Latest / New Manager Conversations with Fexingo: First 90 Days, Managing Former Peers, and Leadership Basics / How New Managers Can Build Team Culture from Scratch
Transcript
- Lucas: Let's say you just got promoted to manager. You've got a team of five people who've been working together for years, but they don't really operate like a team. No shared calendar, no regular check-ins, everyone just does their own thing in their own corner. How do you build a culture from nothing? Luna: That's a really common scenario, especially in smaller companies or teams that have been neglected. I've seen it happen when a strong individual contributor gets promoted and suddenly they're supposed to create cohesion where there was none. Lucas: Exactly. And the instinct is often to copy what you've seen other managers do. Maybe your previous boss had a weekly team lunch, so you schedule one. But that can backfire if it doesn't fit your team's context. I think the key is to start with a team charter. Luna: A team charter? Like a mission statement? Lucas: More than that. It's a living document that answers three questions: What are we trying to achieve together? How do we want to work with each other? And what are our team norms? You write it with the team, not for them. In the first two weeks as a new manager, you schedule an offsite or a two-hour workshop and you literally brainstorm those answers. Luna: And you've actually seen this work? Give me an example. Lucas: There's a case I like from a mid-size tech firm. A new manager named Jenna inherited a team of engineers who had no stand-ups, no code reviews, no shared ownership. They shipped features but there was constant blame when something broke. She ran a charter session where they agreed on a few simple norms: a ten-minute daily stand-up, a 'no-blame postmortem' after any incident, and a rotating 'code buddy' for peer reviews. It wasn't radical, but within a month the team started self-correcting. Luna: So the charter gave them a shared language. That makes sense. But what about the manager's own behavior? Because if you talk about collaboration but then you make all the decisions yourself, the culture won't stick. Lucas: That's the second move: model the behaviors you want to see. You can't just write norms. You have to be the first person to follow them. If you want transparency, share your own mistakes in team meetings. If you want punctuality, be five minutes early. Jenna made a point of being the first to admit when she didn't know something, and that started a chain reaction. Luna: Right, culture is caught more than taught. But I imagine there's a trap where managers try to do too much too fast. Lucas: Absolutely. The third move is to use small wins to reinforce the culture. Don't try to overhaul everything at once. Pick one or two behaviors that will have the biggest impact, and celebrate them when they happen. Jenna's team had their first successful on-time release a month after they started the stand-ups. She made a big deal of it in the weekly email, called out the team, and that validated the new process. Luna: So the small win becomes a proof point. It shows that the new way of working actually yields results. That's smart. Lucas: Exactly. And once you have one win, you have a narrative. The team starts to believe in the culture because they've experienced the payoff. Then you can build on it. Maybe add a feedback ritual or a learning session. Luna: I want to push back a little. What if your team is resistant? Like, they've been doing things a certain way for years, and they see your charter as just another management fad. Lucas: Resistance usually comes from a lack of trust or a fear of extra work. The antidote is to involve them early and show that the charter is their tool, not yours. Let them draft the norms. And be patient. Culture change takes three to six months minimum. You don't have to have it all figured out in the first 90 days. Luna: So you're saying start with a charter, model the behaviors, and build on small wins. Is there anything else that derails new managers? Lucas: One big one is trying to copy another team's culture without adapting it. I've seen new managers take the exact rituals from their previous company—like a 'fail fast' ethos—when their current team is in a risk-averse industry. That just creates friction. Culture has to be organic to the team's context. Luna: Yeah, context matters. A culture that works in a startup might suffocate a regulatory team. So part of the job is diagnosing what your team actually needs. Lucas: Right. And that diagnosis happens during the charter session. You ask: 'What's working now? What's not working? What do we value?' If the answers are honest, you've got a foundation. Luna: I've also heard that consistency is more important than perfection. New managers sometimes swing wildly from one approach to another, and that destabilizes the team. Lucas: That's a great point. Culture is built through repeated actions. If you decide to have a weekly one-on-one, don't cancel it three weeks in a row. If you establish a feedback cadence, stick to it. Your team is watching for signals that you're serious. Every time you follow through, you add a brick to the foundation. Luna: And what about situations where you inherit a toxic culture? Can you still build something new, or do you need to start by cleaning house? Lucas: That's a different beast. If there's active toxicity—bullying, blame culture, lack of psychological safety—you have to address that first. You can't layer a positive culture on top of a toxic one. But for most new managers, it's more about inertia than toxicity. The team just hasn't had a leader who defined norms. That's fixable. Luna: So the advice is: start with a charter, model the behaviors, celebrate small wins, and be consistent. That's a solid framework. I can see new managers using that as a checklist. Lucas: Exactly. And I want to emphasize that you don't have to be perfect. The best cultures are ones where the manager is also learning and adapting. So go in with humility, ask your team what they need, and iterate. Luna: You know, speaking of learning and adapting, I've been thinking about how much of this podcast is free and ad-free. It's because listeners like you support it. A couple of dollars a month genuinely keeps these conversations going—no ads, no sponsors. If you've gotten something out of episodes like this one, you can help at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Lucas: Yeah, it really does make a difference. And we don't have any big ask—just whatever feels right. It's what lets us keep drilling into these specific, practical topics without worrying about the business side. Luna: So back to culture. One more thing I've seen is that new managers often overlook the physical or virtual space. Where you meet matters for culture. Lucas: Good point. If your team is remote, the way you run video calls sets the tone. Do you allow cameras off? Is there a chat channel for casual conversation? Those micro-norms shape culture just as much as the big gestures. Jenna's team, for example, started a virtual water cooler Slack channel where people posted pet photos. It wasn't in the charter, but it built connection. Luna: So give people space to be human. That's a low-cost, high-impact move. Lucas: Absolutely. And it circles back to the idea that culture is not a document—it's how people feel when they show up. Your job as a new manager is to create an environment where that feeling is positive and productive. Luna: I think we've given listeners a solid roadmap. Team charter, model, small wins, consistency, and space for humanity. Good stuff for the first 90 days. Lucas: Yeah. And remember, you don't have to do it all at once. Pick one thing this week. Start with a charter session or even just a single norm. The team will thank you later. Luna: And as always, we're here for the follow-up. If you try something from this episode, let us know how it goes.