Fair Question: How can a new manager establish themselves?
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Q. I'm a new manager leading an established team. How can I establish myself while I am learning how to be a manager?
A. Building trust and confidence as a new manager doesn't happen overnight, as I am sure you know. Establishing thoughtful and meaningful habits in the way that you manage your team will help you earn trust and gain useful insights as you navigate the path of a new manager.
And truly, we don't talk about this enough, but being a new manager of an established team is difficult. You can't come in overconfident; they will eat you alive and dismiss what you have to say. More often, I see people under-establish themselves and manage with an open-door policy, which is a very reactive way to lead a team.
If it were me, I would set an intentional rhythm for managing people while remaining open to feedback.
Establish your rhythm. Will you meet with each person on your team once per week, every other week, once per month? The best practice is weekly, but that depends on your exact circumstances. How often will you have an all-team meeting? Weekly, monthly? Identify this cadence, communicate it, and test it out for 1-3 months.
Pilot everything. Continued from the previous bullet point, pilot everything that you set up when you first begin as a manager. Say something like, "We are testing this cadence for one-on-ones and team meetings for the next 2 months. At the end of this timeframe, I will seek your feedback and evaluate for myself what's working and what could be going better." This gives you a chance to get feedback, adjust, or start over if this doesn't work for your team. Plus, when people know that you are testing something and will seek their feedback, they will give you grace (or input) if what you've set up is incongruent for your team.
Be curious. This is the best time to be curious about how things work and why they were set up to work that way. Ask 2-3 questions to dig deep and uncover helpful insight. Your tone matters; take on an inquisitive mindset vs a judgmental tone.
Appreciate people more than you think is needed. We are all human, and most of us run on appreciation. Knowing that we are doing a 'good job' is the fuel that keeps us going. Even if someone didn't quite get something right, appreciate their effort and the enthusiasm that they put into their work. Encourage them to rework the project and aim higher next time. This is critical. I'm not suggesting you aim for toxic positivity, but in workplaces, healthy workplace relationships have a 3-to-1 ratio. Meaning, a manager offers 3 positive affirmations or interactions to one constructive interaction. Most managers give 3 constructive to 1 positive, which is deflating.
What would you add?
