The new manager’s playbook (part 2): expectations with your team
One of the most surprising new responsibilities for professionals transitioning from an individual contributor role into leadership is the new need for strategic thinking.
As an individual contributor, you get used to thinking about your own goals and day-to-day work, but typically you rarely have to look at a higher level across the team or organization. You're typically in more of a reactionary role, with projects, goals, and objectives being set by the 'higher-ups' of the organization and trickling down.
Now, in a leadership position, you are typically responsible for more of those strategic views across projects, teams, and objectives. You'll need to spend more time planning for, thinking about, and allocating resources to the long term vision and goals of the team or organization. It's less about your own day-to-day tasks or work, and more about bringing other people together to achieve a common vision.
Or put simply, you need to be more proactive instead of reactive.
One of the key ways you can begin to build your strategic skills and be more proactive is to set clear expectations with your team. If you haven’t read part one yet, check it out: The new manager’s playbook (part 1): expectations for yourself.
Part 2: Setting expectations with your team
Create working agreements with your team members.
I see working agreements as simply discussing preferences with others on your team and coming to an agreement of how you'll work most efficiently together.
This can be as formal or informal as you'd like. At a bare minimum I'd recommend it include both a live conversation and follow-up email to put it in writing, so you're all on the same page. Most importantly, refer back to the list until you remember each person's preferences.
Communication - How do you prefer to be contacted for something:
urgent and important
a quick question
for a new assignment
...think of what other scenarios you need
Learning and support style - How do you like to:
Learn something new - live demo, video tutorial, email with bullet instructions, etc.
Receive support during a project - weekly check-ins, drop by as needed, etc.
Receive feedback after a project - live conversation, video chat, email, slack, etc.
Acknowledgements - How do you like to be acknowledged when you're doing a good job?
during our one-on-one meetings?
in an email to only you
in an email with the other people involved
publicly in a team meeting
Obviously these may change depending on the project, team, or deadlines. So use these guidelines as a starting point and regularly check in with yourself and others that they're still working or talk through what may need to adjust,
Be intentional with your meeting cadences.
All too often I see leaders in meetings all day when they're not necessary to those meetings. Don't be afraid to set new cadences for meetings that have already been on the calendar.
When it comes to the cadence you want to look at how frequently the meeting occurs, how long the meeting is scheduled for, and how long the meeting actually lasts.
A lot of us are guilty of booking 60 min meetings automatically because that's the Outlook/Gmail default. I find over and over again, you will take as much time as you're given. So if you have an hour, you'll take an hour. But a lot of times you really only needed 30 minutes.
Experiment with 15, 30, and 45 min meeting lengths (based on what makes most sense for you).
Discuss with your team members how often you're having various recurring meetings to gauge their level of comfort and necessity for meeting. Do they need more or less time between meetings? Don't default to weekly because that's been the norm in the past, make it an open conversation.
Lastly, as a leader, you need to get comfortable with keeping the meetings on track and being respectful of the time that's been allocated for it. If your meetings are always going over you need to understand the root cause. Do you genuinely need more time for the specific objective of the meeting? Or are too many tangential topics being brought up? Refer to our previous blog post to learn about habits that will make your meetings more efficient.
Set clear performance expectations with your team members.
Just like you did with your manager (in the new manager’s playbook part 1 blog post). This always you and your team to be more strategic and proactive with everyone's time, focus, and attention.
Be open to expectations from your team members, too.
Expectations with your team needs to be a two-way street and an on-going conversation to make sure you're consistently on the same page. Be open to team members sharing their expectations and having an open dialogue of any changes that need to be made along the way.
Some team members may be cautious about sharing their needs. One way to help them open up is by asking: How can I support you? How can I make your job easier? Are there any roadblocks that I can help get out of your way?
New to setting expectations with a team? The free Leadership Blind Spot Audit can help you catch habits before they become patterns. Take the audit here.
Brittany Canaski is a highly-rated Leadership Coach, Trainer, and Founder of Hello Velocity where she builds confident leaders and high-performing teams. When she's not building her business, you can find her planning her next travel adventure with her husband, watching Formula 1 racing, or volunteering in her local community of Charlotte, NC.
