Building Credibility Quickly in a New Role

Anytime a leader transitions to a new role, team members unfamiliar with them naturally become fixated on who they are and how they will lead the team.

Leaders instinctively know that establishing their credibility quickly with the team is critical to their short- and long-term success. Demonstrating that they are worth following and have the competence to inspire loyalty is job one for a new leader.

Sound advice, such as meeting with as many team members face-to-face and listening to their views about what has been successful and what needs to change, sets leaders up for success.

Fully listening, observing, and assessing talent before crafting a new strategy or direction is always a wise approach.

Yet, too many new leaders dive right in and begin making large changes before taking the time to “get people heard.” This produces strong resistance to their plans in the process.

However, the trend to slow down, to let the team know the leader’s values, and to do a careful assessment often blinds new leaders to an essential ingredient to their short-term success. To build credibility with the team, they must also score some quick wins, making the team instantly more effective.

Finding and focusing their attention on those areas where they can add value and then making an impact right away is also critically important.

This so-called “low-hanging fruit” typically does not involve significant change but instead invites a tweak or small correction to an existing process or approach. Leaders who can show the team that they can improve small matters become instantly more credible.

Truly skilled leaders can easily examine existing processes, initiatives, and tactics and suggest changes that will produce better results.

As long as these recommendations don’t involve a change in strategy or talent, they do not interfere with the need to first listen to the team before acting to reconstitute the master plan.

The best new leaders look for where they can make a difference quickly and focus their attention on improvements that everyone will view positively.

By the time they make a few small matters better while also conducting a listening tour to acquire the trust of the team, they will be ready to make bigger changes.

The heavy lift of assessing and making talent and strategic changes may have to wait until the leader listens deeply to the team and gains buy-in to their values and style, but it doesn’t have to shackle their insight into what works best.

Small improvements become big signs that a new leader is credible. Running fast out of the gate is what good leaders do.