6 Ways To Earn Respect Fast As A New Manager

Six practical actions for building credibility and earning your team’s respect in your first weeks as a manager.

September 17, 2026 · 12:14 · Communication / Team systems

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The main idea

Build trust and credibility through how you work with your team in the first weeks of a management role.

Observe the work and ask people about pain points before reorganizing how the team operates.
Make weekly or biweekly one-on-ones a dependable conversation about the person, rather than another status meeting.
Delegate outcomes and give people room to own the work instead of continuing to carry the individual contributor workload.
Help remove the blockers the team cannot remove alone, and explain the purpose behind changes and priorities.
Make expectations clear and deal with performance problems early rather than leaving the team to carry them.
Invite feedback on yourself and show the team that their perspective can influence how you lead.

Six practical actions build credibility with a new team, followed by two additional tips for engineering leaders.

Observe the work and ask people about pain points before reorganizing how the team operates.

Make weekly or biweekly one-on-ones a dependable conversation about the person, rather than another status meeting.

Delegate outcomes and give people room to own the work instead of continuing to carry the individual contributor workload.

Help remove the blockers the team cannot remove alone, and explain the purpose behind changes and priorities.

Make expectations clear and deal with performance problems early rather than leaving the team to carry them.

Invite feedback on yourself and show the team that their perspective can influence how you lead.

Understand the team’s technical work while keeping yourself off the critical path for delivery.

Take one small change through the real pipeline to understand the friction your engineers encounter.