Name: How to Be Taken Seriously as a New Manager at Work
Uploaded: 2025-07-17T09:21:55.000Z
Duration: 15 min 10 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Picture this scenario, you've just started a new role in a new company with a new team.

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And already you're feeling as though you're in the deep end.

The meetings are back to back, your manager's talking to you quickly, moving things along quickly.

You are feeling as though everything is whizzing by and you've hardly had time to even onboard.

If this is you, if this is the situation that you're in, this video is for you.

For those of you who are new here, my name is Linda Rayner, I'm a career strategist.

And my mission is to help professionals lead with authentic confidence in life and at work.

And this particular video was inspired by one of my amazing clients who's recently started her new senior management position at a Fortune 500 company.

And without getting into the full details, she's essentially feeling a little bit overwhelmed in her new role, simply because right off the bat, her onboarding didn't really even happen.

She was pulled into meetings left, right, and center.

Her manager is already demanding things of her.

And on top of that, because of her title and her role, she is having to lead and guide others.

But of course, it's really difficult to lead and guide others when you're in an environment that you are still getting familiar with.

So I really thank her for sharing this question.

And I want to share with you my framework on how you can come across as confident, clear, and with presence, even if you're in a brand new situation.

And the framework that I'm going to share with you is called SEEN, S-E-E-N.

The first four steps are the S-E-E-N, and then there's a bonus at the end.

And this is all about how to set the tone as the leader when you are in a new work environment.

The first is S, which is signal strategic thinking.

When you're a leader, the way that you ask questions is extremely important because it signals to those around you how you're thinking, the way that you think.

And you always want to be showcasing that you're thinking ahead.

So first of all, there is no point in you pretending as if you know everything.

Everyone knows that you don't know everything because you're new.

However, they still want to see how you're going to react.

And the way that you want to react to be seen as a confident, calm, clear leader is that when you're asking questions, you're thinking ahead.

You're posing questions as in, okay, so based on this information that you've just provided me, how does that work when this occurs?

So you're asking questions that showcase that you already are seeing the bigger picture and you're seeing where this will go.

It challenges them a little bit to have to explain and describe themselves a little bit further, but it showcases to those around you that you're not just here just to learn basic facts.

You're here to understand the bigger picture.

And that's what asking smart questions is all about.

You want to showcase that you are strategic in the way that you think.

And so the types of questions that you ask matter.

And as an example, just to illustrate this, instead of asking, can you explain this to me?

So how does that tie into the larger Y goal?

Can you walk me through how this decision impacts Z?

But more so when I understand this particular aspect, how does that tie into this other aspect?

Where does this take us when it comes to this other idea?

So you are constantly relating it to a future point from where you're at in terms of whatever it is that you're discussing.

And the reason why this works is because you're telling people that you are already in your mind and out loud mapping out the context rather than just taking notes.

Just simply only taking notes is something that a junior would do or a senior would do.

Someone that is not even at the manager level.

When it comes to understanding the bigger picture, the strategic thinking and showcasing that you have foresight, you have to nudge yourself to ask the bigger questions.

All right, now onto the second step of the five steps, which is E, and that is express your point of view early, even while learning.

Speaking up is important, even when you're brand new.

You need to already showcase and establish your presence by bringing up things that people may not be thinking about, asking the right questions, as we discussed previously, and showcasing that you are thinking ahead.

So what this ultimately means is do not wait until you are ready.

You want to start doing it now, even on the first day.

You're doing this through your questions, through your perspective, and through your instincts.

So as an example, you want to start asking yourself, what's missing that no one's saying?

What do I sense, even if I don't have the full picture yet?

You have experience, you have knowledge, you've seen similar types of scenarios before, and so you have the ability to piece puzzle pieces together.

So as you're gaining information, start thinking in that way and ask the questions, bring your perspective, bring your ideas, and see how they respond.

Because the important thing is not so much what the idea is, not even so much what the question is, just the fact that you are speaking up and you are establishing your presence by contributing your instincts, your ideas, your questions.

So as an example, you can try saying, one thing I'm noticing is blank.

A thought that might help clarify this is blank.

Here's a potential risk we might want to flag, blank.

Your lens is your leadership, so just trust it.

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All right, onto our third of the five steps, that is E, establish structure and boundaries early.

As a leader, you want to be the person that people look to for guidance, for clarity.

When there's confusion, you need to set the tone.

And so you need to be the person that gives that guidance, those boundaries, that structure, and ensures that everyone on that boat gets on safely and that you are sailing across to where you need to go.

So ultimately you are the captain of this ship, you have to step into that role.

So in practical terms, this would look like this.

For example, in a meeting, before you get started on whatever discussion you need to have, you can say, before we dive in, can we align on the goal of this discussion?

So that shows that you're setting the intention, you're setting the structure, the guidance for what this needs to be about.

And it makes sure that both of you are on the same page or you and however many people are in the room.

Another example could be, just so I'm clear, here's what I'm hearing so far.

So this could be during the meeting, as people are talking and there might be multiple opinions flying across the room, you ground everyone back to center and you reiterate what you're hearing so far.

And then from there, you add what is next in terms of what you're seeing next, what needs to happen next, the direction that you want that meeting to go.

And the reason why I say that is because if you are in a leadership position, once you walk into a meeting where people who are subordinate level are in this meeting, they are still looking to you for some sort of guidance, for some sort of leadership.

They need to see that you have the ability to establish yourself so that they can then follow you moving forward.

If you are just sitting back and allowing everyone to just say what they need to say and you're not contributing in any way to shape and guide the direction of where things need to go, you are already putting yourself at a disadvantage.

So don't hold back, say what you need to say in those subtle nuanced ways as I just shared and watch how your subordinates, the people that report to you, your team shifts in the way that they perceive you.

They will perceive you as someone who is a true leader, someone that they can come to for guidance, for advice and for direction.

Four is N, normalize your leadership energy, which means don't wait to be anointed.

I think I've basically been saying this all throughout, but the idea here is to not wait to show up as a leader.