Who isn't thrilled to land a new management position, be it through a new hire or promotion? While newly minted managers may be tempted to focus on the salary boost or elevated status, they would be wise as well to take steps that will help them keep their position for awhile.

Nearly one in three managers who change jobs fail in their new ones and either quit or are asked to leave within 18 months, according to a recent study conducted by the Philadelphia-based firm Right Management Consultants. Well, if my grasp of the latest divorce rates are right, at least new managers have a better chance of keeping their job than they do of staying married. But it's still not a rosy picture.

Based on the data it has collected from coaching managers since 1993, Right Management points to five actions that will help a new manager succeed:

1. Put all the expectations on the table. The new manager needs to find out without delay what results the boss expects, and the timeline for delivering those results. If those expectations are unrealistic, now is the time to make that known. The new manager should not assume that those expectations will be spelled out clearly by the hiring executive. In many cases, executives set managers up for failure, hoping that the mangers will prove themselves without being told how to do so. For that reason, I tell managers to ask for a meeting on the first day with their new boss, ask pointed questions, and then follow-up the next day with an email (or other documented record) of their understanding of the expectations.
2. Identify a relatively simple problem and fix it within the first 90 days. Every organization has a set of dilemmas that are low-hanging fruit. The dilemmas exist because the people who have been around for awhile can't be bothered to step on each other's toes to solve them. Nothing builds an aura of competence like an early win, and the momentum helps the new manager build self-confidence.
3. Make yourself invaluable. I received a valuable piece of advice from a mentor when I was first starting in management: "David, you don't have to make everyone in your new job like you, but you do have to make it too costly for them to get rid of you." What my mentor was suggesting - and its truth resonates with me yet today - is that you have to make yourself valuable across the organization. Once you do that, you can ride management layoffs or personality clashes. You are too critical to the organization's viability. The best way to do that is form a network of relationships across the organization, building alliances with peers who see you as a critical component of their own operation. Right Management data supports that advice - 61% of the new hires that go south failed to build strong bonds with peers and subordinates.
4. Fit into the firm's culture. Many times managers who have the desired technical or operational skills still fail in their new post because they do not learn how to navigate the land mines and taboos in the corporate culture. Such a case came up recently in a new management hire in which I participated. One of the executives involved shared with me that despite his assent to the hire, he didn't know how much confidence he had in the new manager because he had showed up to his interview dressed "so informally." On another occasion, I heard peers complain about a new manager's proclivity for email rather than walking over to their desks and have a conversation. These gaffes might seem trivial, but little violations add up quickly in the new hire game.
5. New hires must establish credibility while sharing credit. Yes, it's a tight rope, and it feels like a contradiction to the tip about early wins. But nothing creates animosity like a manager who claims all the credit for a success that was in fact accomplished by a team. Mangers must rest assured that their leadership, properly executed, will not be diminished by sharing credit.

Above all, new hires can't discourage easily in their new post. As the Roman poet Propertius once uttered, "No wide road leads to the Muses."