Getting a new team started

You certainly experienced the uneasy feeling when starting a new job or taking over a new position. People have a lot of expectations and you don't know really if you're up to the task. This gets even more complicated when not only you are new but you're whole team or part of it is too.

In this situation your skills as manager are even more important as you have to manage yourself as well as your team, challenge yourself as well as your team. This feels like joggling with 10 balls at the same time. In this situation three major principles are in my eyes crucial for success. The order I put them in is not by accident:

1. Evaluate the existing team and make necessary changes
2. Empower the new team by giving them your trust and letting the space to act and learn
3. Listen and adjust

In a former blog I already talked about the importance of surrounding yourself with the right people. I know how difficult it can be to let people go (above all in a European context) but you can only be successful when surrounded by good elements (cf Setting up high performance teams).

The difficulty when entering a new organization is to assess your team as you obviously don't know them. Often you'll get a lot of information within the organization or from your predecessor. Trust your guts as you won't be able to factualize anything withing a reasonable amount of time. But do make the changes for two simple reasons:

1.  the loss of energy and time trying to lead a mediocre team is much more important than the energy you invest to get new people up and running
2. the remaining team will acknowledge the changes and see it as a sign of trust

Once you think you got the right team, let it work. Your task at this time is to understand how the organization works and to gather all important elements you need to establish your strategy. You're not there to make the job of your team. You will soon realize that people tend to take the space you leave them and grow in their jobs, working better, more efficient, being in high spirits by regaining confidence. You will need this energy for the further steps if you want to implement strategy changes.

Your most important task in this moment is to listen and learn. Within and around the organization you will find all necessary and relevant information you'll need to define the future strategy and assess the relevant stakeholders for the future setup.

In this moment be bold and trust yourself, you'll have to dare to take important decisions without having all knowledge needed.