Let’s say you just survived an intense interview process and have finally been offered a role at a great company. You start, and soon after you begin you see some areas where your business may be behind the times, especially with regard to the mobile, social, and convenient technologies with which you’re already very familiar as a Millennial. The truth is there is a right way and a wrong way to go about trying to make your company a better, more efficient place to work.

Three steps to running a gap analysis and moving forward at work as a Millennial

Take a breath

You’re excited. You’ve found a place where you can suggest a real, specific improvement to the way your department runs. But before you begin getting frustrated with the current lack of efficiency, take a breath. The truth is you should be learning a lot on the job—otherwise it won’t be fulfilling to you—and in doing so you may discover a reason why things are done in certain ways. Anticipate that this might be the case and don’t get frustrated if it takes more than a few months, or even a year, to get the answers you’re looking for. Learning means making mistakes, but you don’t need to start out by embarrassing your higher-ups, who may be already seeking out solutions.

Take a note

Just because you’re taking a breath, however, doesn’t mean that you need to give up. Your Millennial mind is a valuable tool for the business you’re joining, so use it to pay attention and see what you feel your business is missing. Keep a journal of suggestions and update it as you learn more about the company and its functions. When you see a place for potential upgrading to new technology or a chance to revamp a social-outreach strategy based on your personal experience, do some research into whether your company’s competitors have jumped ahead. Better yet, point to term-time work that you performed for other companies, even if they aren’t direct competitors. After all, nothing is more convincing than the risk of falling behind in the race for engaged customers.

Take a step forward

At this point you’ve bided your time and paid attention to where your business can gain efficiencies or influence in your market. If you still feel your suggestions could be put to good use without infringing on current initiatives, prepare to say something! But it’s important to know when it’s the right time to bring these things up, rather than accosting your superiors with everything they’re doing wrong. If you come in with guns blazing, pointing out problems and throwing around blame, you could ruffle a lot of feathers in the process. Instead, pay attention to the times when your higher-ups actually ask for help. This could be via a company-wide suggestion-box policy or during your annual review (which, let’s face it, could only help demonstrate your worth).

If you have kept your ear to the ground and feel that this opportunity doesn’t yet exist, ask your supervisor if he or she would consider holding a breakfast meeting where suggestions would be welcome. Demonstrate your point with real examples and areas where you could be collecting data to back up your theory during a test phase. The more support you provide, the more compelling of an argument you’ll make.

Don’t sit on the sidelines while your business could be making real improvements. But, at the same time, consider your method of approach when it comes to making suggestions. Your Millennial mind is a real asset to whatever company you join, so put it to work!