From Peer to Supervisor…Managing the Minefield

Congratulations! You’ve just been notified by your boss that you received the promotion. You’re both excited and scared. Excited because your hard work is paying off, and your salary just increased by 35 percent. Nervous because three other peers on your team also applied for the job and will be notified this afternoon that they didn’t receive the promotion. These three team members have been at the company longer than you have, and all three have more technical knowledge about the job than you do. All three likely think they are more seasoned and a better choice for the management role than you.

Promotions are big accomplishments worth celebrating. But when the promotion means you’re switching from peer to supervisor, the transition can get tricky. Feelings of resentment and disappointment may be felt by your former peers, and establishing credibility as a new leader can be tough.

Being a leader is challenging enough without direct reports who don’t support you, or worse, attempt to undermine you. To help you establish your credibility as a leader and build relationships based on respect, here are 11 tips to help you successfully make the transition from peer to supervisor.

Respect the past

When you step into your new leadership role, it is critical that you avoid putting down the previous leader or the work of the team. Honor the team and each team member’s past while you build them a new vision and bridge to a better future. Even if you have a ton of new ideas for how to improve the team, tread lightly at first. Your goal in these first few days is to build relationships with team members.
 

Be humble

Sometimes, people who progress from peer to supervisor forget about the relationship skills that helped them earn their new position in the first place. They resort to relying on their title to gain authority and get things done. Don’t let your new title go to your head. Care about the success of your people and the company, and value your team members’ opinions and contributions. This approach will help you build relationships with people who will want to follow you.
I cover the mistakes arrogant leaders make and specific tips for confident and humble leadership in my new book, Why Leaders Fail. You can order a copy by clicking here.

Acknowledge the team members who didn’t get your job

You know the three team members who didn’t get the job are probably hurt and disappointed. Don’t make the mistake of not acknowledging their feelings. Ignoring them tells these team members that you lack the confidence to deal with a difficult situation. Acknowledge the situation by saying something along the lines of, “I know you’re likely disappointed that you didn’t get the job – I know I would be. But I want you to know I’m aware of the significant contributions you make to this team, and I will be asking for your input and ideas as we make decisions moving forward. I value your opinion a lot and I want to make sure I provide you with all the support you need to be successful.”
 

Meet with people one-on-one and ask them the following questions:

• What is going well and right with our department or your position?
• What are the areas of concern, that if improved would build an even stronger department or make your contributions to the department even more valuable?
• What are your expectations of me as your supervisor?
• What can I do to help you be successful?

Set clear expectations in the following areas:

• Communication with each other
• Goals and outcomes
• Clarifying priorities

When you deal with these expectations up front, it helps build trust in the relationship and eliminate negative surprises and disappointment.
 

Be friendly and caring… but don’t be friends

Many new supervisors take pride in their ability to be friends with the people they supervise. Maybe you all used to party together and discuss the shortcomings of your last supervisor, but continuing to do so is not in your best interest as a new leader. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be friendly and care about the people you now supervise. Just don’t be friends. Friendship makes tough leadership decisions even harder. We recently worked on a project where the supervisor was Facebook friends with all of his direct reports. When the supervisor went out and did anything with a direct report (like get drunk) every other direct report got to read about it the next morning. Don’t share intimate details of your personal life. This type of friendship does nothing to build respect for a leader.
 

Be fair

Distribute work equally. Give deserved praise to both the people you find easy to work with as well as those team members you might consider negative or difficult to deal with. When projects that are perceived as “the good projects” in terms of development and career growth opportunities, ensure the projects are distributed equally.

Hold team members accountable

When you don’t hold people accountable, two issues arise. First, the employee who isn’t accountable likely knows they’re not doing what is expected of them, and therefore doesn’t respect you for your failure to hold them accountable. Second, all the other team members know this person isn’t doing what they’re supposed to do. They know you’re not holding this person accountable, and therefore don’t respect you either. As an added bonus, the accountability of other team members will also start to falter when they know you’re not confident enough to deal with this type of conflict.
 

Work hard

Be a role model. Working hard doesn’t mean working the most hours. As the leader, your job is to create significant value that enables your team members and your team to be successful and accomplish their goals. This is achieved by driving the vision, setting clear goals, and putting the right team members on the bus. Work hard (and efficiently) to give your team what they need to succeed in their roles, and then get out of their way.
 

Over-communicate

Ensure everyone on your team knows what the right and left hand are doing. Copy multiple people on emails to ensure everyone is on the same page. Hold consistent weekly or bi-weekly meetings. Communicate in a way that works for the team and ensures no one is ever negatively surprised.
 

Recognize often

Recognize your team members’ success and contributions daily. If you don’t think your people are the ones who are truly responsible for your success, picture every single one of your team members calling in tomorrow morning and quitting… without notice. If that scenario were to happen, you’d be guaranteed a meeting with HR to talk about your leadership and team building skills, or lack thereof. Second, there’s a really good chance that we may be called in to help figure out what actions need to be taken so that incident never happens again.

Transitioning into a new management role is a big step. When that step takes you from peer to supervisor, you face additional hurdles on your path to becoming a successful leader. But if you incorporate the tips above, you will be well on your way to earning the respect of your team members and credibility as a successful leader.