What to do when you take on an existing team

Congratulations on your new team! This guide will help set you and your employees up for success as their new manager. Here’s an overview of what to do in your first two weeks.

1. Handoff meeting with former team manager

Schedule a handoff meeting with the current team manager. If the former manager can’t meet, ask HR or your manager for any documentation about your new team. 

You can discuss things like: 

• What to know about team member strengths and areas for improvement 
• More recent feedback and projects

2. Set up recurring 1-1s with new team members

Schedule recurring 1-1 meetings and meet with your new employees one-on-one ideally in the first week. Ask your new team member to transfer any relevant content to the new 1-1 document. 

In your first 1-1 meeting, review these items with your new direct report: 

• More recent feedback, projects, and other info since the last review cycle
• Professional goals and growth areas
• Current projects on the team 

You can also use this time to make sure that you know important details about your new direct report, you may ask them to create a user manual document you can review together. 

1. Pronouns
2. Out of office time (scheduled/remaining)
3. Professional development plans
4. Schedule notes (leaves by 5:30pm for night classes, works from home on Fridays, etc.)
5. Communication preferences

At your next 1-1 meeting with new team members, allocate time to discuss career development plans.

3. Check reporting structure in our HRIS

Ensure that your reporting structure is updated in our HRIS. Confirm that you can see your direct reports. If you cannot please contact HR

4. Hold your first team meeting

Within your first two weeks with your new team, hold a team meeting to talk about the transition and get to know each other. (Use this sample agenda and template to help you prepare for the meeting). Start the meeting by introducing yourself as the new team member, and share that you want to learn from them. A learning mindset is one of the greatest ways to show vulnerability, and build trust with your team. 

You could brainstorm around these questions: 

1. What do you like about how your team has operated? 
2. What would you want to change about how your team has operated? 
3. As a new team, what do you think our first priority should be? 

At the end of this first meeting, or at your next meeting as a team, make sure you clarify existing goals and agree on your first priority as a new team.