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Submitted by bteachman on
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I was the first person to have a position that was always out sourced in the past. Being the first person to have the job and it being a technical job I was made part of the I.T. department. With the growth of the company I was lucky enough to become a lead and hire five people to work under me with in a year of getting my first position. Now due continued growth and outstanding performance from my team we have been given the opportunity to become our own department. This new department would report directly to the General managers of the company with a dotted line to the CIO and one of the I.T. directors.

This has left me with some questions and difficult decisions. I was hoping some one may have advice or has been through this situation before.

How should I properly tell my team about the change? Is a team meeting the proper place to tell my team?

With this change I have been given the opportunity to promote one of my team members to take my old position. Three of my team want the position, but only one is ready. I have talked about it the opportunity with the one that will be taking the position. I have be coaching the other two and trying to get them in a position to move forward. Do I tell every one about the promotions in the meeting about the change to a department or do I wait till next weeks one on ones?

Thank you in advance for the help.

Mark's picture
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I'm not sure of the timing here, but one thing I can be certain of is that you should be interviewing all the folks who want the job. This gives you a platform for your feedback to the other two, and to really dig into the one who seems ready. It will provide new insight, and he will feel not that he "got" the job, but rather that he EARNED it.

And OTHERS will see that as well.

It sure sounds like everyone already knows. You may argue, but I bet it's so. Nevertheless, a team meeting is a good place to announce it, [b]assuming someone above you isn't doing this, which they ought to be.[/b] If you're heading the department, someone else is creating it, and that person is the appropriate announcer.

Announce it a meeting. Before you do so, prep the announcement, and if you must, read it to get it right. Further, in advance, plan on meeting shortly (within 48 hours) afterwards with each team member, to repeat the announcement and give them some additional info that you believe they specifically will want to know. (If you think everyone wants the same thing, you're in trouble). Having prepped for both the general and individual meetings, have the general, and review and modify your individual meeting prep based on questions and response from everyone. The individual meetings also allow for individual questions from the team.

Don't wait for one on ones.

If you still have time, interview for the role.

Mark