Oooooh, I love this stuff. It’s like becoming the new general of an army. OK, here’s what I would do to win your new team over. First, have a plan. You’re a manager for a reason. Figure out what the company needs and turn that into a strategy. Make a great presentation and have a rousing team meeting to present it. Ask for your team’s ideas: they should contribute and help shape the direction of the work. Get them fired up that you are going to make a change.
After the meeting, take your team out. Make an effort to speak to everyone and find out what motivates them. Some people are driven by money, some by targets, some by family expectations. This will be useful for you to know.
Quietly leave at a respectable time and write up all the notes from the meeting. You’re the manager: they need to know that you got this role because you go above and beyond. Earn their respect. Also, it will be fresh in your head because you were drinking lemonade – you’re the responsible one now.
Draft an email to send the next day, which is a recap of the meeting. (Send it at 7am so they can read it on the way to work and not waste desk time doing so.) Call out and praise specific people who contributed great ideas: this shows you’re not afraid to give credit. Make sure you end with an action list, so everyone knows what to do.
Schedule one-to-one meetings with everyone. In these chats, make sure they know what their part of the strategy is and the tangible targets to measure their success. Ask them what they think might be in their way – note it down, because it’s now on you to help them do their job.
Let a fortnight go by and repeat. Good management doesn’t happen by accident, and it’s also never-ending. Congrats and good luck.
• Sharmadean Reid is the founder of WAH Nails and beautystack.com
