I have led more than 15 different teams and one exercise that I found tremendously helpful when I join the team is to share how I work, what I value and how I communicate. I believe it is critical piece that is often overlooked but it is the one that can build you the foundation of trust and expectations to set up your team for success. On top of it, it will help your direct reports to figure you out quicker. It is a universal, long-lived artifact that can travel with you across companies.

Hey. I am very excited to have you here.

It is going to take some time to figure out the way we will work together. I will meet everyone, take the time to digest the stream of information, write things down and ask questions whenever I feel like it.

One of the working relationships we need to define is ours. The following content is the way I work. It captures what you can expect of me, on an average week, how I like to work, my principles and some of my quirks. My intent is to accelerate our working relationship.

Our average week

We will have 1:1 once a week for at least 45 minutes. The meeting is for discussing topics of substance - not necessarily status updates. However, I can ask questions about the ongoing progress. I have created a private document, where we will capture topics, action items and feedback. When you or I think about the item, we dump it there and discuss it. I follow up on my action items or let you know explicitly when I cannot complete it. When people do not or forget about them is a trigger for me.

• About communication. You can Slack me 24 hours a day. I will try and reply as soon as I can. If I do not reply, most likely I am just putting out other fires and not because it is not important for me. I like to keep context in one channel or thread so it is easier to track it down. I like to spend time, send and read thoughtful messages rather than dripping one liner ten  times.
• About overtime. Sometimes, I work over weekends but I do not expect you to. If you see a message on Slack or mentions in some document – do not feel compelled to reply, just get back to me when you start working again.
• About meetings. I believe in meetings as a way to solve problems but I like to write things down, explain context and set expectations. I highly appreciate it when people do it, too. If you decide to get us on a meeting (>2 people), I expect a clear agenda and outcome that ideally solves the problem and we won’t require us to meet again on this specific topic. I like seeing when a single person is responsible for making sure the agenda is followed and the meeting schedule is kept.
• About Punctuality. I prefer starting on time and cringe when people are late.  If the meeting is a waste of people’s time, I can say to end the meeting and find another medium or audience to solve a specific issue. It triggers me when people are multitasking during the meeting and are not engaged. If you feel the meeting is a waste of your or everyone’s time, tell me.
• About opinions. I expect people to disagree with me and would gladly discuss and consider any input that’s productive, fact substantiated and helps the project. I believe that great ideas and approaches are born during healthy debates. If there is a mandate that’s not up to the discussion, I will let you know explicitly. I expect you to disagree and commit.
• About clarity. I communicate openly and try to provide as much context as I can. If you feel like you need more, please ask me. I appreciate when people take ownership and are proactive in communication without me reminding them.
• About feedback. I like to provide and get feedback. I like to appraise publicly (unless you tell me otherwise) and provide critical feedback in private. I will try to provide feedback as soon as possible after the specific situation or bring it to 1:1. I appreciate it when people do the same.

North Star principles

• Engaged team. I believe that a happy, informed and experienced team is a key for any project. 
• Leadership comes from everywhere. While there is an explicit leadership structure and certain aspects have clear boundaries, I do not believe in the monopoly of the leadership. I will work hard and remain open to grow and build leaders within the team.
• Stakeholders. I believe that the reason we work here is largely because the stakeholders trust us. I will go an extra mile so as not to ruin that trust.
• Treating each other fairly and respectfully. I believe that humans do the right thing but unconscious bias can lead them astray. I try to understand the biases and eliminate them as they create inequity.
• I am heavily biased towards action. Long meetings where we are endlessly debating potential directions are valuable but I believe starting is the best way for everyone. Just get moving
• I give people the benefit of the doubt. It has worked well for me.
• High alert. I like a calm and productive pace but there will be situations where I will push hard and be very prescriptive. High alerts are usually conditioned by huge risk to the project, team health or any other situation that will have catastrophic consequences. The rest of the points can be suspended until we get out of it. I will try to communicate when we are entering this mode
• When I ask you to do something poorly defined, I expect you to ask me to clarify and ask about the priority. It will save a lot of time and frustration. I may still be brainstorming. There will be certain things that I cannot provide more clarity on and I appreciate it when people figure things out.
• When I see Overkill, I fume.
• Ask assertively, do not tell assertively. When you need to ask me something, ask me - “Can you please help with A?”. I respond poorly to “Do this”.
• I believe in the compound effect of small improvements.