Sam knew he deserved the promotion to Operations Supervisor in the pharmaceutical company’s lab where he worked, and was he ever glad. There were some people who were such slouches, he couldn’t wait to bring them in line. Not his close circle of friends, of course – they were all hard workers. That’s what they had in common. At last he could hold people accountable, insist on fair productivity expectations for all, and reward the hard workers.
Risk of Bossiness
Newly promoted managers sometimes mistake their new role as license to be demanding and domineering. This generally lasts a fairly short time, as staff provide feedback in the form of non-compliance, resignation, complaints, or even sabotage. It is a mistake to believe that position power automatically comes with personal authority, which is the root of persuasiveness and inspiration. Personal authority is earned by being trusted and trust worthy, which means being reasonably transparent and politely direct.
Those who are newly promoted need to dig deeper into self awareness, values, strengths and blind spots if they are going to succeed at developing followers.
Risk of Being a Buddy
The opposite risk for new managers, which is just as common, is that instead of being bossy, they can mistakenly believe that their new power will not change anything among their friends. They continue to hang out with, have lunch with, and complain with their old buddies.
There are two big problems with this. One is, this can very quickly be perceived by those outside of the circle as an unfair clique, based on friendship not merit. Even a meticulously fair manager risks that accusation when socializing with a small group.
The other big problem is that these buddies can misread the continued congeniality as a license to refuse tasks they would rather not do. They may refuse to accept feedback to improve performance that their buddy-manager finds unacceptable.
The Middle Road
To be successful in his new role, Sam needs, well he needs a lot. But for now, let’s just highlight the two risks of managing in one of these two ways:
- Bossy
- Buddy
Instead, Sam needs to:
- Provide clarity to his staff about his own new role, scope, responsibilities, and deliverables.
- Inspire staff to help achieve goals the organization will require of the group.
- Meet individually with group members to elicit their strengths and job satisfaction.
- Meet with the team in well structured group meetings.
- Use first hand experiences to formulate assessments of staff capabilities.
- Convey clear expectations in advance of deadlines and performance evaluations.
- Hold everyone accountable to those clearly communicated expectations.
- Be open to disagreement and express curiosity when complaints arise.
Then he has a greater chance to build trust and inspire followers to follow his leadership.