I want to give you a step-by-step guide on how to introduce yourself to a new project team.
You’ll find three examples here:
- How to introduce yourself to a new team.
- How to introduce yourself as a manager and leader.
- How to introduce yourself in an email.
Below are the three scripts that you can just grab and use. But I strongly suggest that you take the time to read through the instructions and tips below.
It will help to boost your first impression by 10x.
How to Introduce Yourself to a New Team Example
Pro tip: Try to make connections with “Me too!” responses.
After your manager introduces you, use the Connection → Praise → Connection formula. Read below.
Hi Everyone. My name is Dmytro. I’m the new iOS developer. Previously I worked at ABC Company for three years.
I heard a lot of good about this team in the interview. You do a cool product here. I’m excited I can take part and help you out.
Outside of work, I’m in for CrossFit and Star Wars.
How to Introduce Yourself as a Manager to a New Team
Pro tip: First, someone should give credit to your management skills. Then, you position yourself as a leader.
Hello, Everyone. My name is Dmytro. I’m a new project manager…
Wave hands and smile while you speak. Then, take a few seconds to look at your team to smile or nod back to anyone that visibly reacted to your greetings.
…but within ten years of working as a PM, I learned one thing. People like you don’t need a manager. You need a distraction-free environment, clear responsibilities, and exciting tasks to do. In addition to that, I believe that we should never spend more than eight hours working… well, unless you really want to.
I heard great things about how you run projects here at <Company Name> and the products you create. So, my main focus will be to analyze all the good that you do here.
Maybe we’ll find some areas of improvement that will make our work easier. Maybe we’ll keep everything as is if you enjoy it.
With the last two sentences, speak slower and watch closely to the reaction. Do they want changes? Do they believe they do great work here?
In any case, we’ll have one cool goal for the near future. We will make your colleagues envy YOU for working on this project with this team.
It means that I’ll need your help in the next week. I want to talk with each of you to learn your insights and ideas on achieving this goal. Together, we’ll build an approach where you can do your work in the best possible way.
OK, I’ll be sitting somewhere here. You can come up with any topic that you have.
I’m open to any discussion. I’m really excited to be here.
There are lots of things encoded into this speech. You want to adjust it to your leadership style.
Watch the video where I explain how to create your own introduction speech quickly.
How to Introduce Yourself in an Email
Pro tip: Use more You-sentences than I-sentences.
Subject: <Project Name> – New Project Manager
Hi David and Emily,
My name is Dmyro Nizhebetskyi. I’ll lead your project team.
I want to introduce myself and schedule a quick call to discuss pressing matters and the next steps.
You have a great project idea at hand. And you just got a PM with five years of experience managing software development projects like yours. For example, I worked on the XYZ product for ABC company.
So, during the next few weeks, I’ll focus my efforts on:
- Creating full transparency for you about the project work. We want to ensure that you know and understand how we use your resources.
- Getting you a simple set of tools that will provide you with an at-a-glance overview of the project’s progress. This way, you will have an up-to-date progress report whenever you need it.
- Help you focus solely on identifying business needs. As a project team, we will work on providing solutions that will meet those business needs.
Please let me know if tomorrow at 15:00 CST will work for you. We need to discuss our next steps.
I am looking forward to our fruitful collaboration.
Best Regards,
Dmytro Nizhebetskyi
Project Manager
The Best Company
***
Just count how many times I use “you” or “your” in this email. Notice how I reframed sentences from talking about me to highlighting what they get.
Follow the best practices of writing efficient emails. The goal of the introduction email is to initiate a conversation in a meeting.
If You Are a Project Manager or Leader, You Need to Watch This Video
In this short video:
- You’ll learn how to instantly gain authority with people you never met before.
- What exactly should you spell out for your new team?
- I’ll show you how to behave during your speech.
Or you can read it all below…
5 Secrets on How to Make a Great First Impression
- 6 Practical Tips that Will Boost Your Introduction to a New Team.
- How to Instantly Gain Your Leadership Authority on the First Day.
- PRO Technique: Personal Introduction to a New Team.
- How to Introduce Yourself to Other Project Stakeholders.
- Write Your Own Introduction Script: Step By Step Instruction.
6 Tips on How to Prepare Yourself for Introduction to a New Team
You need to prepare yourself for this speech.
Let me give you a few tips on how to do it.
#1: Be Confident, Do Some Training in Advance
You need to position yourself as a confident leader and perform do this speech confidently. You need to train yourself.
So give this speech to yourself in the mirror and see if you are confident about telling each point of it.
#2: Speak Loud Enough
Next, you need to ensure that you speak not too loud, not too quietly.
You should be loud enough so that everyone in the room can hear you.
#3: Wave Your Hands to Greet Everyone
Next, when you start your speech and introduce yourself, you need to wave with both your hands like these to the whole team:
But believe me, on a subconscious level, people will trust and hear you out better than you will put your hand somewhere in the pockets.
#4: Use Gestures to Reinforce Your Speech
You need to use your hands to gesture when you introduce yourself.
You can make some gestures like the whole team, duration, big and small projects, and so on. So do use your hands.
#5: Smile Broadly
Don’t forget to smile, at least at the beginning and the end.
You need to smile with all your teeth like this:
#6: Maintain Eye Contact With the Whole Team
How do you do it if you have 20 people in the room?
You give a bit of attention to everyone.
Stay focused on your eye contact with one person for three to five seconds. Then switch to another. While you stand there in the room, do change your eye contact with each person.
If you want to know more about making the best first impression possible and how to win people in general, I recommend the book named Captivate by Vanessa van Edwards.
Deadly Scenario You Want to Avoid
Imagine you come to a new company and a new project. Someone shows you the room where your team is located.
You get in and ask:
“May I have your attention, please?”
Then several minutes, they get together to listen to you. You give your boring speech that no one cares about, and no one remembers what you talked about.
So we’re going to change it right now!
But first, I need to tell you about the sources of power or sources of authority you have.
Sources of Power of a Project Manager
By default, your title of a project manager, even the junior project manager, gives you the Formal Power
But you should never use it!
You also have power and authority from your ability to Reward and Penalize people and from your Expert Knowledge.
But from day one, no one knows that you have it.
That’s why to get your initial authority in a new team, you need to tap into the Referral Source of Power.
Let me tell you how…
How to Gain Referral Power in a New Team
In essence, it means someone needs to introduce you and give credit to your experience and your knowledge.
Ideally, it should be your boss or someone from leadership.
But you can ask a project manager that you substitute on this project or a project manager who interviewed you as well.
If no one is available from these people, ask the recruiters or HR guys to help you.
And here’s the magic of this approach:
When someone introduces you, it doesn’t sound like you brag about yourself, your achievements, and certifications. Someone else gives credit to your skills, knowledge, and experience, and that’s great.
And here’s all they need to tell:
“Hey, Team, here’s Peter. He is a project manager and a great leader. He is a certified PMP and has five years of experience in our field. I hope you’ll like him as much as we did in the interviews.”
Did you notice it’s just three sentences that cover everything that your team needs to know about you as the introduction from your leadership?
And believe me:
If you overcome your fear of asking your leadership about such kinds of introductions, you’ll be able to build a rapport with your new team ten times faster.
PRO Technique: Personal Introduction to a New Team
Now we’ll talk about this powerful Technique of the Individual Introduction to your team members.
After that, I will tell you how to introduce yourself to the project’s stakeholders and the clients of the project.
But before that, you may want to learn about some practical leadership techniques explained in this video:
Biggest Mistake to Avoid During First Few Days on a New Project
There is one mistake that many project managers make on a new project during their first few days:
They focus too much on the processes, state of the project, and communication they need to review.
They don’t focus on people.
You want to position yourself as a leader.
That’s why I recommend you spend these first few days with your new team members by asking them three simple questions.
It takes five to seven minutes per person maximum.
So here’s what you want to ask:
- What do you do on the project?
- What do you like about the project?
- And what don’t you like about this project, and is there a way I can fix it?
The first two questions will help you to learn more about your new team members. The last one will help you to gain a quick win in the coming weeks.
Here’s the trick:
The majority of your new team members won’t have any severe problems, and you will be able to fix some of them in the coming weeks.
This way, you will show that you care about them, that you are proactive, that you solve problems for them, and that you are part of the team.
Likewise, this short conversation will open up and allow you to communicate more with these people. Maybe during a coffee break, you can ask more personal questions to learn more about your team members.
How to Introduce Yourself to Other Project Stakeholders
How to introduce yourself to people who were not in the room here?
And the process here is similar:
You need to ask your boss to send an email and introduce you as a project manager. Then, you will follow up with your email, where you will introduce yourself from a leader’s perspective.
If these stakeholders are collocated in one office, you DO WANT to meet them in person.
But you again want to ask someone to introduce you to these people.
In this personal meeting, you ask the same three questions:
- What do they do on the project?
- What do they like about the project?
- What are the main challenges that they see from their perspective regarding this project that you should be aware of?
Note it down!
It’s crucial information about your project.
OK, let’s move on.
How to Introduce Yourself to Clients and Sponsors of the Project
How do you introduce yourself to clients and sponsors of your projects and other main stakeholders?
Again, the process is similar:
Someone needs to introduce you first. Then, you follow up with your personal introduction.
I do recommend that you do it in person if possible. If they are overseas, for sure, do make a video call. Let them see you and your expressions and watch for their faces.
It will make better contact.
However, after your introduction, what you say to them is a bit different from what you say to your team members.
You need to focus on the business aspects that these clients value the most. 👇
- Do they need more transparency from the project work?
- Do they want more efficiency and save some money?
- Do they want some extra value that your team can provide?
And second, do ask about the challenges that you can fix right now.
If they have no challenges and say nothing about it – do assure Clients that you will put your most effort into delivering projects for them on time and within budget.
You need to spell it out!👆
Last but not least.
Plan Regular Meetings With New Clients Right after the Introduction
I do recommend you plan regular meetings with your clients and sponsors in the future. You need to do it right at the first meeting.
During this initial period, you want to control the expectations and perceptions of your work on a daily basis.
If possible, do communicate with them for a few minutes every day. If not, at least several times a week.
Don’t leave it all for email communications where you don’t see their emotions and expressions.
Introduction to a new project team shouldn’t be scary or complicated. Just follow these processes, and you will build great relationships with your team from day number one.
Speech: How to Introduce Yourself on a New Project
And right after this short introduction, it’s your time to speak.
You need to prepare your speech in advance!
Thinking about what to tell a new team on the fly is a bad idea because you have only one chance to make your first impression.
Moreover, there’s one piece of information that you need to learn about in advance before you get into the room with your project team.
You need to ask about some history of the project. Learn about one or two achievements of these teams so that you can use it in your speech.
So now you are ready to prepare your speech for the new team.
I’ve got you covered here because right now, I’ll give you a step-by-step formula to create a brief and powerful introduction to a new team.
What You Need to Say First in Your Introduction
So here’s what you need to keep in mind:
Your boss or your leadership will introduce you from a professional standpoint as a project manager. You want to position yourself as a leader of this team.
Your new team doesn’t need a new manager who will take the glory for their work.
They need a leader who understands them and who will make their life easier.
And first of all, you say:
“Hello, I’m Dmytro, I am your new project manager BUT…”
But keep in mind you don’t want to use your formal authority from the start! And with this “but,” you remove this formal part and continue to position yourself as a leader.
And you can say something like:
“…BUT I like to think of myself as a part of the team who helps you to do your best job. I am here to remove all the distractions and help you to apply your best expertise. People like you don’t need a manager. You just need some guidance with processes and workflows.”
Follow Up With Your Key Leadership Principles
You can add two or three points here.
For example, you may say something like:
“I believe in eight eight-hour workdays, and my priority would be to ensure that your personal life will not suffer from my professional decisions.”
I recommend you highlight your key leadership principles here.
It should be something that you strongly believe in and something that you will implement in real life.
Next, Give a Praise to the Team
In the next point of your speech, you need to give praise to your new team. That’s something that you learn in advance.
You can say something as simple as:
“I heard you did a great job for two years before me, so you know what to do. You are the experts here.”
Ensure That You Will Not Make Dramatic Changes
And the next step is to ensure that there won’t be any dramatic or unexpected changes to the way they work on this project.
And you can say something like:
“I will need your support for the first few weeks, and then we’ll work together to make this project the best one in the company.”
Wrap Your Speech, Keep it Short
And after that, you want to start wrapping up your speech and say something like:
“I want to speak personally with every one of you.”
And believe me, if your team is under 50 people, it’s still feasible to do it in one or two days.
I strongly recommend you do this because it’s the most powerful thing I discovered in recent years. I’ll show you how it works below.
Make Yourself Available for Conversation
The last thing you need to do is to show them:
“Here is my place. I’ll be sitting here. You can come up with any problem that you have. I’m open for any discussion.”
That’s the format for your speech, and you need to prepare it in advance.
Conclusion
The fact is this article was just one piece of a complex project management framework.
If you are like most project managers, you don’t have formal education. It means you must collect bits and pieces from such articles and YouTube videos.
You have two options now:
Option #1: Try to figure it all out on your own and slow down your career for years.
Option #2: Let me explain the whole project management framework in 45 minutes.
My Full Project Management Tutorial explains how project management works in the real world as a system.
Don’t put your projects and reputation at risk. Ensure you know how all critical processes and tools work.
All successful project managers know it’s better to learn from someone else’s experience (aka lessons learned). Tap into my 12 years of practical IT experience and get access to the Full PM Tutorial now.