Sean Spence

This website or its third-party tools use cookies which are necessary to its functioning and required to improve your experience. By clicking the consent button, you agree to allow the site to use, collect and/or store cookies.
Please click the consent button to view this website.
I accept
Deny cookies Go Back
  • Home
  • Blog – Actions and Reflections
    • Products & Programs
      • Ten career actions to keep you moving forwards
  • Get your free Ten Career Actions worksheet
  • Your Profile
  • About Sean Spence
    • Contact Sean Spence
    • Past Coaching Clients
    • Privacy Policy
You are here: Home / Career Strategy / Voice

Voice

How do you find your voice in a new team? Even top performers are intimidated when they are the newest addition to a team.

Here are some ideas:

  • Be confident.
    • Trust that you bring value immediately. Validate this by checking the Chair’s expectations. Be assertive – somewhere between arrogant and diffident. Don’t try to ‘prove yourself’ on every issue.
    • Contribute early and ask for feedback and correction, so that you can calibrate your input.
    • Prepare. Do some groundwork alone, but also engage your new colleagues ahead of time about what they’d like to know from your perspective.
  • Reflect on whether your statements pass the Velcro test – do they connect to what was already said and invite continuation from others? Are you clear how you’re adding to the discussion?
  • Are you addressing the right system level? Check what the group means by
    • a ‘detail’
    • ’relevance’
    • a ‘decision’
    • a ‘useful contribution’
    • ‘priority’
    • ‘Urgency’
    • ’consensus’

The social perspective also needs your attention.

  • Work with the chair to fully understand the agenda and the goals.
  • Get clear about the ‘rules of engagement’, which are different for each team.
  • Defend your right to talk by identifying interruptions politely but firmly, being the advocate for your perpective and acknowledging when you have been given enough time to talk.
  • Remember the group exists outside the meeting, so reach out. The trust you develop outside the room leads to your voice being heard when it really counts.

In a new team there are plenty of dynamics that might silence you. Remembering that you’re not there just for yourself, but for the people you are responsible for, can give you that extra strength to speak up – for them.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Filed Under: Career Strategy, executive mindset, Executive wellness, Uncategorized Tagged With: #executive-life, #leadership, #success, Emotional intelligence, executive voice, influence

« Enable
Influence »

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

About Us

We help executives thrive in new roles. That means using proven methods to improve the speed, depth and power of your decisions. Read More…

Recent Posts

  • Synergise
  • Influence
  • Voice

Anything specific you’d like to find?

Our Location

Based in Melbourne, Australia, I work with clients on three continents. Meetings can be arranged in an office in the Melbourne CBD, your office or online.

How can we help?

I’d love to hear about an issue you’d like to resolve. I’m famous for bringing new thinking to executive issues.

Email me on sean@seanspence.com.au

Or, give me a call at +61 437 659 312

Follow me

  • Email
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

© 2022 Sean Spence · Rainmaker Platform

Privacy Policy