So You Have a New Manager. Now What?

At different points in our careers, we might find ourselves expectedly or unexpectedly with a new-to-you manager, and this can be a challenging or nerve-wracking space. But my old manager knew me and understood my world of work! You might think, or My manager had plans for my growth so what is that going to look like now? Or even just, How am I going to start over to build a relationship and trust with my new manager.

These are reasonable and even normal concerns for anyone experiencing a manager change, regardless of the circumstances that precipitated the change. So what can you do?

Ask about your manager’s preferences around work styles and established norms.

• Do they prefer written communication and clear agendas or are they more comfortable with more organic communication for 1:1s?

• Are there established regular reporting cadences? What should you be prepared to bring to 1:1s? To team meetings? Is there a template? Are there other regular reporting locations or requirements that they expect such as project management templates or documentation hubs?

• What are their normal working schedules? Are they morning people or night owls? If their work timing is different than yours, what are their expectations on responsiveness (e.g. if they send you a message or email outside of typical working hours, do they expect you to jump on it, or do they expect you to respond during your normal working day?)

Be prepared to tell your own story.

• What has your work journey been up to this point? What are accomplishments that you’re proudest of? What kind of work gets you excited or fires you up? What drains your energy? Are there resources or documentation you can share on your previous work that your manager can read up on to understand your portfolio and skills better?

• What do you think your strengths are? What skills are you particularly good at? What’s your “special sauce” that you bring to the team? What are you working on for your own growth?

• What did you appreciate about previous managers? What did you find didn’t work as well for you? While there’s no guarantee that they’ll adapt to these, you can at least equip them with the knowledge to make active choices.

• Where do you feel most confident? What kind of support are you looking for the most?

• What goals are you working towards in the near, medium, and long term?

Align on expectations.

• If there are documented expectations for your team, org, or company, do a self-assessment of your work against these expectations (document this!) and go over the results with your manager. Are you both aligned on your demonstrated performance against the expectations? Are there particular gaps your manager sees that you can work to fill in the near term? Are there areas where you might have plenty of emphasis where maybe you can pivot some of that bandwidth to a weaker area?

• Ask your manager what success would look like for you, in their eyes. As roles change or organizations change, areas of expected influence might change as well, so you might need to lean into different areas and adapt. The sooner you can find this out, the sooner you can course correct!

• If you find yourself with a substantive role change, ask what your new manager would like to see from you in the first 30, 60, 90 days. Set specific check-ins around those timeframes to review how you’re tracking against those goals or expectations.

Having a new manager can be challenging! Constructing a strong base right and aligning on expectations right from the beginning can set both of you up for success and help smooth some of the natural new-manager-thrash.

Have you experienced a new-to-you manager? What did you do to smooth the transition and set you up for success? Let us know in the comments!