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Hi, I will be manager of my former collegues soon. Is there some podcast about what I should say on the first day as manager and how I should start managing my former collegues?

Thanks in advance!

williamelledgepe's picture
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Kevin1's picture

Hi,

The answer is different if you are currently an individual contriutor and are going to be their new manager, or if you are currently a group of managers and you are going to become their director.

If the former is the case, then you can do a few things.  Firstly, understand your new position.  You are no longer part of their group in the same way.  Listen to the cast 'Welcome to They' as a good starter.  Once you have the right mindset, you can start to talk to them.

Although this might not work for you, I'd take each of them out for a coffee, and ask them what concerns they have about the new changes.  Listening to them and acknowledging their concerns is a good start.  

If the Trinity is already in use, then you can talk about it.  If not, don't.  Listen to the cast on rolling out the Trinity and wait.  Wait until you are in the role and take all the time recommended to introduce it.  You will really benefit from a long period of positive feedback.

If you are a manager moving to a director, then the group should already have some level of organisational awareness and understand the role of manager and director a lot more than is the case at the lower level.  You can have more open discussions with this group and move a bit faster, but don't try and move too fast.  Even for this group, positive feedback will help you settle into the role.

In both cases, pay careful attention to anyone disgruntled by your promotion.  They can undermine you if you don't handle them early.

Hope this helps,

Kev

 

kjcryblskey's picture

I experienced a similar situation when I was promoted into my current role.  The team I took over was not familiar with Manager Tools so implementing the Trinity made a world of difference.  I was also taking over for a manager that resigned rather than face termination and did not have a good relationship with his directs (three of which were managers).  Conducting weekly O3s quickly gained the trust of my team and demonstrated to them that I was on their side, something that they did not feel from the previous manager.

One of my new directs (manager) was clearly incompetent in a number of core skills (written communication, oral communication, delegation, succession plannng, etc.), however, he had been in the role for over 7 years.  I began giving this direct feedback on his deficiencies and began coaching to improve.  Feedback that I received from my director at the time as well as HR was that my coaching efforts were showing progess, but my direct frequently resorted to old habits.

Eventually this direct committed an egregious safety violation.  My director had recently changed so my new director was unfamiliar with the history of my direct.  When it came time to ultimately terminate him, my director as well as his supervisor questioned me as to why I had not been more aggressive when I had not seen drastic improvement. 

The bottom line is that when taking a leadership role over former peers or colleagues, establish your expectations up front and then hold your directs accountable.  Document any observed shortcomings and begin feedback and coaching quickly.  If they aren't meeting your expectations within 6 months, start working with HR to start a formal PIP or the termination process, depending on the severity.  (There's a cast for this part.)

Good luck in your new role.  Hope this helps.