Onboarding as a Manager

These last few weeks, we’ve talked about joining teams in general, joining as a team leader, and now: what’s different about onboarding as a manager or as a manager of managers? With each jump in level, there is usually another layer of complexity that you'll need to untangle and account for.

State of the Team

A big part of people management is, well, the people. Ramping up as a manager means that developing the report relationships is much more important to your long-term success than it would be if you were just a team lead. For some reports, you might be a fresh start after a bad experience or you might be the person coming in to replace their favorite manager. More likely it’s something in between, but just know you might be walking into a mix of grief or enthusiasm about your arrival. Tread carefully until you can get a feel for how the team is feeling about adding a new leader to the mix. Maybe you’re new because the team was growing, the last manager transferred, or someone quit or was fired.

There are some great resources out there on how to do manager hand-offs when the previous manager is still there. My favorite is Lara Hogan’s Manager Hand-Offs. 

Instead, I want to focus on how to ramp up on the connections and shared experiences between those individuals that now report to you. Your job as a manager is understanding how those folks work together and how to get hurdles out of their way. Build an understanding of the strengths and relationships at play on your team.

Whether you’re managing managers or managing individual contributors, it’s important to start building an understanding of who works well together, who doesn’t, and what the team needs in order to succeed.