...to ask for your top tips for starting a new job?

[NoPinkPlease]

I've been in the same organisation for nearly 20 years and am leaving this week. I start somewhere new in a few weeks time but I'm known to lots of my new team so it's not a totally clean slate. I'm coming at senior manager level. Any tips / links / thoughts welcome.

When managing a large team where you are already known to some extent, I would say use the rule of thirds.

A third of the people will naturally like you and be happy to broadly go along with your suggestions. A third will be difficult because they are like that with everyone or they don't like you/your ideas/change. The third to concentrate at least half your energy on are the middle third. They can be swayed either way, so if you get them on side, you make yourself pretty invincible and the people in the negative group will move across.

I also find someone I can trust and ask them if I need to know anything about my colleagues. Not gossip, just so you don't make any faux pas. By doing this I found out that Mrs Smith was in fact Mr Browns daughter, that Ms Ellis was the live in partner of Ms Johnson, and that Sarah used to be engaged to Dan and now she hates him and refuses to be in the same room.

Be firm but fair, take your time to ease into the job as much as you can but show people you are confident and capable - that is what most people want from their manager. Good luck!

Don't try and change everything as soon as you get there. Spend time with the people that do it and actully find out what, if anything needs to be changed or improved. Don't just make changes with no understanding of what is required, basically.

Take treats at the end of the first week.

Thanks for these - good advice! I should add it'll be mostly remote working generally and completely for my indication period. Adds an extra challenge...

Dont be late on the first day and dont call the boss a dick to his/her face

Take a smallish notebook yu can carry everywhere and write things in it as you go that you will/might need to remember. The advice my DM gave me before I started my first temp summer holiday job and I have followed it ever since.