New Manager Assimilation

The first 100 days usually determine the success of a new manager. They face crucial challenges such as winning over the team, adapting to their new role and potentially a new culture, demonstrating initial successes, managing diverse expectations, and more.

The assimilation process for new managers helps in the rapid development of a strong personal position and a positive working relationship between new supervisors and team members.

The process has the following objectives:

• Establishing a solid foundation for the new leader and the team to build upon and work successfully together by discussing leadership styles, expectations, and goals.
• Facilitating discussions between the team and the new leader about the type of leadership and management required for optimal performance and addressing key collaboration topics.

Both result in achieving a smooth workflow more quickly than usual and provide a basis for problem solving and planning for future tasks. The time and effort required for the new leader's learning curve are reduced by half.

Effects from studies on New Manager Assimilation (Gabarro 2007) include:

• Managers were able to learn about and align expectations
• Managers were able to respond to expectations and adjust their own, thus increasing trust
• The willingness of managers to provide open feedback increased. The stress level of the leader was perceived to be lower.
• The willingness to stay in the company was slightly increased.