# The first 30 days: listen, set expectations, agree how we work > A listening round, written expectations and a short working agreement. - Course: [From Specialist to Manager: Your First Year Leading a Team](https://productovi.com/courses/from-specialist-to-manager.md) - Module: The shift: from doing to leading - Lesson 2/32, ~24 min - Source: https://productovi.com/courses/from-specialist-to-manager/the-first-30-days ## A listening round **Alex Tutor:** In week 4 your one-to-ones grew from 3 hours to 7. Your first 30 days run to early February, and the best use of those hours is a **listening round**. **Alex Tutor:** One conversation with each of the four, the same open questions for everyone. You listen, take notes and promise nothing on the spot. **Sofia:** I've worked with them for years. Don't I already know what they think? **Alex Tutor:** You know what they told a peer; a lead hears a filtered version. The idea from the course *Customer Development: Talking to Customers* works here too: don't lead the answer, ask about real recent events. **Alex Tutor:** First, a quick check on why the round matters. > **Exercise:** You've worked with the four coordinators for years. Why hold a listening round anyway, before changing anything? **Alex Tutor:** Compare "Don't you think the hand-up rule is too loose?" with "Tell me about the last ticket you passed up. What happened just before?" The first asks for a yes. The second gets a story you can learn from. > **Exercise:** Which question for the listening round is **open and doesn't lead the answer**? ## What the numbers tell you to ask **Sofia:** Here are December and January for the four of them. Taras closes the most. Shouldn't I start with whoever looks weakest? > **The four coordinators, December–January** > > | | Olha | Taras | Maryna | Bohdan | > |---|---|---|---|---| > | Tickets closed | 563 | 726 | 453 | 403 | > | Reopened | 4.09% | 9.50% | 1.77% | 3.72% | > | Positive survey answers | 91.07% | 78.24% | 94.78% | 88.03% | > | First reply, min (mean of weekly medians) | 13.5 | 10.5 | 16.38 | 36.13 | > > Eight weeks, 7 December 2026 to 31 January 2027. Team: 2,145 tickets closed, 86.93% positive survey answers. Survey answers: Taras 216, Maryna 134. **Alex Tutor:** Look again: nobody is simply weakest. Taras closes 33.85% of the team's tickets and replies fastest, but 9.50% of his tickets come back. Maryna closes 273 fewer, and only 1.77% come back. **Alex Tutor:** Bohdan replies slowest, about 36 minutes, yet his tickets rarely reopen. Each number is a question, not a verdict: what does Taras count as done? What happens in Bohdan's first half hour? **Alex Tutor:** Mind the base, too: Maryna's 94.78% rests on 134 survey answers, Taras's 78.24% on 216. In the round you listen for how each person works. You don't rank anyone from a table. > **Exercise:** Based on the December–January table, which of these are **fair things to take into the listening round**? ## The conversation with Olha **Olha:** Let's be honest: I applied for this job too. I'll answer your questions. Just don't make it a show of listening if the decisions are already made. **Sofia:** Fair. Nothing is decided yet. What has changed for you since January? **Olha:** Hard tickets used to be mine. Now Taras sends you anything tricky, and frankly so do I. Why dig in, if you'll take it anyway? **Alex Tutor:** How would you answer her, right now on the call? > **Exercise:** In the listening round Olha says: “Now Taras sends you anything tricky, and frankly so do I. Why dig in, if you'll take it anyway?” What is the best reply in the moment? **Alex Tutor:** That's gold, and it matches your January numbers. Don't argue or fix it on the spot: thank her, write it down, come back with what changes. Her guardedness is next lesson's topic. > **Exercise:** Match each listening-round question with what it is most likely to surface. ## Expectations, written down **Alex Tutor:** After the round, write two short lists: what I expect from you, and what you can expect from me. That's **setting expectations**. Said once on a call isn't enough, least of all across cities. **Sofia:** Like "Before handing a ticket up, write what you tried"? **Alex Tutor:** Yes: concrete and checkable. And the other list: "I answer hand-ups within two working hours", "I don't cancel one-to-ones", "You hear about changes before they're announced". If you can't keep a promise, don't write it. **Alex Tutor:** Five or six lines each, no more. Then ask the team what's missing. People remember expectations they helped shape. > **Exercise:** **True or false:** if the lead states expectations clearly once on a team call, writing them down adds nothing but bureaucracy. ## A working agreement **Alex Tutor:** Last step: a **working agreement**, how the team works together, not only with you. Four topics are enough: response times, which channel for what, handover when a shift ends or the power goes out, and how we disagree. **Sofia:** Do I write it and send it round? **Alex Tutor:** Draft it together in one meeting, with written comments for anyone who can't join live. Try it for a month, then review. A rule the team made is a rule the team defends. **Alex Tutor:** Lines like: "On shift, a new customer message gets a first reply within 45 minutes." "Urgent: the team chat with a tag; the rest: the ticket thread." "We disagree in the thread or on a call, never in front of a customer." **Alex Tutor:** Before the whole plan: how should the agreement itself be made? > **Exercise:** Which way of making the Support team's working agreement is most likely to stick? > **Exercise:** Put the steps of a first-30-days plan in order. ## Your turn: three lines **Alex Tutor:** Your turn. Draft three lines of the Support team's working agreement for the team to discuss. **Sofia:** Which three? **Alex Tutor:** Pick from response times, channels, handover and how we disagree. Each line should be concrete enough that two people read it the same way, and work for a remote team. **Olha:** Put one in about handover. When my power went out last week, two tickets just sat there. > **Exercise:** Draft **three lines** of the Support team's working agreement for the team to discuss. Choose from response times, channels, handover (including an outage) and how we disagree. Each line must be concrete enough that two people read it the same way. > **Key ideas** > > - Start with a **listening round**: one conversation per person, the same open questions, notes, no promises on the spot. > - Don't lead the answer. Ask about real recent events ("Tell me about the last ticket you passed up"), not for agreement. > - Numbers tell you what to ask, not whom to judge: Taras closes 33.85% of tickets with 9.50% reopened, Maryna 273 fewer with 1.77%, Bohdan replies in about 36 minutes with few reopens. > - **Setting expectations** means writing them down both ways: what you expect from the team and what they can expect from you. Only promises you can keep. > - A **working agreement** covers response times, channels, handover and how we disagree. Draft it with the team, try it for a month, review it. **Alex Tutor:** Next time: the authority you have and the influence you earn, and the rest of the conversation with Olha. - Previous lesson: [Your output is now the team's output](https://productovi.com/courses/from-specialist-to-manager/your-output-is-the-teams.md) - Next lesson: [Authority you have, influence you earn](https://productovi.com/courses/from-specialist-to-manager/authority-and-influence.md) --- Productovi Learning. Free, no sign-up needed to read.