Hey Swathika,
Cheers for your new role.
You have a great advantage as you are becoming a test manager from a testing background.
Sometimes, test managers don’t have testing background or hands-on background and they just stay disconnected from the team.
Few tips from my experience:
- Give agency to your team
- Listen to their thoughts and give credits (explicitly)
- Don’t try to make more than 10% change at a time to start with (otherwise there are risks & fears in the team that you might just change everything).
- Seek feedback from the team about the changes that you introduce for them. If need be, always be ready to roll back.
- Understand the cultural aspects of both the shores (on & off) and then try to reduce the on & off shore barriers. Everyone should feel like one team.
- Read “Becoming a Technical Leader” by Jerry Weinberg if you have time and want to have some amazing hacks.
Also, would recommend this video by Ajay B on this topic: Top 5 Mistakes of a New Manager by Ajay Balamurugadas (youtube.com)