Most managers fantasize at some point about being handed the “DREAM TEAM” assignment. A staff filled with self-starting, bright, multi-talented all-stars who basically need little management at all. Provide a clear sense of direction and get out-of-the-way. Winning performances would follow and we would be seen as gifted and skilled managers.
Never happened to me and rarely does to most managers. The reality is you get dealt a specific talent and experience hand. How you play that hand predicts how well you perform and how successfully your organization will perform.
So if you are about to embark on a new management assignment, I offer the following three suggestions as food for thought.
First, your new organization will be anxious to get an immediate read on you, often to test the pre-conceptions they have based on what they have heard from others and the reputation that precedes you. They will be especially attuned to your open-mindedness and your expectations of them.
Be in no great hurry to share some grand vision or list of your own expectations until you have had the opportunity to evaluate what is most likely going to be possible. Subordinates will look carefully for clues that you are happy to have your new assignment and are open to receiving their input on what needs doing and on who can do what. Demonstrate both sets of clues.
Hitting the ground learning beats hitting the ground running any day. Negative first impressions are very difficult to erase, especially about a manager’s open-mindedness, flexibility, enthusiasm for the new assignment and capacity to establish trust.
Second, accept the fact that getting to know your folks — I mean really getting to know them — will require some time. An initial individualized sit down conversation is a great place to start. It’s an opportunity for you to take an early measure of their attitude, self-confidence, leadership potential, and ideas concerning their own future and on what things —“around here” — could be improved or done better.
Take additional time to see each subordinate in action and evaluate the skills they demonstrate. You may know some of them from your past or been told things by others but humans have an amazing capacity to surprise. You’ll benefit from these observations when it comes to the work and assignment decisions you must make.
Early days are also a great time for some assignment experimentation. It is another sign of your open-mindedness and sends a clear signal that you have not pigeon-holed everybody into inflexible roles.
Good managers can build toward any vision or future but they must build. Good managers know they can eventually add to or subtract from their original hand but that takes time. Early signs of dissatisfaction with the hand they’ve been given, is a real morale and motivation killer.
Third, the best managers know the vision, sense of direction, and set of performance expectations most likely to succeed, are those they and their workforce have crafted together as a team. Creating a joint sense of direction and shared expectations that are both realistic and provide a stretch capacity, drives both personal and organizational growth. More importantly, such a collaborative process demonstrates a manager’s trust in the skills, talent, and commitment of the hand they’ve been dealt.
UPDATED April 2026
Categories: Learning Managers, Managing & Leading, Motivating Top Performance
What Best Mnagers Know & Do 
This is really powerful advice and I am always surprised by managers in my organization who think they can wait until they get the “right” people, as if that will ever happen. I may not have always been able to do everything I wanted because of the hand I held but I played the hand anyway.