Do this to Win Over your New Team

Joining a new team can be very daunting, especially if you’re also new to an organization.

Not only do you have to think about on boarding admin tasks, navigate new terminology and working out how the organization operates, you also need to find your place in your new team.

If you work in project or product delivery teams, or if you lead them, you’ll have to face joining new teams relatively frequently, even if it’s in the same organization.

This post focusses on team members and leaders when they join new teams, highlighting tried and tested approaches you can call upon when you start your next assignment.

I’ve been in this situation many times and it doesn’t get any easier, but what I’ve learned is that the sooner you integrate with your new team and make presence known, the sooner they will respect you and work cohesively with you.

So, what about you? How can you make your mark on your new team? Let’s find out.

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Joining a new project or change team that is already working together can be a challenge. So how do you fast track yourself to become an integral part of an already well-formed team?

Do your homework

The team may be part-way through delivering their objectives, and it’s important to understand the remaining work ahead, but the past still matters. This is the time to study the work that happened before, what was learned and whether any lessons were applied. Study both successes and failures.

If there are inefficiencies that you think you can improve on, keep a record of that as you can use it to help the team in the near future.

Understand the team plans, what is off track, what is on track, where can you be of help?

Identify any terminology you are not familiar with, including acronyms and make a list of them. You can use this to ask around and get up to speed quickly.

If you present yourself as wanting to learn more about the team and the environment they are operating in, people will usually be happy to share the benefit of their experience. With this in mind, take notes and listen carefully as they share knowledge, maintaining a visible show of interest.

Read team documentation to understand their ways of working and culture. Be very aware that the written ways of working and culture may not be an accurate reflection of their actual behaviours, so after you have read the documentation, be sure to observe the reality and assess how best to navigate through it, based on building a picture of the different personalities and work styles that exist within the team.

If your new team members are not living out the culture in the way they have agreed, it’s probably not a good idea to call them out immediately, but you can use it as a reference point to understand if the culture is still what they believe and if there is any way you can help to update it and reflect any changes.

Integrate

Now that you have a good idea of how the team operates, you should have a better view of how to integrate quickly.

Use this to your advantage and replicate how they operate, whilst using your background knowledge as leverage to make improvements along the way.

Much of what causes a team to bond is not what happens in the office or on virtual calls, but what happens socially. If geography and logistics allow, make sure to be present at team social events away from the workplace, so that you can understand individual personalities more closely, and for the team to see you as an individual personality, rather than just a co-worker, or an outsider.

Take one for the team

There are often tasks that nobody wants to do, or don’t know how to do, but can be highly impactful to the team if done correctly. This is your moment to assess whether there is something you can do, especially if it’s broadly within your remit and capability. If so, offer to do it and help the team. You will be thanked and will begin to be seen as a team player who is committed to their fellow teammates.

This is a good time to dust off the list of improvements you have been formulating as you research the project history and lessons, which could help you to suggest and deliver welcome improvements.

Whilst it’s important to demonstrate you can be useful to the team, don’t fall into the trap of being seen as the person that everyone passes the menial and boring tasks to. Use the leverage you gained in taking on ”the task that nobody wants to do” as an opportunity to gain enough trust to take on more rewarding activities.

Build a network

Where appropriate, schedule time to get to know your teammates individually, which will also help you to understand what makes them tick and how to get the best out of them.

Find out who your broad network is and introduce yourself to them also. Use this time to build alliances, where possible offering them some help or useful information, asking nothing in return, but expecting that they may be available to support you in future.

Find out from stakeholders what they think about the project, team or department and compare it to what your team members are telling you. If there is a miss-match, this could be an opportunity to make suggestions that will delight stakeholders more so than today. This will also help you to integrate successfully within your team.

Do as you say

Show up constantly, regularly, and stick to the commitments that you make. This is an obvious, yet also essential and often overlooked attribute.

Whilst you take this approach, also be open to feedback and ask for it frequently, on an informal basis. This will help you understand any adjustments you may need to make to your work before it’s perceived as a problem.

Use your grace period wisely

Make the most of the short time you will have as the new person to ask all the seemingly obvious and potentially silly questions early on. Don’t wait until 3 months later to ask that obvious question you’ve always needed an answer for.

How might we?

Nobody likes a negative person, so be that individual that always comes up with a positive way to address problems with a god balance of optimism and realism. People like to be around positive problem solvers much more than negative naysayers.

Leading a team poses similar challenges to being a team member.

Leading a team that is already established can be a test of managing cynicism from your new team about your abilities, fear of what your arrival could mean for their future, and potential apathy. So what should you consider?

Observe the team

Similarly to being a team member, as the lead you will need to assess what the team dynamics actually are and whether they fall in line with how you operate. You may have questions for yourself such as "are they working efficiently, and are they working on the right priorities?”

To find out the dynamics, hold group meetings and one-to-one meetings. This allows you to assess how the team operates as a group and individually, and also enables you to assess individual needs and desires. Often, someone who is very quiet in a group setting can be extremely vocal and articulate one-on-one.

You will similarly need to review past documentation to understand the history of the team and their work. Some key factors should include:

• What have the team achieved that could be showcased to increase their profile or help others?

• What are the actual objectives and are they still valid?

• How are individuals feeling about their roles?

• How efficient and organized have they been?

• What could be improved?

Tell them where you stand

It’s important to humanise yourself by talking about who you are, what you do and what you stand for. This includes personal information you are prepared to share, alongside your values and your vision for the team.

If you also demonstrate to the team that you are willing to work for them and with them, they will be more likely to stand with you to achieve your vision.

Make sure your vision is clear and connects to the company strategy so that it stands up to challenge.

Make sure your vision can also relate back to the roles your team are doing, and how they will make a difference to the organization and customers/users.

Publicly back your team

Whenever I defend or praise my team publicly, especially when they have not been supported in the past, this can create mutual appreciation and affinity, which is a building block for trust and support from my teams.

Recognizing individual and team achievements goes a long way to help motivate the team and enables them to know that you appreciate their work.

One of the leaders I most respected in my career spent some time every Friday to write an email of reflection to their team, acknowledging each team member’s achievements and looking optimistically towards the following week ahead. I have never been in a team that followed their leader more emphatically than this team.

Change thoughtfully

Sometimes leaders come into new roles on programmes, projects or even departments, and make significant changes in a very short time. There are exceptions where this can be a good idea to provoke positive action when a dramatic turn around is needed urgently.

Most of the time, it pays to make changes after assessing the team and communicating the vision clearly. Doing it in this sequence tends to help people accept changes and the reasons why change must happen.

When making changes to your team, it is important to articulate not just what those changes are, but why they must be in place, and why the lack of change will not help the team succeed.

Set clear roles

I have joined teams where individuals are doing a bit of everything and other important work is being missed as there is no clear owner.

I’m very supportive of developing broad skills amongst teams, to create resilience and enable individuals to grow their expertise, however it is also important to assign key responsibilities to individuals so that there is someone that owns the completion of each objective, even if they are not the person doing all the tasks to meet the objective.

Historically, having clarity of your accountability and of the flexibility within your accountabilities, gives empowerment to be creative, whilst having assurance of your purpose at work.

On a slightly grander scale I can think of a few examples of Leaders who took on new responsibilities only to miss the mark due to making the wrong impact on their team and key stakeholders.

Twitter

When Founder and CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey stepped down, he handed over to Parag Agrawal, an experienced executive with an engineering background who at first appeared to be a good fit.

Parag’s tenure only lasted 11 months (November 2021 - October 2022) as he failed to win over core stakeholders, namely Elon Musk who became a significant shareholder and believed the company had not reached it’s full potential. Under Parag’s stewardship, there was limited progress regarding new features, functionality and the team was considered bloated in size and bureaucracy.

Failing to overhaul the Twitter caused Parag to miss the opportunities that lay ahead.

Parag departed Twitter after acquisition by Musk in October 2022. The brand was later renamed X as part of significant overhauls and streamlining.

Disney

When admired Disney CEO Bob Iger retired and handed over to his successor Bob Chapek, spirits were high, as Chapek was considered a steady pair of hands. Soon after taking the helm, he appeared not to read the room very well with a number of public missteps, including failing to manage relations with high profile acting talent and questions over the quality of the content that was being released, resulting in poorer financial performance of the brand.

Chapek’s reign lasted from February 2020 to November 2022, when he was eventually replaced by a new CEO, non other than his predecessor Bob Iger, who came out of retirement to steady the ship.

Starbucks

The global coffee chain appointed Laxman Narasimhan in April 2023 to take them to new heights after recovering from the pandemic. Following his appointment the brand suffered a series of negative press regarding the declining store experiences and a focus on more complex menus, which affected employee efficiency.

Sales declined 20% year-over-year, leading to Narasimhan facing an earlier than planned exit in August 2024.

He was replaced by Brian Niccol, CEO of Chipotle, who previously turned the Chipotle brand into a highly scalable and profitable business. Niccol’s appointment was well received by the stock market, evidenced by a 24% initial jump in Starbuck’s stock price on the announcement of his new role.

References

What Are Strategies for Integrating New Team Members into Ongoing Projects?

Three Tips for Managers Joining a New Team to Get up to Speed…

How do You Onboard New Project Team Members?

Bringing a New Team member into the project

Tips for Joining an Existing Project

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