A short advisory video (speaker: Anthony LaFazia) on moving from employee to supervisor after an internal promotion. Key guidance: establish authority early but gradually (use consult-and-decide), set fair processes focused on business goals, build a competent team and delegate via clear goals/metrics with task scope scaled to team size, manage disappointed colleagues with empathy and case-by-case timing (transfer only if performance suffers), and create an open-communication culture while recalibrating internal advice networks.
Chapters
Making the shift from employee to supervisor takes time and patience, especially when you're promoted from within and need to now leave former peers. Luckily, there are some steps that you can take to make this transition a little smoother. First, establish your new authority early on and with consistency. This doesn't mean you need to go into the boardroom yelling and slamming your fist. Authority is about walking that line between not having enough and having too much control. There's a happy medium that can be found by shelving some of your immediate changes in exchange for getting to know the culture better. A change in leadership style should be gradual for the most success. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't make any changes. Some people call this the consult and decide model, in which changes are made slowly over time with input. This method lets employees have a voice while also demonstrating decisiveness on your part. Establishing authority and your leadership style early on will make changes and new initiatives later easier and more readily accepted. When a new promotion first happens, many former peers may wonder what your agenda is. Are you going to play favorites? Use those below you as a stepping stone to advance yourself. One way to avoid this is to always do what's right for the business or towards meeting a goal. When decisions are framed in this way, it doesn't take long for employees to realize that what you're doing has nothing to do with them and everything to do with what's right for the project at hand. Establish and uphold processes that are fair and advance the needs of the company, not yourself or a specific person. Delegation is always an important part of any leadership role. Managers can't and shouldn't be responsible for every aspect of the business. One mistake many leaders make is in the how and what of delegation. Before you can delegate any task or responsibilities, you first have to set up a team of competent people whom you trust, establish goals and metrics for measuring their progress, and decide how this translates into specific tasks. Once you've set up these basic steps of how to delegate, it's time to decide what to delegate. This often depends on the size of the team that you're leading. A smaller team more easily lends itself to specific task delegations. For example, Johnny is going to call five clients to explain our new product. As the number of people on your team increases, these tasks become less specific and more focused on projects, processes, and functions. In this example, you might ask a team of 10 people to complete the function of each, ensuring all clients are informed of the new project. Anytime a promotion occurs, one person gets the job and several people don't this can sometimes lead to hard feelings and resentment, which is especially difficult if you now have to manage those who didn't get the job that they wanted. When these feelings begin impacting their work performance, it may be time to discuss the possibility of transferring them to a different department or team. However, they may just need time to process their disappointment and accept that you were the best person for the job. For this to happen, you need to decide how and when to address this with them. Some employees are ready to talk right away, while others may need some time. Some need empathy, while others prefer a more direct approach. Taking the time to get to know each employee will help you decide the best way to address these issues. The way that you communicate with others inside the business will change as well. Remember that your employees who used to be your peers are going to communicate with you differently now. They may even be afraid to tell you some information. It's a good idea to set up a culture of open communication to avoid being left in the dark. This means sharing as much information as you can with your employees and also allowing them to share with you without fear of punishment. Your network inside the organization will also change. Those people who you used to go to for advice may no longer be an option. You're going to have to reevaluate what and to whom you share information or ask questions. Here.
