Merv & Mindy with our resident expert, Phill Battersby,
January 15, 2025

Starting in a new management role, whether in your existing firm, or with a new company is an incredibly exciting time. But it is also one tinged with the weight of new expectations, anticipation and that nagging voice, in the back of your mind, that is constantly trying to make you worry about how the future will shake out and if you’ll be able to make the impact expected of you. 

Well, if you are thinking and feeling all these things, I want you to magnify that 3 times and know that’s exactly how your new team are feeling ahead of your arrival. They bear the brunt of uncertainty, not knowing if they’ll have a job in 12 months or whether you will value their skills more than those you already trust from people you’ve worked with in the past and might bring with you

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later. This is the first stage of what I call the 'acquired vs hired' scenario.  In part one of this blog series, we looked at this topic through the eyes of those team members. I described the world of football and how Manchester United’s new manager Ruben Amorim, swept away the incumbent support team before he even started.

He probably let go highly skilled, very talented people. Professionals with years of experience, steeped in the culture of the club; top performers in their field. But Amorim already had people outside of Man Utd that he trusted more; people he wanted to bring with him. In the blink of an eye, those support teams and even club legends like Van Nistelrooy are paid off, let go, and now looking for new jobs. 

This is ‘acquired vs hired’ at its most brutal – an instant change of management made in one swift movement. And this is what your new team are most concerned about before you even arrive.  Of course, for most of us, this scenario plays out in slow-motion. Your new team will be incredibly welcoming, and you’ll spend the next 90 days putting your immediate impact plan into play. In this time, you’ll be looking at the team, your objectives, and thinking about how the two might best come together quickly and successfully. 

Your employees know this too and it’s during these first three months that you need to work hardest at alleviating as much of that in-team stress and anxiety as possible. Here are eight things to think about as you prepare for your new role.

Manager’s Perspective: It’s all about people. 

1. Communicate Your Vision Early

The one thing all your new team members (and depending on your new position), the wider business will want to know, is WHY you are there. That’s because they want to anticipate WHAT you will do, need or focus on and, HOW exactly you’ll want to go about doing what you do. This leads to WHEN you might make decisions or start something and of course, WHO you’ll want to do that with. It’s the ‘WHO’ that everyone is most concerned with, because it is human nature for your new team (or any other impacted employees) to want to feel SAFE. Right now, on day one, that is the last thing they feel. 

Until you are ready to share your goals, vision, and management style there will be this state of limbo, causing stress, making people unproductive and the longer it goes on, the more chance they’ll start making their own theories, initiate gossip and leave the mind to conjure up worst-case scenarios, all of which can become very disruptive if left unchecked. 

As a manager, you’ll want to get on the front-foot right away and start to communicate as much as is prudent, as soon as possible. Being transparent about the future helps reduce uncertainty, stops gossip, realigns everyone toward common objectives and lowers stress levels. Do what you can, as soon as you can. 

2. Listen and Learn

Most managers, when appointed, are hired with some form of change in mind. To make change happen, one of the first things you’ll likely do is evaluate the past to build for the future. Your own manager and your new team will help you with this. Apart from learning the obvious company history lesson, what you really need to look for are ‘attitudinal triggers’ within the team.

There will be some members who look to the past as being problematic and are passionate and positive about the change you and they can make in the months ahead. There will also be those who are passionate about the past, and either nervous, resistant or (worst case) disappointed about the changes to come. Some may even try to disrupt your efforts behind the scenes too. 

In the initial weeks, this is not an issue, but what listening for attitudinal triggers does, is help you understand where the stresses in your team are most acute. That’s going to help you triage where to make your best efforts to allay those fears. 

Contextually, this means it’s all about winning hearts and minds. Building trust and bringing people around to your way of thinking is the key, and the best way is taking time to understand the team's past, their points of view and work beliefs, team dynamics, strengths and of course, challenges. Want to go one step further? Hold 360 reviews outside of your team to get a range of other people’s opinion of your organization. But make sure to have your team return the favour, to avoid one-sided bias.

3. Acknowledge Achievements

Motivating your new team in these early weeks is crucial. Take time to understand where each person has made impact. Talking about specific things both individually and as a team will help uncover best practice and build initial trust. It will also show you are approachable, sincere and interested in them and their success.



This is not only a morale booster, but it is a way of alleviating an individual’s stress level too. If each team member feels you have a good understanding of where they are strong, where they make impact and (most importantly) how they can help you, then they will start to feel part of the future and not an unwanted legacy of the past. 

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4. Foster an Inclusive Environment

There really is nothing worse for an employee who is fearful of change, of not being able to help shape the changes that will come, leaving them feeling exposed, cold and isolated from your bright, bold new future.

It’s here you need to be conscious of people dynamics, because there will be extroverts and introverts (and people in between) across your team. Consider building processes or initiatives that actively encourage each member to engage in open dialogue, participate, give ideas in ways they individually feel comfortable.

Don’t let the extroverts take all your time and attention. Help everyone to be part of the process of the change, rather than feel like a victim of it.

When it’s clear that each team member’s opinion and ideas are valued, their sense of inclusivity in the future will promote a sense of warm belonging and psychological safety.

5. Set Clear Expectations and Empower People.

Where possible, and continually through your initial months, try to give as much context to the WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN and HOW that surrounds your vision and changes to come. Establish clear expectations as early as you can. This helps prevent misunderstandings and ensures that everyone is aware of their responsibilities and objectives.

Here’s your readiness test. Create and then ask yourself a bunch of open-ended questions – think about the type of questions your team will ask; for instance:

- What do we want to achieve from change?

- Who is likely to be affected by changes to (structures/processes/finances etc.)

- When will change take place?

- How will change be managed? Who will lead?

- How do I or does (insert a person’s name) fit in?

- Where will I find help and support for managing change?

You get the idea right? If you create such a list and can answer each sincerely, with rigor and depth, you’ll help your team adjust to your changes rapidly and successfully. 

6. Provide a Safe Room

As you set out your management style and ways of working with your new team, consider how you can build trust early, so to have open candid conversations. I create safe rooms. It’s something I always do, and I espouse it at every opportunity I can - especially when helping brand new managers start their first leadership role. 

For me, a safe room can be a place, a person, a time, a meeting, or just the way team members interact together. It’s really a metaphor, or philosophy that helps team members feel empowered to constructively and respectfully say what needs to be said to each other, without fear of reprisal or negative career impact. It’s also the managers’ vehicle for giving teams and members candid feedback as soon as it is needed. 

Safe rooms are open 24/7, and they don’t need you to always be there. In doing so, they allow your teams to have the necessary conversations together, when the situation demands it. This way there is no procrastination, no waiting for an issue to grow and get worse, or so big that it has severe career limiting consequences later.

If your team are new to the safe room concept, it might need a little explaining. Top tips are to be very clear about its purpose, the boundaries and rules – all of which are in your gift to set. But make sure team members realize it’s how you empower them to express themselves without fear or risk of damage to their career. 

7. Encourage Collaboration

As the incoming manager, you can do all the usual team-building activities. You can encourage cross-functional team cooperation. These are all good things to do. You might even want to change your team’s compensation plans to focus on this noble goal. But an individual’s stress level can significantly reduce when they feel active in making and shaping their future. So, devise some cunningly collaborative team exercises where you can plant the seed of your idea, in a way where your team creates the detail that moves your agenda forward. Here’s something practical to try:

• Review your answers from point five in this blog, now think of the many different initiatives you might start based on what you are planning to do.

• Divide your team (if you can) into smaller groups and task each group with one of your change-related initiatives. 

• Get them to make a start and solidify an idea, build out the detail but have them stop just before you think it’s ready for execution.

• Next, swap the teams around, so each picks-up another groups’ project.

• The new task is to build on the ideas of others, but not reinvent the wheel.

• Once done, have each group present their enhanced plan back to the original group for safe-room critique and feedback.
  
  

As the manager, you can then add your own flavour and experience to the mix (as desired), then assign each initiative for actual execution or repeat for further enhancement. Importantly, your team will now have brought-in to the change, because they feel they invented and own it. Stress levels reduce because they know what is coming and you’ll be in an ideal place to justify those changes in their new compensation plans that newly focus of collaboration and building on the ideas of others. 

8. Be Patient and Compassionate

Human nature has four acute stress reactions: Fight, Flight, Freeze and Fawn. During your initial months and as you progress with leading your new team, you’ll see all four in action. Your priority is to move them to a place of safety where they can be 100% productive and impactful, which as we’ve already discovered, will take time. Therefore, both employees and manager needs be patient during this period. 

It can be a tough journey. It can take time, and some will make it, but others won’t. There will be times where you need to be ruthlessly compassionate. You’ll also discover which of your team are likely to be flight or fight risks and you might need to release or let-go good people, because they can’t buy into what you are doing. This is tough, but it is normal. As a manager though, be as compassionate and supportive about it as you can. The way people exit under your watch is highly visible and it sets a tone with those who remain. Be professional, always calm, help them use the mechanisms available to them within the company to secure a new role. If that’s not possible, be sincere and offer your support as they exit the business. Make sure to follow-through with anything suggest or agree to help with.

Now for those that do make the grade, don’t be opaque about it. They’ve worked hard before you arrived, they continued to impress now you’re here. They’re working harder still to maintain that good opinion. So where and when it is right to do so, make sure you tell them. Tell them regularly and often. Praise the little things, not just the big or visible things. 



Make sure your own leadership knows what individuals in your team are working on, what they accomplish and the impact they make. Encourage your leaders to reach out and give their thanks for a job well done too. 

Lastly remember this, there is nothing more motivating for an employee than knowing they’re not ‘the acquired’ anymore. It’s amazing to be trusted, valued and appreciated enough to be ‘hired’ by the new guy. 

Conclusion

Stepping into a new management role is both an exciting and challenging journey. It requires a focused approached to achieving the goals and mandate you’ve just been set by those who hired you, combined with a delicate balance of understanding your new team's dynamics, alleviating their anxieties (see this blog’s part 1), and fostering an inclusive and collaborative environment.

By communicating your vision early, listening and learning from your team, acknowledging their achievements, and setting clear expectations, you can build a foundation of trust and mutual respect. Remember, patience and compassion are key as you navigate through the initial months. By creating a safe space for open dialogue and encouraging collaboration designed to bring them on the change-train you’ll reduce stress and make your team super-productive, all of which ensures you have as smooth a transition as you could hope for, into your new role. Good luck!

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About Merv, Mindy and Phill Battersby

Merv and Mindy are our shows' fabulous AI hosts. They team up to debate the amazing content our resident and guest experts provide, offering our listeners entertaining and insightful context to the original subject matter.

Phill Battersby is one of our resident authors. In the evenings he creates content for the show. During the day is busy working with his clients as a fractional leader. Phill is a highly capable, proven, results orientated CMO, with significant experience from working in executive positions at Microsoft, SAP and more. Phill offers independent, part-time or fixed-term contracts to help his clients lead change, deliver specific objectives and achieve outcomes. His fractional services are perfect for large businesses needing additional leadership support, and especially for an SME’s first CxO hire, when cost-sensitivity or risk of a full-time hire are key considerations.

Find out more here: www.vizibble.com

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