Joining and leading an established team as an Engineering Manager can be both exciting and challenging. Building relationships, understanding existing dynamics, and earning trust are essential without disrupting the workflow.

What do you expect from your first weeks as a manager when your teams are already up and running? How are you adapting to the company’s way of doing things while integrating your own approach? How are you fostering strong engagement with your teams? And most importantly, how are you building trust?

Success in the early days can be the difference between a smooth integration and a strained relationship with the team.

1. First, listen and observe

1.1. Assess team dynamics/processes and avoid making immediate changes

In the first days or weeks, just attend to the team’s ceremonies or work-flows if the teams work completely async. Read, listen, observe how the team interacts, how they solve problems, and what existing processes they follow. Take notes and make questions after that. Are they using methodologies? How effective are their feedback loops?

At this point, you’re just learning the team’s routine but you also can identify frictions, personalities, roles, etc. Resist the urge to implement significant changes. Doing so may cause distrust or resistance from the team. If the team is working properly, why to change? You’ll have to demonstrate why something is not working and how your proposal will do it. But in my experience, you can always improve things.

Where should you start making changes? In my opinion, a good starting point is the retrospectives or raised points along 1:1 meetings with the team members. This is where you can hear about the team’s pain points in their day-to-day work. They will provide you with valuable insights. I typically aim to make a quick impact, so I look for simple changes that will have a positive effect, like the example I mentioned earlier.

1.2. 1:1 meetings with team members

Hold individual meetings to understand each member’s working style, motivations, concerns, and their perspective on the team and the work. It’s also important to determine if they have any unresolved issues with the company, such as a pending salary increase, a promotion, or a career path definition.

Throughout my professional career, I have been fortunate to identify, through these meetings, aspects such as:

• Demotivation
• Talent retention and loss prevention
• Conflicts with other teammates
• Personal problems affecting day-to-day work

Practical Example

One day, a new colleague joined the company I was working for, specifically on my team. I set up an initial meeting to get to know this person (let’s call her Kate). Since I hadn’t been involved in her recruitment process, it was my first contact with her. We started off with a great conversation, and after just five minutes, she said something like this:

Kate: “Hey Dani, I don’t know why, but you’re giving me the confidence to share something I didn’t mention during the recruitment process.”

Me: “Okay, go ahead!”

Kate: “Well, I’m coming here after some really bad experiences in my previous jobs—issues with my former manager and company. I’m currently receiving psychological support, I’ve been demotivated, and honestly, I was very close to leaving this industry altogether. I feel like if things don’t work out this time, I might make a permanent change in my life.”

Me (thinking): Whoa, I wasn’t expecting that!

Me (responding): “Oh, really? Well, I’m happy to say that you’ve joined the perfect team, at the perfect moment, and in the right place to turn things around! Here, you’ll be heard, you’ll be important, and the team is already running strong, but you’re here to make it even better.”

The conversation was truly special—everything just clicked.

I set up regular follow-up meetings with Kate to ensure everything was going well. I also assigned her a “buddy,” another teammate who supported her on the technical side. I made sure Kate was fully integrated into the team by encouraging her to speak up in meetings and delegating parts of the project to her.

Over time, Kate grew tremendously and made significant contributions to the team. Years later, she’s still thriving in the profession and continues to give her best.

I’m really proud to say this: Kate is one of those people I’ll always want to keep on my team. We’re still in touch, and it remains one of the professional experiences that makes me the happiest.

So please, practice deep listening, but also be intentional with your follow-up actions. I shared more details about 1:1 meetings on my first article.

1.3. Meeting with your manager

It’s important to get context from your manager about the team. At this point, you’ll have insights from both your manager and your teammates. However, sometimes I add an extra check (depending on the team), which involves getting feedback from former team members who have worked with the team and are still at the company.

Some team members may be cautious or skeptical of new leadership. It’s crucial to create an open environment where they feel comfortable sharing their thoughts honestly. You don’t want to create unnecessary conflicts if you hit a roadblock.

My advice is to wait for the right moment. Maybe the team isn’t ready for a specific change now, but they might be in a few months.

2. Understand the business context

2.1. Understand the company’s product and goals

As an Engineering Manager, it’s essential to have a clear understanding of the business objectives and how the engineering team contributes to them. And remember, your role includes the word “Engineering,” so you’ll serve as a bridge between the business and tech teams. It’s equally important to understand the architecture and technical flows. Spend time with your team and architects to get up to speed on these aspects.

2.2. Meet with key stakeholders

• Ask your team and manager to identify key stakeholders and other teams closely connected to yours. Understand where they can provide valuable insights.
• Don’t wait for them to reach out. Be proactive—send a brief message introducing yourself and requesting a meeting to get to know them. Use this opportunity to gain their perspective on the business (e.g., product, marketing, sales) and understand their expectations for you as the new manager, as well as their perception of the team’s work.

Practical Example

Before I joined to a team, some internal and external stakeholders were sending requests to the team through multiple bias. Email, Slack public channels, private conversations, ticketing system, …

What I’m usually doing:

• Understand the situation and why this communication is like that
• Define how our team would like to be reached out and justify the reason
• Create a documentation with this information and a meeting with the stakeholders just to explaining how to improve our collaboration. Why you’ll need the doc? Because if someone forget the flow after the explanation, you’ll be efficient sharing nicely the link with the steps 🙂 

There might be a disconnect between the company’s expectations and what the engineering team is currently prioritizing. Aligning both sides will be one of your first hurdles.

I think your manager is the key here. Ask for the company OKR’s, define the team’s mission aligned with that and share this information with your team keeping it always visible.

3. Identify the team’s strengths and points to improve

3.1. Evaluate technical skills and team capabilities

It’s crucial to observe how the team tackles technical problems and identify their strengths and points to improve. While you’ll notice some positive aspects after a few meetings, real insights require a more analytical approach—backed by data.

At the individual level, you can create a skill matrix to document team members abilities and develop personalized improvement plans. From a team perspective, keep the focus on goals and track the progress to gauge performance.

Practical Example

I once worked with a team that felt very productive, but when compared to other teams, we were actually falling behind. My teammates had no visibility into how productive other teams were, so they had a skewed perception of our own performance. How did we have this sense of productivity?

I began by breaking down the problem. We split the project into smaller pieces, set fewer but more achievable goals, and introduced fewer tasks—focusing on better explanations and accurate estimations. After a few sprints, we shared the advances with the team and it boosted their motivation and gave us a clearer picture of our progress.

In other situations, I had to measure additional metrics (to have an approximation) like the average number of pull requests, lead time (how long a task takes from start to completion), and more. You can find more details in my article on my article about team’s productivity–

Tip:

When discussing individual performance or sensitive details, always communicate privately. For broader metrics, like team velocity, sharing in a team meeting is more appropriate.

3.2. Assess team morale: Is the team motivated and engaged, or there are signs of burnout or dissatisfaction?

It’s critical to identify key aspects early on. Start by tackling quick wins. A team needs a clear vision, well-defined goals, realistic expectations, effective processes, and a balance between avoiding time-wasting activities and delivering real value.

Personally, I like to engage my teams in earning visibility at the company level. I’m drawn to high-visibility projects, even though they come with more risk because they likely have a greater impact on the company’s bottom line. However, this also means the team feels more important, engaged, and motivated, as they gain a deeper understanding of the company’s context. This is why I advocate for taking on responsibility and increasing visibility.

Being a new leader can sometimes create anxiety within the team, as members may worry about significant changes to their working style. I believe that, as a manager, it’s important to first adapt to the team before bringing your own influence to improve things. The goal is to help each team member become their best within the specific context of that team.

This doesn’t require having the most talented individuals, but rather focusing on drawing out the best qualities in each person and aligning them with the team’s needs at the right moment. In my opinion, this is one of the most important aspects of being a manager. When you demonstrate this approach, the team shouldn’t feel concerned about your ‘style.’

4. Build trust-based relationships

4.1. Establish empathy, respect and a supportive attitude

• Earn the team’s trust by being transparent and showing a genuine interest in their perspectives. Your team needs to see that you’re truly listening and are committed to solving problems for them.
• It’s essential for them to notice positive changes in their day-to-day work; when they see improvements, both you and the company will recognize their commitment and results. 
• Demonstrate that your goal is to help the team succeed, rather than micromanaging or enforcing strict control.
• I find myself increasingly aligned with the definition of a servant leader. Achieving success for the team is key to me, as that success will ultimately lead to positive results for the company as well.

There may be informal leaders within the team who feel threatened by your arrival. It’s crucial to manage this situation delicately, especially with long-standing team members who possess valuable internal knowledge.

At this point, delegation becomes essential. I have worked hard on my delegation skills and continue to improve in this area. It can be challenging for me, but I’ve learned it is necessary for two main reasons:

1. If you don’t delegate, you’re hindering the team’s growth (and you’re not trusting them).
2. If you don’t delegate, you’re stunting your own growth because you won’t have time to take on new opportunities.

Practical Example

In a team I worked with, my role was to manage the team and lead the technical aspects. The team had lost the product manager a couple of times, so I had to take on some of those responsibilities to help achieve our team’s goals. However, I still aimed to be the main point of contact for every stakeholder, serving as the technical reference and aligning various elements to support the team. The result? I became a complete bottleneck. I was overwhelmed, and at times, some engineers didn’t have enough work to do. That’s when I decided to start delegating.

I stopped attending every meeting as I had before. Instead, I delegated parts of the scope to certain engineers, allowing them to participate in discussions and act as touchpoints on those topics. I was kept informed about some technical decisions the team made, but I didn’t need to be involved in every detail. This shift not only helped some team members grow significantly but also allowed me to perform my own work more effectively. Unconsciously, I began to create new leaders within the team.

Now, with this awareness, I focus on teaching or mentoring others as if they were going to be my replacements someday—developing future leaders.

5. Set clear expectations and communicate them

5.1. Establish clear goals

After gaining an understanding of the business, the team, and its processes, set realistic short- and long-term expectations. I recommend starting with small, achievable goals. For instance, you might establish goals—aim for a maximum of two per sprint within a two-week cadence (this depends of your/company working style).

5.2. Promote transparency

Share your goals and vision openly with the team so they understand where you want to lead them. It’s crucial to explain how the team’s goals will contribute to and impact the company’s OKRs, ensuring alignment with the team’s mission.

Finding the balance between adapting to the existing culture and leading effective change for improvement is often a delicate process. It can be challenging to align your plans with the company’s OKRs, especially in IT, where markets move quickly and goals may need to be adjusted dynamically.

6. Common Challenges

• Resistance to Change: Teams that are well-established often have a strong attachment to their existing methods and dynamics, so new ideas may be met with skepticism.
• Lack of Trust or Fear of New Leadership: Some team members might doubt your abilities or worry that your leadership will negatively impact the team’s environment. Therefore, it’s critical to achieve results for the team and demonstrate your value. Show them why you’re part of the team and how you can help.
• Misaligned Expectations with Upper Management: Company leadership may have different expectations for your role, which can create pressure to implement quick changes. Although it may sound cliché, realistic numbers are essential for conversations that explain why it may not be the right moment for drastic actions. This misalignment can occur not only with your manager but also with product or business stakeholders.
• Disconnect from Prior Processes: As the new manager, you may not be familiar with all the decisions made previously, which can lead to friction if you don’t fully understand the reasons behind existing processes. As I mentioned in the first point of this article, it’s extremely important not to make drastic changes. Your team is accustomed to working in ways that may or may not have been effective, so you need to be patient and flexible in applying your management style.

7. Conclusion

• Understand your team and help each member perform as a top player, considering their current strengths and estimated potential.
• Don’t be a static manager; adapt and evolve according to the current situation—both in terms of the team and the business. Be versatile and pragmatic while always staying true to your core values.
• Build trust, be transparent, and make informed decisions.
• Focus on a continuous improvement process.

The initial changes may not immediately help you achieve your main goal, 

but they will move you forward from where you are now. 

Keep going.