Taking leadership of a new team can be a daunting task. As leaders transition to a new team, they must get to know the work, the team members and the broader situation. On top of it all, the new leader often wants to make changes. It’s a complicated situation!
How should a leader approach leadership of a new team for the smoothest transition?
To make a successful transition, research shows that new leaders should consider how they compare to their predecessor and also how their style aligns with the team.
Types of leader transitions
Leadership transitions happen in all sorts of contexts. Some are positive. Maybe you were hired at a company to take the place of a leader who got promoted or due to expansion.
Sometimes leadership transitions occur for less positive reasons. Your predecessor might have been fired for performance or ethical reasons. Or a re-structuring might have cut out another manager, and you inherited a team that is expected to do more work with fewer people.
Certain elements of the transition are out of your control – timing, circumstances, expectations, resources, etc. But you can control your approach to the transition in order to make the team, and yourself, as successful as possible.
Research on New Leader Transition
In their recent research, Wing Lam, Cynthia Lee, Susan Taylor and Helen Zhao explored how teams performed after a new leader took over.
Specifically, they studied the connection between the team and the new leader. Also, they studied the contrast between the new leader and the previous leader in terms of how proactive the leaders were in driving change.
The research involved 155 hotel employees and 51 new managers who worked for a big hotel group in mainland China. In addition to the strength of using a real-life sample of workers, the research is enhanced by having multiple measurements at two different points in time.
Research Findings
Finding 1: New leaders get compared to the previous leader
The previous leader makes a difference in the success of the new leader. Specifically, the contrast between the previous leader and the new leader influences the team’s reaction to the new leader.
Everything the new leader does gets compared to how the old leader used to do it.
When a new leader inherits a team, he or she also inherits the history of the team – including the impact of the previous leader.
This research showed that one point of comparison is proactive personality – which is the leader’s tendency to drive change and seek improvements. In other words, someone with a proactive personality energetically drives change versus a passive person who does not.
If the new leader is an energetic driver compared to a passive previous leader, the team will react to the sharp contrast between the two.
With a strong contrast between the leaders, the new leader must have a heightened focus on aligning the team to the new style. If the team is more like the old leader than the new leader, the team might resist changes and struggle with the new leader.
Finding 2: New leaders can make more changes if the team is aligned
Not surprisingly, the research confirmed that a team is more likely to accept changes coming from a new leader if they like the new leader and relate well.
How the new leader and team relate to each other is termed ‘new leader identification’. Ideally the new leader and the team would feel ‘shared identification’ with the leader’s change agenda.
Shared identification comes partially through similar personality traits. The research showed that when a new leader and the team have similar proactive personalities, it results in higher levels of connection between the leader and team.
The team is more likely to support the new leader’s work changes due to this higher level of connection.
3 tips for transitioning leaders
This research supports the following approaches for leader transitions.
Tip 1: Consider your predecessor
With an existing team, you do not transition in a vacuum. Everything you do will be compared to your predecessor. Gather information about the strengths and opportunities of that previous leader and determine what worked and what didn’t.
Use this information to thoughtfully approach your integration into the new team. For example, should you go fast with changes or go slowly?
If needed, get support from your manager or HR to run a new leader transition session that can help introduce you and your working style.
Just remember, compared to the previous leader, the team will see you as a hero, a renegade or a clone.
Tip 2: Gauge the proactiveness of your team
Assess your new team – both individuals and the team mentality.
This research shows proactive personality to be a key factor in how a team relates to the a new leader and to change.
As a whole, does the team seem open to change and improvement? Or are they resistant and prefer to do things the same way they always have?
Once you know the team personality, you can match your style to fit the team. If everyone is proactive, you can charge forward with your change agenda.
If the team is less proactive than you, start with laying some groundwork before introducing changes. Work with them from a change management perspective to get alignment with your vision and allow time for adjustment.
Tip 3: Be thoughtful in your transition
Every leader transition has potential pitfalls and landmines – this research covers a few. Overall, the biggest message here is that you should be thoughtful about how you transition in order to ensure success for the team. This is even more critical if you are planning immediate changes.
The go-to book that I have personally used for transitions and recommend to others is The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter by Michael Watkins.
Check it out for a deeper dive into how to plan your transition, build alliances and create a strong start for yourself.
Research Information
An earlier version of this article titled “Research says – new leader transitions can make or break a team” published on Science of Working on April 14, 2019 covered the research in more detail.
W. Lam, C. Lee, M.S. Taylor, H. Zhao (2018). “Does Proactive Personality Matter in Leadership Transitions? Effects of Proactive Personality on New Leader Identification and responses to new leaders and their Change Agendas”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol 61, 1, 245-263.
