The previous article in this series can be found here

Congratulations, you survived your first month! You’ve had your coffee chats, nodded knowingly at things you didn’t understand, and probably said “let me circle back on that” more times than you care to admit. But now? Now the real fun begins.

Days 31-60 are when the training wheels come off and people start expecting you to actually, you know, manage things. This is your learning phase—think of it as management boot camp, but with more spreadsheets and fewer drill sergeants (hopefully).

The Honeymoon is Over: Time to Identify the Real Problems

Remember how polite everyone was in your first month? How meetings ran smoothly and everyone seemed to agree on everything? Yeah, that was adorable. Welcome to month two, where people start bringing you their actual problems.

Indra Nooyi, who led PepsiCo for 12 years, once said that “the first woman of color and first immigrant to head a Fortune 50 company” had to quickly learn to identify what was really going on beneath the surface. When she took over at PepsiCo, she didn’t just look at the obvious challenges—she dug into the cultural and operational patterns that were creating bigger issues.

Here’s what you need to do

Map the real workflow, not the ideal one. That process everyone described to you in month one? It’s probably not how things actually work. Spend time observing how work really flows through your team. Where are the bottlenecks? What workarounds has everyone developed that they forgot to mention?

Listen for the frustrated sighs. People will start being more honest about what’s actually broken. When someone says, “Oh, we always have issues with that system,” don’t just nod—dig deeper. Those throwaway comments are gold mines of information.

Identify the pattern behind the complaints. If three different people complain about three different things, look for the common thread. Often, individual problems are symptoms of a bigger systemic issue.

Carlos Rodriguez, who became CEO of ADP in 2011, learned this lesson early in his career. During his first management role, he noticed that his team kept missing deadlines, but each instance seemed unrelated. It wasn’t until month two that he realized the real problem: their project management system was so clunky that people were creating their own workarounds, which meant nobody had visibility into what was actually happening. Once he identified the pattern, he could address the root cause.

Building Credibility: It’s Not About Being the Smartest Person in the Room

Here’s the thing about credibility: it’s not built by having all the answers. It’s built by asking the right questions and then actually doing something with the information you get.

Ursula Burns, who broke barriers as the first Black woman CEO of a Fortune 500 company when she led Xerox, understood that credibility came from taking action on small improvements that made people’s lives better. Burns changed the workplace by focusing on practical solutions that addressed real frustrations.

Smart credibility moves in days 31-60:

Fix the annoying little things. Is the conference room always booked? Are expense reports a nightmare? Does the coffee machine eat people’s money? These might seem trivial, but fixing them shows you’re paying attention to what actually affects people’s daily experience.

Follow through on commitments from month one. Remember all those things you said you’d “look into”? Now’s the time to actually look into them and report back. Even if the answer is “we can’t fix this right now,” explaining why builds trust.

Share what you’re learning. Don’t pretend to know everything. Instead, try: “I’ve been researching this issue, and here’s what I’ve found…” People appreciate transparency about your learning process.

Finding Your Management Style: It’s Not About Copying Your Favorite Boss

This is where things get really interesting—and where most new managers completely overthink everything. You’re probably wondering: “Should I be the friendly manager or the strict one? The hands-on type or the delegator? The one who brings donuts or the one who brings spreadsheets?”

Plot twist: your management style isn’t a costume you put on. It’s an evolution of who you already are, adapted for the specific needs of your team and situation.

Ken Chenault, who led American Express as CEO for 17 years, developed his leadership approach by understanding that authenticity trumps imitation every time. He didn’t try to be like other successful leaders—he figured out how to be himself in a leadership role.

How to start developing your style:

Notice what energizes you. Do you love solving complex problems? Are you excited about helping people develop new skills? Do you thrive on building processes that make things run smoothly? Your natural interests will point you toward your management strengths.

Pay attention to what works. When you have a conversation that goes really well, or when you help someone work through a problem successfully, what did you do? Those moments are clues to your natural management approach.

Experiment with different approaches. Try being more hands-on with one project and more hands-off with another. See which approach gets better results with different team members. There’s no rule that says you have to manage everyone exactly the same way.

The Learning Phase Reality Check

Let’s be honest about what days 31-60 actually feel like:

You’ll feel like you’re drinking from a fire hose. The amount of information coming at you is overwhelming. Every conversation reveals three new problems you didn’t know existed. This is normal.

You’ll question every decision. Should you have said yes to that request? Was that the right way to handle that conflict? Did you just make everything worse? Also normal.

You’ll realize how much you don’t know. Remember how confident you felt about management before you actually became a manager? Cute. The good news is that recognizing what you don’t know is the first step toward learning it.

You’ll start to see patterns. By the end of month two, you’ll begin to understand the rhythm of your team, the real challenges they face, and where you can make the biggest impact.

The “Small Improvements” Strategy That Actually Works

Here’s what doesn’t work: trying to solve every problem at once. Here’s what does work: identifying 2-3 small improvements that will have an outsized impact on your team’s daily experience.

Ayan Mukerji, who became a team lead at a software company in 2018, used what he calls the “friction audit” approach. He spent his second month identifying the top three things that created unnecessary friction for his team. The winners? A confusing project handoff process, a weekly meeting that nobody found useful, and a shared drive that was organized like a digital junk drawer.

Instead of trying to fix everything, he tackled one friction point at a time. The result? His team’s productivity increased, and more importantly, they started bringing him other problems because they trusted he would actually address them.

Your friction audit checklist:

• What takes longer than it should?
• What requires too many approvals?
• What causes the most frustration in daily work?
• What information is hard to find?
• What processes make people want to create workarounds?

Implementing Your Style: Start Small, Think Big

By day 45, you should have a sense of your natural management tendencies and your team’s specific needs. Now comes the fun part: starting to implement your approach.

Sarah Kim, who became a operations manager at a logistics company in 2021, discovered that her strength was in creating systems that helped people work more efficiently. She started small—implementing a simple project tracking system that gave everyone visibility into priorities. When that worked, she expanded it to include resource allocation and timeline management.

“I didn’t announce ‘I’m implementing my management style,’” she says. “I just started doing things that felt natural to me and that helped my team get their work done better.”

The key is to start with changes that:

• Align with your natural strengths
• Address real problems your team faces
• Small enough to implement quickly
• Can be easily adjusted if they don’t work

Your Learning Phase Roadmap

Days 31-45: Deep Dive Detective Work

• Identify the top 3 challenges your team faces
• Map the real workflow (not the ideal one)
• Start experimenting with different management approaches

Days 46-60: Small Wins and Style Development

• Implement 1-2 small improvements
• Pay attention to what management approaches feel natural
• Start being more proactive about problem-solving

Ready for the Next Phase?

You’ve survived the reality check of days 31-60. You’ve identified the real challenges, started building credibility through small wins, and begun to discover your natural management style. The learning phase is tough, but it’s also where the foundation for your long-term success gets built.

Days 61-90 are when you’ll start taking bigger swings and implementing more significant changes. But that’s a story for next time.

Ready to accelerate your learning and avoid the common pitfalls? Send me a message and let’s talk about how coaching can help you navigate this phase with more confidence and less stress. Because the faster you learn, the sooner you can start making the impact you’re meant to make.