In a new place, spend the first week mostly watching. You’ll learn who really runs things.

Titles tell you the official arrangement and very little about the working one. In the first week you can still see everything, because nothing has become normal yet and nobody is managing their behaviour around you. That window closes fast, and after a month the place looks obvious and you stop noticing what you would have seen on day three.

Keep a few notes during your first week. Who people check with, who gets interrupted, who can make a decision without asking. Then act on it quietly, since you do not need to tell anyone what you worked out.