One of the biggest things that will cause you to fail on a new long-term engagement is to start slow. If you don’t hit the ground running, you won’t have the relationships, knowledge or track record to weather your first big crisis. One thing is true on any account – there will be a crisis that must be weathered.
A slow start can destroy the value you are looking to deliver 3 years down the road. It’s a bit counter-intuitive to think that a slow start in months 1 through 3 can impact the work you do 3 years later but it is absolutely true. A strong start buys credibility, a slow start doesn’t. The best time to earn a large amount of credibility is right at the start. That credibility is your currency that you spend during a crisis. The more you have, the easier it is to end a crisis faster.
It’s also the case that crises are more likely to occur early when the teams are still getting used to each other. If you are still in the middle of your slow start you will get hit between the eyes during this time.