The new boss
Fiscal year end is a few months out, which means reorg season is coming. Time to get used to a new boss. I went through it many times in my career, and I hear it from leaders all the time. Count the bosses you've had and the number is probably higher than you'd guess, especially if your industry moves fast.
As leaders, it's not if we'll work for or with someone new. It's when, and how often.
These transitions are where teams break down. Momentum stalls and execution slows while the new leader and the team "settle in." Keeping up with your product and your market is part of leading in a fast-paced environment. That now also includes bringing stability when the reporting structure keeps changing.
The leader's instruction manual
Every new reporting structure starts with a settling-in period. Shorten it, and you get a real advantage in those first critical months.
I worked with a leader who was especially good at developing her team. She was "rewarded" by having her reps promoted constantly, which meant she was always starting from scratch. Every rep who moved up was replaced by someone getting her as a new boss. I've never been lucky enough to work for an org that gave quota relief when you promote your people, and she wasn't either.
So we worked through what made working for her great, where her blind spots were, what she expected of herself and her team, and the team's operating rhythm on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. Once those were clear, she captured them in a deck she presents and reviews with every new rep.
Her team told her it was a relief. They knew what mattered, what she expected, and how to hit their goals working with her. For her, it brought clarity to every working relationship, and new reps ramped in weeks rather than months.
The point is never a list of quirks the team has to step around. It's a fast lane into how the leader thinks and what they value, so people know what it's like to work for them and how to get the most out of the relationship. It works even better when each person on the team writes their own manual too. That's how both sides get to trust and mutual respect faster. I shared more on why this works in a recent piece for Communication Intelligence.
Building your own
Start with the foundation. This is the private work, and most of it never appears word for word in the final version:
Values: what you care about most
Non-negotiables: a list of 5-6 activities your team always does, no questions asked
Standards: what you expect from your team, and from yourself
Commitments: what you promise to do as their leader, every week
Then translate it into what your team actually sees:
What makes working with me great
Where my blind spots are, and how you can help me with them
What you can expect from me, and what I expect from you
Our operating rhythm, daily, weekly, and monthly
Keep it short enough to present in one conversation, and review it whenever someone new joins the team.
What I'm reading
I recently read Patrick Lencioni's The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Where an instruction manual speeds up trust, this book helps you spot where a team is breaking down and where it has room to grow. It's also told as a story rather than a textbook, which makes it worth a read for that alone.
I wrote down one line that helped define something leaders bring up with me all the time, office politics: "Politics is when people choose their words and actions based on how they want others to react rather than based on what they really think."
When leaders complain about politics, are they talking about that, saying things to get a reaction? Or are they talking about the real skill underneath, which is how you influence decisions? The first one doesn't feel great. The second one is worth reflecting on for yourself and your organization.
Before you go
The part of the manual that does the most work isn't the part your team reads. It's your commitments, the promises you make as their leader. Those are also the easiest to let slide when the quarter gets busy.
So here's my question for you this month: which commitment do you need to revisit, readjust, or communicate to your team?
Hit reply and tell me. I read every one. And if you're a revenue, GTM, or sales leader heading into a new year with a new team, or a new boss, and want help building your own manual, reply or reach out at revemco.com.