New manager feeling insecure
I recently became a manager in an organization I’m completely unfamiliar with. The work itself is mostly governance enforcement and internal auditing, so in theory it should be pretty black-and-white, with only some gray-area decisions left to leadership.
Before this, I was a project manager and a strong performer. Over the last two weeks, I’ve been trying to learn the team, understand their roles, and build relationships. What I’ve realized is that there are some pretty major culture problems, and I’m struggling with how to approach them.
The biggest challenge is my peer manager. He’s much older, much more experienced in this org, and extremely cynical. His attitude seems to have shaped the team culture over time. He’s good at what he does, but seems to prioritize being fun and friends with the team, he overshares, and is openly insubordinate to our leadership at times. The analysts regularly come in late or leave early without communicating, there’s only a few hours of actual work happening most days, and every new task or initiative is met with nonstop complaints. This is a role where being 100% on site and in role for 8 hours is necessary and expected. I know salaried employees usually get some leeway, but it doesn’t feel right with the current state of business to allow a ton of flexibility.
Meanwhile, our manager roles are overloaded with deliverables and constant firefighting. We have 8 IC analysts, but many of them don’t seem to know how to do even basic data analysis. Some people seem coachable and willing to improve, but my peer’s attitude is basically “sink or swim.”
What’s making this harder is that he also acts like he has final say on everything. He won’t even give me access to some of our systems because he says “that’s their job, not ours,” but I feel like I need to understand the basics of the work if I’m expected to lead effectively. I’m trying to be respectful of his career and knowledge, but he’s got one foot out the door to retirement. I feel like an ass showing up brand new and telling our senior that the culture is rough and that I really need to set firm and enforceable boundaries. I’m afraid I’m over reacting just from the shock of the new role, but I also feel like this is unacceptable from top down.
There are also major gaps in leadership right now due to LOAs and movement in senior management. We have one senior manager covering four teams. She actually seems great, professional, kind, supportive, but she’s understandably stretched thin and mostly unavailable.
I want to align with my peer and reset expectations together, but we’re drowning in operational firefighting that honestly should be handled by the employees themselves. At the same time, he expects me to stay online 2-3 extra hours every day monitoring emails and requests, which already feels unsustainable.
I think our director was genuinely happy I got this role because he’s hoping I can help turn things around. Our team has a really bad reputation for being lazy and useless. Some of that is the nature of internal auditing, and I was trying to come in ready to check my bias, but there’s some truth. The problem is that I feel exhausted and anxious almost constantly. The team is distrustful and clearly sizing me up. I’m naturally more quiet and observant, but lately I feel so mentally drained that I’m struggling to even articulate myself well. I called my new employee dude and felt so dumb lol.
My one-on-ones have also turned into therapy sessions, which I was not expecting at all.
I do have ideas:
resetting expectations and accountability
creating a clearer hand-off plan for a new initiative the team deeply resents
improving audit metrics and documentation
building a more functional culture over time
I’m documenting a lot of this to review with my peer and senior leadership, but internally I feel completely lost and honestly a little afraid. I’m hoping that I’m over reacting just due to the shock of the new role and its challenges, but a lot of this doesn’t sit right with me. My only prior ‘management’ was in the military, and I’m trying not to be too strict and authoritative, but I think I lean towards those experiences when I’m lost.
Part of me thinks this could end up being a huge opportunity for my department, my team, and my career if I can figure it out. Another part of me is worried I’m going to fail, burn out, or become just as jaded as everyone else here.
I guess I’m looking for advice from people who’ve stepped into difficult management situations like this. How do you stabilize yourself and lead effectively when the culture is already broken and you barely feel supported yourself?