Consultant’s Corner: Taking Over an Existing Team

Q. I am about to become a new boss, supervising three people who are incumbent to the organization. I am the new player on the team. Any suggestions on best practices in embarking on this journey?

While your most recent professional experience may be as a self-employed professional with no employees, you certainly have the work experience and knowledge to be an effective boss. To help refresh and develop new ideas for managing your employee staff, you can refer to online articles and publications like those mentioned below, which include these common considerations for being an effective boss:

1. Set clear expectations
2. Coach your team
3. Give feedback
4. Recognize efforts
5. Be inclusive
6. Get to know your employees
7. Find each person’s unique talents
8. Work fearlessly
9. Be open and truthful
10. Remember that leaders are made, not born

Further Reading:

http://www.amazon.com/6-Habits-Highly-Effective-Bosses/dp/1427093075

http://hiring.monster.com/hr/hr-best-practices/workforce-management/hr-management-skills/what-makes-great-boss.aspx

http://www.inc.com/kevin-daum/10-things-really-amazing-bosses-do.html

http://www.inc.com/peter-economy/7-common-mistakes-bosses-make.html

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Company Employment Resources

Your new employer may have an Employee Handbook and possibly an Operations Manual that will help you understand the company policies, procedures, and practices for managing employees. Also, it appears to us that comprehensive employee job descriptions will be a good tool to help you understand the specific job responsibilities and tasks of each employee to help set your expectations and manage their productivity and performance. If your employer does not have written job descriptions, you can utilize the following industry tools to develop job descriptions for your staff:

http://www.hrvillage.com/jobdescriptions.htm

http://www.samplejobdescriptions.org/