful relationships in the workplace. The next time you meet the same person and ask them about something they mentioned to you during your first interaction, it will take it two steps ahead because you will already be one of the very few people who pay attention for real. Take advantage of a skill like this and keep the conversation going beyond small talk.

 

Go Beyond Your Team

Your team is the most important one across the work organization however other teams are important too. Part of working in an organization is to engage with teams other than your own for most work collaboration and integration today. There’s no doubt that you will work with a lot more people outside of your team than within during your time at any workplace. 

Having acquainted or meaningful relationships with other teams can help you a lot in the long run. The people who really excel at work often know almost all the people within the building they work in. There is a reason why this works - humans look for familiarity. When it comes to helping coworkers, not everyone will be open to helping anyone and everyone; however, given enough consideration, anyone would want to continue working with you because you made them feel special at some point.

The way to do this is being present at company events as much as possible, keeping a lookout for the company chart of designations as well as functions or simply going up to people and talking to them if they are alone and don’t mind company in the company cafeteria.

Consider this: You see someone sitting alone at lunch. You do not have company that particular day either. You go up to them and say - “Hey! Is it okay if I sit with you?”

“Hi! I’m Alex and I'm new here. Would you mind if I spoke with you for the next few minutes?”

This is called a Micro-Yes question because most people would shy away from saying “No” and give in to having a conversation. Keep the conversation light from there on and make them feel comfortable.  You never know; you might even make a lifelong relationship.

 

Send Follow Up Emails

This is really specific to some organizations but it's true that some organizations offer you the space to introduce yourself via a company wide email. The good thing about this is that you can share things like your likes and dislikes, invite people to coffee and again, it's true that many people actually respond to such emails to introduce themselves as well and to welcome you to the organization.

Once those emails are received, it is a good thing to go ahead and connect with the responders on a personal level via direct email and invite them for coffee/tea or just a break sometime during the week. Given that you may ask multiple people, only a few would actually follow through on the idea to meet with you however the ones that actually do will surely be building long term work relationships with.

The point is to not lose confidence and be comfortable to reach out to people. Remember that networking is not only important for you but also for everybody else in the organization. Figure out the mode of communication that is comfortable for you and make it comfortable for those around you as well.

In fact, the email doesn’t necessarily have to be an introduction email, you could also send out thank-you notes to your team and other teams as well for helping you out on your first day at work.

 

Conclusion

Knowing how to introduce yourself seems like an easy task. Instead, it’s one of the toughest tasks possible. No need to worry though because there are millions if not billions of people out there going through the same thing and we will all get there one day. Till then, keep practicing and keep making friends.

 

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