Leading a Team You Didn't Build

You walked into a room of capable people who were doing just fine without you. Now what? 

In this episode, part two of The Unburying series, Mark  unpacks the leadership moment almost nobody prepares you for: inheriting a team you didn't build. 

Drawing from a real coaching session with a senior IT leader navigating a major transition, this episode names the three traps most leaders fall into and gives you three concrete moves to find your footing without disrupting what's working or losing yourself in the process. Includes a journal prompt, a direct provocation, and a word on what one real conversation can do. 

If you're tired of trying to do this alone, grab a free strategy session here. No pitch. Focused on helping you get clarity and experience coaching.

Check out the free Brotherhood of Being for any guys that are needing support without all the BS.

Transcript

Welcome And The Leadership Series

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hey there. Welcome back to Fierce Encouragement. This is Mark Walker. I'm a certified life and executive coach. I'm also your host for Fierce Encouragement. So this episode is a part of a series I've been calling the unburying, pulling things out of the ground. But it's more about leadership and the transitions that can happen in those roles. And these moments where we might find that version of ourself that has been leading and changing and in an organization. Well, what happens when that role stops fitting us? And what does it actually take to find our footing again? Today I wanted to talk about a specific moment that really no one prepares us for. You've been given a team, maybe you were promoted, maybe the organization restructured. Maybe someone left and you need to step up and step in. And you walk into the room, or a Zoom call, I guess. And maybe you look around at these people, and they are capable and they're competent, and they've been doing things great without you. And somewhere underneath that professional role, that composure that we work on, there's a quiet voice in the back of our mind that might be saying something like, What do they need me for?

The Shock Of Inheriting A Team

SPEAKER_00 1:32

That's what this episode is about the inheritance leading a team that you didn't build.

A Leader Hands Off His Team

SPEAKER_00 1:42

So I had the chance to connect with a senior IT leader recently and have a chat, a brilliant guy, in fact, 15 years or more into his IT career, and he spent the last three years building a team from scratch. It was a support team. Uh, he really leaned into building a healthy culture and engaging, having engaging work and just having a good feedback loop with his team, kind of an open door policy, right? His words were this exactly. It's been a big part of even just my work identity. And that's referencing that culture he built. He loved that part of it, creating a good space for people to work in and connect in. And then about a month ago, he came in on a Monday and he had to hand it off. He had to hand off his team. Uh, he inherited a new team, a different team, and one he never really had time to strategically think about or plan for. And this team had its own rhythms and its own loyalty structure. And it really had its own way of doing things in this big organization. And he said something in our session that's kind of like glued to my mind. He said this. They need more from me right now, and I'm not sure I know what that looks like yet. Unquote. That's this inherited problem moment, that inheritance. And if you ever lived through anything like this, you know exactly what he means. Because here's what it makes it difficult and hard and heavy. It isn't the team. The team is usually fine. It's the identity gap. You knew exactly who you were in your last role. You earned it. You had a language and an energy around it. But now when you start over in a room full of people who are quietly, not unkindly or mean, just honest. They are waiting to see who you might be. And that waiting is that wait.

Three Traps New Leaders Fall Into

SPEAKER_00 4:14

So most leaders I run into fall into one of three traps when they inherit a team. Uh, see if these land for any situations you might have been in. So the first trap that I've noticed is they run into that prove it fast. So they come in wanting to demonstrate their value immediately. Maybe uh they reorganize something or change a process and kind of leave their mark. The intention is good here. The impact can often be quite the opposite sometimes. When we go in and disrupt what's working before we understand why it works, well, that can leave the team and whoever built it anything. They don't feel anything like uh that they're understood. That's the first trap. That trap one, trying to prove it fast. The second trap that I've noticed is staying invisible, maybe kind of the opposite of proving it fast. So you might be worried about overstepping um your new boundaries, um, or that you have a have a deficit that you can't move towards, right? You might just observe and listen and kind of see what the work is. Maybe you even defer to other leaders. And you might be even telling yourself that you are listening and you are, well, I guess in this way, the weeks go by and the months go by, and the team still doesn't know what the heck you stand for. Uncertainty has its own kind of uh noise. The third trap is lead the team you had. So this one is subtle. We might bring that playbook from our last team meeting into this one. We try to install the same style or try to imply uh install that same language or frameworks or the same expectations from the old team. And then we start wondering why it's not landing. Well, because that isn't this team, and you're not the same leader you were when you built that months or years ago. And none of these are inherent character flaws. They are fear responses for leaders. And honestly, the first step here in unburying it is just naming it. Naming which one you might be defaulting to, proving it fast, staying invisible, or trying to lead that old team you had. Here's

Three Moves That Build Trust

SPEAKER_00 7:01

what actually works: three moves in order to try not to skip ahead. So the first move is this: listen before you lead. Now, this isn't a passive listening, but instead an active, curious, almost uh an anthropological dig kind of a listening. Your job in the first weeks is just to understand, understand the culture that's there, understand what you're walking into, not to change anything, but maybe challenging yourself to just ask simple questions like, hey, what's working that I should know about? Or what's been frustrating everybody that nobody's saying out loud? Or who does this team need as a leader that they haven't always gotten? That last one will tell you a lot if you make space for it. And really, a lot of the leaders I connect with never ask this. The second move that you could try is just name what you see. Now, this is where you start showing up with your magic. Again, not by changing things haphazardly or quickly, but just by reflecting back what you're observing, what you're seeing, what you're measuring with an honesty, a care, and a curiosity. Things like, hey, I've been watching how you handle X. That's pretty impressive. I want to understand it better. Or you could ask something like, um, I'm noticing some tension around Y. I'm not here to fix it, I'm not here to uh judge it, but I just want to see it and feel what's going on here. Naming is leadership. It tells the team that the reality is visible, that you see them, and really that matters more than any initiative or framework or anything you can launch in week two. Move three. This is the big one. Bring yourself. And this is the one that takes the most courage and clarity and support from your leaders. Not at some point, not in day one, right? But not even in month three either, right? So, like, you have to kind of let them know who you are in this process. And this isn't your resume. This isn't your acronyms, it's not your management style or philosophy. It's you. What do you care about? What won't you compromise on? What will you defend for your team? What kind of leader are you trying to become? And what are you still figuring out? Vulnerability, not oversharing, but vulnerability at the right moment isn't weakness in a leader. It's the opposite. It's actually the thing that makes trust possible.

Performance Versus Real Leadership

SPEAKER_00 10:16

Here's a really honest question kind of laying underneath all of this. When you stepped into this team, did you bring yourself? Or did you bring a performance of leadership? Some packaged plastic stuff. Because here's what I know as I go around and have great conversations with people. The team that you're leading, they feel it. They feel the difference between a performance or an authentic leader. They always can. They may not have the language for it or verbalize it, but when they feel that you're leading from performance, instead of just being present and listening and bringing your true authentic self, whether you actually see them or you're managing them, they know whether you're in it with them or above it. Now, this inheritance, in a sense, isn't just a team. It's also an invitation to find out who you are as a leader when you can't coast anymore, when you built something. You can't rest on your laurels. You have to grow in that position you're in. And that's really uncomfortable. And that's really where this work lives. The real hard work is. Leadership transitions are where the raw identity work lives. Full stop. So whether you're inheriting a team or a group of people, or stepping into a whole new scope for your business or a new role, or even handing something off, or perhaps realizing that part of yourself that you've been leading with just isn't working anymore. I think these moments aren't interruptions to your development. They are the development we need. They're the training. And that's how we can step into our confidence just by showing up and growing in the role that we've been offered and that we accepted.

Free Strategy Session And Closing

SPEAKER_00 13:17

And I really want to state this clearly: you don't have to do it alone. So I work one-on-one with leaders in exactly these types of moments. Senior people who are smart enough to know something needs to change, and they're honest enough to know that they need a little bit of help making it happen. So I offer a free strategy session. One simple conversation, zero pitching, zero pressure. It's just a chance for you to get a real look at what's going on and what might be possible for you. One leader I worked with recently said this after her first hour together. I physically feel lighter after that time we spent together. Damn. End of quote. It was one conversation, and I'm still beaming like two weeks later. He got so much clarity from that, and that's really what's available and what's on the table for you. What if one conversation changes your whole summer and your the whole rest of your year? Check out the link in the show notes. Grab a strategy session. Let me know that you heard this episode, and I'd love to find a time to connect with you. That's it. That's episode 79 of Fierce Encouragement. Holy cow, 79 episodes. But I appreciate you being here and sharing your time and listening. I hope you got something out of this. What was it? What's your big takeaway from this session today or the episode today? And listen, that inheritance that you got isn't that team or the people. I think if we shift a little bit, the inheritance you got is an invitation to you. Remember those three moves. Listen before you lead, name what you see, and bring yourself. Again, this is Mark Walker. This is Ben Fierce Encouragement. If this episode landed for you, please subscribe and share it with one leader who might need to hear this. And please leave a review so more people can find the show and we can spread the goodness. Until the next episode, please take care of yourselves. I hope you have a good day, a good evening, wherever you're at. And thanks again. Bye bye.