Working Wednesday: You are the New Boss with an Old Team

Not everyone gets to form their own team at work. Many times you are hired to be the leader, but the ones reporting to you remain exactly the same as who reported to the previous boss. How do you form a team that will respond to you, per your management style, and will work together with necessary results? Or perhaps you are reading this just to see what new ideas there are about getting a group of people to be more team oriented. 

This blog will be about "new boss, old team" specifically, though it can be applied in other venues.
 1. For the first couple of weeks, I just like to make observations. If you are not a detailed person by nature, skip this one. This is really about the non-obvious. What are their habits - not just what time do they arrive at work, but what is their routine when they first get to work? Not just when do they break for lunch, but what do they usually eat and who with and what do they talk about? Pencils or pens? Lots of time on their personal cell phone? Sometimes everyone is on their toes for the first week or so, then watch them relax and see what happens. What is the usual topic at the water cooler? What book do they read at breaks?

2. I like to find out not only their top level talents but their secondary ones. This is usually done by conversations. Sometimes their off work talents can be put to good use during working hours, for example, because a potential client may have the same interest.

3. There are many personality tests available. They are useful IF they are referred to consistently and constantly over a long period of time. If the team goes back to what they were doing before in rather short time, then the value, time, and cost was wasted.

4. What I prefer is learning styles. There are only 3 to remember and hopefully easier to match up to each person. I make sure in all-staff meetings that I introduce new material, etc. in all 3 learning styles. It is a way to reinforce the information and thus helpful with memory too. When discussing information individually, I try and match the learning style if the subject matter calls for it.

5. One question I especially like to ask when getting to know a new group (to me) of people, is how they eat their dinner. Do they eat each type of food on their plate one at a time, do they mix it, do they randomly chose? This might lead to a discussion of how they organize their day or prioritize their work load. It is not to be taken too seriously, but opens the door for you to outline your management style, expectations,etc. whether you do so with each person or with the team at a staff meeting.

6. The most important element is to establish trust. This can be accomplished by being clear in your directions, smiling, noticing good work and saying so, and when correction is needed, don't blame the whole team if it was only one person.