You didn't get to pick these people. But they are yours now.

In this episode of Leadership After 5, Kim gets honest about one of the least discussed realities of stepping into a leadership role, inheriting a team you didn't choose. The resistance. The uncertainty. The employees who had already made up their minds about you before you walked through the door.

Kim breaks down why inherited team dynamics are harder than anyone prepares you for, what to do in those critical first weeks, and the honest truth about what happens when you do everything right and some people still don't come around.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Leadership After Five, where leadership gets real. I'm Kim, and today we're talking about a common reality of leadership, which is inheriting a team. We're going to talk about what it actually feels like, what it requires, and what to do when the team you got is not the team you would have chosen. So let me start by painting a picture for you. You just stepped into your new leadership role. You're excited, you're ready, you have ideas, you have a vision, and you are committed to making an impact. And then you meet your team. And that first meeting tells you a whole lot about what this experience is going to entail. You didn't get to pick these people. They were here before you. They have history you don't know about, loyalties you can't see, and opinions about you that were formed before you even walk through that door. Most leaders don't build their teams from scratch. They walk into a role and they are handed a portfolio of people. People who like have their own history with the organization, right? Their own relationships, their own frustrations, their own ideas about how things should be done. And sometimes, right, it works out beautifully. The team is open, they want to support you, they're willing to give you a chance and extend some grace while you find your footing. But other times, and let's be honest about this, you walk in and you can immediately feel it. The resistance, the quiet skepticism, the people who have already decided you're not what they needed. The ones who are going to make you earn every single inch. And here's the part that makes it even harder. You're new. You don't have data points yet. You can't prove anything. You just have to navigate this new norm. That is a very particular kind of difficult. And if you know, you know. I want to use an analogy here because I think it captures this better than anything else I've found. And let me just keep it real. If you stick around enough, or you've heard, you know, other podcasts that I've done, you know that I love using family analogy, parent analogy, because to me, it tells the story so much better. And it's also very relatable. Whether you're a parent or you are just speaking from your experience of being a child, right? It's just relatable. So think about a single parent who is moving on and bringing a new person into their child's life. Depending on the age of that child and also the relationship that that child has with the idea of family and even trust, that introduction can go beautifully or it can fall completely flat. And some kids, not because they are bad kids, but because they're hurting, they will do everything in their power to make the new person's life difficult. We've all seen the movies, right? Not because the new person did anything wrong, but because they are protecting something. They are uncertain. They are scared. And resistance, that is the only control they have in a situation that feels completely out of their hands. Now, can you see the correlation? You inherited a team who they're pushing back. They're resistant, they're skeptical, they're not sure about you. They're making things harder than they need to be. They're not necessarily bad employees, though. They may be scared employees, uncertain employees, employees who had something before you arrive that they're not sure they're gonna have anymore. Or maybe they've been burnt several times from your predecessors, something that's outside of your control. Either way, that's the baggage that they're coming in with. And your job, as frustrating as it is, is to lead them anyway. Not to fix their feelings, not to win them over at all costs, but to create enough stability and clarity that they can eventually choose to follow you. So let's get practical because knowing why it's hard doesn't help you if you don't know what to do about it. Here are four things you can do. The first, do your one-on-ones with your team members early. Don't be so caught up with being busy. I know you probably have a lot on your plate, you're drinking from a fire hose, but this is critical. Sit down with each person on your team individually and not to evaluate them, not to make any decisions necessarily, right? Just listen to them. Ask them what's working, ask them what's not working, ask them what they need from a leader. And then just listen, actively listen without trying to answer or fix anything or defend yourself. Also, don't signal that things are going to change as a way to win them over. The biggest gift you can give an inherited team member is the feeling of being heard by the new person in charge. It costs you nothing and it buys you more goodwill than almost anything else you can do in those early weeks. Two, share who you are. And I'm not talking about your resume, your accolades, or your track record at your last organization. And trust me, I know the temptation to want to do that because, again, you have no credibility or data points. But that's not what we want to do in this the early weeks of this conversation with your team members. We want to share your values. You want to do that. You want to share your leadership philosophy. Tell them how you make decisions, tell them what matters to you, tell them what you expect and what they can expect from you in return. The unknown is what creates fear in inherited teams. They don't know you. And when people don't know you, they fill in the gaps with their worst assumptions. Give them something real to work with instead. Three, set expectations early. I don't care what no one says about this, but this is always something that's really important to do because if you do it early enough, it can really benefit both parties. And you're not doing this expectation setting as a power move, and you're also not trying to signal that things are changing, but people cannot meet a standard that they don't know exists, and you cannot hold someone accountable to something you never communicated. So just set expectations, put them on the table. And most importantly, make sure both of you understand what success looks like from this point forward. The fourth and last thing is share your observations along the way. You're going to be learning the landscape, forming perspectives on what needs to change, maybe what's actually working, what direction you want to take the team. Feel free to share it. Don't operate quietly for a year and then drop a major change on people who had no idea it was coming. You will lose them. You don't have to have all the answers. You just have to be transparent about your thinking. Frame it as: I want to keep you on the journey with me. I'm going to share what I'm seeing as I go, not to make decisions yet, but because I want your perspective before I do. That kind of transparency builds trust faster than almost anything else. And with an inherited team, trust is everything. Now I want to be honest about something. You can do all of this, every single thing I just laid out, all four steps: the one-on-ones, the expectation setting, the transparency, the patience, all the things. And some people still won't come around. Make peace with that. Because here's the thing: you don't need everyone on your team to love you. You actually don't need everyone to be your biggest fan. What you need is for everyone to do their job. Once you have set clear expectations and you are holding people accountable, they don't have to like you while they're meeting those expectations. Some of the most functional professional relationships I have ever seen are ones where there is a healthy amount of separation. Cordial, professional, respectful, but not personal. And that is okay. What is not okay is letting someone's resistance become a reason to lower the standard. What is not okay is allowing the squeaky wheel to derail the entire team because you haven't addressed it directly. You're not there to be their friend. You're there to lead them somewhere. And sometimes the most respectful thing you can do for someone who inherited you as a leader is to hold them to a standard that says, I believe you're capable of this. Now let's go. I get it, you didn't pick these people, but they're yours now. And the way you show up in those first weeks and months, the curiosity you bring, the clarity you offer, the patience you extend without losing your standard, that is what determines whether this inherited team becomes your greatest leadership challenge or your greatest leadership story. Some of the best teams I have ever seen, they were not built from scratch. They were inherited, invested in, and transformed by a leader who refused to write them off before giving them a real chance. Bet on yourself and be that leader. If this resonated with you, please find me on LinkedIn, find me on my socials, send me an email, tell me about you and your team and maybe what stood out for you in this podcast. This is Leadership After Five, where leadership gets real. I'll see you in the next episode. Take care.