How to Bring New Ideas to an Established Team
Zach Hughes
Vice President, IT at CHS | Leadership Lessons | Tech Futurist | Speaker | Writer | Podcaster
Congratulations. You are the new person on the team. We’ve all been that person from time to time. You get to hold that title until someone newer comes along. Presumably, you got onto this new team because you have lots of talent and plenty of great ideas. Perhaps it’s a new company, or just a new position within your company. When you look at your team, you see rich opportunity to implement all of your new ideas. This blog article is all about the right way and the wrong way to do that.
- Don’t waltz into your team as the know-it-all. Even though you won the position, you still need to earn respect of your peers. Serve your teammates, not just your boss.
- Do honor the traditions of the past. It’s easy to criticize those that say “this is the way we’ve always done it” but you should instead be open to learning about it anyway. You can’t influence and change what you don’t understand. Perhaps you might find some gems in there that are worth adopting. Some traditions are good and some are bad. Take the time to figure out the difference.
- Don’t ramble on and on about “where I used to work…” We all have a natural tendency to idealize the past. We are naturally nostalgic. While it’s fine to bring forward best practices from your previous experiences, keep a proper context. After all, if it was so amazing, why did you leave? You are on this team now. Be mentally and emotionally present.
- Do provide a balanced set of good and bad experiences to your new team. Hopefully you’ve learned as much from your failures as your triumphs. Talking about them equally will help to counter any resistance you face.
- Don’t be a loner. Being the new person on a team can make you feel like a 3rd grader in a new school. It’s hard and takes a lot of emotional and mental energy.
- Do assimilate into the team. This takes time and cannot be rushed. Get to know your teammates at a personal level. Mold yourself to fit the team identity as you are able.
- Don’t make a bad first-impression. While you are still getting comfortable, it’s best to be conservative. If you are overly aggressive at the onset, you will firmly establish a reputation for yourself as “being overly aggressive.” That will be harder to undo later. Instead, take it easy initially as you acclimate.
- Do learn the political terrain. Not all power flows via the hierarchy. Learn who has it and build your network. Read this article for more on this topic.
- Don’t champion your ideas alone. Socialize them with others. Allow others to influence and improve your ideas, so they can become “our ideas.”
- Do your research. Bolster your ideas with external sources. Conferences, user groups, and blog articles are excellent sources to boost confidence in an idea.
- Don’t take it personally when people criticize your ideas. When you are new to a team, you are vulnerable, and you are likely to take every criticism in the most negative possible light. Don’t hold your ideas in front of your heart, hold them off to the side. That way, when your ideas get shot down, you are still left standing.
- Do exercise your patience. Changing an established team takes time. Be a leader and bring your teammates along on the journey. You may have already gone there in your head, but if no one is following you, you aren’t a leader.
Those are my do’s and don’ts. If you are a new member to a team, this article is for you. Use your powers of influence for good, and maintain the proper humility to go about it in the most effective way. You have amazing ideas. People would be crazy not to listen to you. As you can by now see, this all about tact and approach. Follow this advice and you will do well. Have any pointers of your own? Please share them in the comments below.
Read this article on my blog site: https://zachonleadership.com/bring-new-ideas-established-team/
