Are you moving into a new role within your business? Maybe you are moving companies altogether and you are about to meet a whole new team for the first time?

No matter what the situation that all important first impression is crucial if you want to get off on the right foot.

Most of the time, you will get an opportunity to introduce yourself to each individual team member, as well as to the whole group. And indeed it can be a good idea to meet with everyone in this way before getting stuck into your own role proper.

One of the most upsetting things about getting a new manager or senior member of staff when an old one leaves is that it can totally change the way things have been working. It’s akin to having a stranger walk into your own home and start changing things without asking. There is no doubt that you as the senior person are in charge, but there are ways and means of doing things.

Creating a positive first impression can be done so easily by letting your team know you are open to input and suggestions at all times. Many employees are understandably wary when new management comes in. Most people are wary of change and if that change could be negative in nature then they may end up feeling worried about what the future in their job could be like.

It is also a good idea to find out what kind of team or sales training has been given up until this point. By discovering what your team already knows and does you can move forward with more confidence and knowledge.

It is perhaps understandable that any new manager or leader wants to make their own mark. But if you go straight in and try to do this without taking the time to see how things are done to begin with, you could end up making a dreadful first impression.

Most people in similar positions will tell you that connecting with your team is probably the most important thing to do right off the bat. And you only get one chance at this – if you get it wrong then your job will be made so much harder, as you will be trying to convince your team that you are capable of doing a great job yourself.

That’s why it can pay dividends to allocate plenty of time to see how the team works before you make any alterations to how things are done. Make the time to get to know people and see how they work. You never know, they might already have great ideas for doing things that you may not have thought of! And if that is the case you would only be making more work for yourself by charging in and doing what you wanted from the start.

Having spent time getting to know your team, you can then follow up with the communication of your expectations as a foundation for how you see the team working together. Remember that you are perhaps taking over from someone who had a very different leadership style to you, which can be confusing as the team makes the adjustment from one to the other. Anything you can do to help this process will be appreciated.

So get to work on that first impression. You only get one shot at it.