New Manager on the Block

It’s no secret that changes in team leadership and/or management cause anxiety for all parties involved.

New managers and leaders experience uncertainty as they enter teams, often about their team members’ work ethic and performance history (Is my team high-performing?), the teams’ expectations of their leadership (Will my management style be effective in driving results?), their team members’ adaptability to change (Will my goals resonate with my team? Will the team be able to rise to my expectations and make the changes I see needed?) and much more. Likewise, team members experience uncertainty as they gain new leaders and managers—as team members are often asked to make changes in their work patterns and performance to accommodate their new boss’ expectations, goals and management style.

A study published in the Academy of Management earlier this year offers two key suggestions for new leaders and managers to maximize effectiveness as they start their new roles. The study, “Does proactive personality matter in leadership transitions?,” [1] examined the results of proactivity—or, behaviors to anticipate and control outcomes rather than react to them—for new leaders and managers. Specifically, the researchers found that leaders and managers who display more proactive behaviors than their predecessors create teams who are more receptive to their change initiatives and are ultimately more willing to adopt the manager as their leader.

So how can a new leader or manager use these findings for his or her benefit?

1. New managers or leaders should work with their supervisors, human resources representatives, and teams to understand their predecessors’ proactivity. Ask questions like:
   1. How willing was my predecessor to be a powerful force of positive change?
   2. How interested was my predecessor in fixing problems they observed?
   3. How willing was my predecessor to champion ideas, even against opposition?
   4. How capable was my predecessor at identifying new opportunities?

These questions, excerpted from Crant’s (1993) Proactive Personality Scale [2], will help a new leader or manager begin to understand how proactive his or her predecessor was and, by contrast, opportunities for the new leader or manager to improve on his or her predecessor’s performance.

2. New managers or leaders should seek opportunities to emphasize their strengths, unique characteristics and differences from their predecessors. This will help their team understand the new manager’s attributes in contrast to their former manager and view their differences as positive.

Are you a manager or leader who has transitioned to lead a new team? What have you done to maximize your effectiveness?

Leave your comments or stories below.

[1] Lam, W., Lee, C., Taylor, M. S., & Zhao, H. H. (2018). Does Proactive Personality Matter in Leadership Transitions? Effects of Proactive Personality on New Leader Identification and Responses to New Leaders and their Change Agendas. Academy of Management Journal, 61, 1, 245-263.

[2] Seibert, S. E., Kraimer, M. L., & Crant, J. M. (2001). What Do Proactive People Do? A Longitudinal Model Linking Proactive Personality and Career Success. Personnel Psychology, 54, 4, 845-874.