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You join a company recently as software manager for example You are managing a team of old employees (software engineers) They know better when it comes to technical aspects They know better about company policies How would you gain their trust? How would you control them? How would you evaluate their work? How would you estimate needed effort for certain task? How you earn being their manager?
You should concentrate on familiarizing yourself with everything around in the workplace as fast as possible. Read about the company, its policies, procedures, and everything you can lay your hands on. Read, read, and read. Try to soak up as much information as you can. Keep a handy notebook. Jot down the names of people, places, clients, etc. The faintest ink is stronger than the stongest memory. You should have a plan in mind, and should prioritize what youI should learn and what you should do. Give priority to what is both important and urgent. Plan your work, and work your plan.
As for trust, it is earned. Treat your subordinates as work colleagues. Be honest with them, and respect them. Do not try to impress them as the know-it-all newcomer. They know that your are new, and you will need sometime to absorb the company's culture. Of course, they do not expect you to know everything. Interact and be proactive. Do not be ashamed to ask. Be an information seeker all the time, and not just sometime.
Additionally, update yourself technically, and learn from your subordinates. Learning is an active and never a passive process. It takes an inquisitive mind.
Last, give yourself time, and do your best.
It will be tough, simply because no person with enough self respect and self value would accept to be managed by someone who knows less, unless you are the owner or related to the owner - then that's a different story, and employees will be more understanding of the situation. However going back to your question- this is not an unusual scenario in the MiddleEast. Firstly, you should know and understand that you were hired for a reason, and the first step to take, is to identify the reason why you are really there positioned above others in the first place, who you feel know better and have served the company at a much longer period of time.
This is a very difficult situation to be in - so whoever accepts the role should be prepared that it won't be an easy task. But to be able to thrive, you just have to catch up twice as fast especially in the technical skills, and prove to your team that you are indeed a cut above the rest. If you now have more knowlegde, then they can come to you for solutions to problems. When you give the right solutions, they will respect you. When they respect you, you can now gather them together and they will listen to you. The rest will eventually follow into place.
A Manager has a basic role to lead from front. a good and smart manager will be a silent listner and watchful in day to day activities for some time but not too long. the way he responds to the team members creates a kind of atmosphere. such an atmosphere makes the team members feel the difference. when the team accept such a difference, it means they are united. this makes the Manager's job much easier to convey what the company wants from him and why he has been hired?
The member who knew the work better than the Manager - either the team member was not recognized well by his Supervisor or he don't possess any leadership quality.
Your Attitude speaks your Personality. I would say through regular interaction with Team Memebers a newly recruited Manager can build rapo with them, also my advice he/she should be visible on the floor.
I would work the team to get the work done,value their inputs,learn from them and provide them with guidance and win their trust.
Manager is a Leader of his team,He can make a better team, change previous policies, Introduce new Ideas etc. I think Old employees should be worry about new Boss.
I agree with Hanna, first of all, always remember that you got the job because you are qualified. Since you have the traits of a manager, you will know your way through. Read people, Give extra time to know everything with regards to your work environment now.
I will answer this based on my knowledge and experience of the Change Management. It is never fun to get to your new job where one of your employees says "you know you are my27th boss in16 years" or "I was promised your job, so, enjoy my new job!" etc. I hope you all had some experience(s) like this in your previous jobs.
The best way I have approached this is to have a team lunch taking these people out of work and out of their comfort zones. It is in these outdoor events, when they are not at work and not afraid to speak to you privately, you can hear their real concerns about their job, department, company, previous bosses etc. pretty freely. Try to reach out to them on an individual basis and try to understand what their thought process(es) are. Also, be personable, and try to put yourself in their shoes to understand why they feel that way (empathize with them!).
Also, try to include the team leaders and some of the key team members in critical business meetings with the management (you can bring them in as Subject Matter Experts, as you may not be one within the first3-4 months anyways!). This will bring the team closer and they feel included/important at what they do. Try to understand what motivates each employee. Some of them are motivated with the promotion, some are with more money as they have a child on the way, some of them are happy to work from home1 day a month, etc. And quite honestly, some of them are just wanting to get a pat on the back and encouraging words such as "great job! Keep up the good work!" Each and everyone of the employees have a different motivation, try to uncover that.
Simply you see the competency level and socitel intrection behavior of your team members and team leader, judge them by the work after it you select the your position by your compitency, match with them how you are a high competent or poor from any one in the team and after it you collborate with the team by shareing the information of task or target
