Volume 2 Issue 1

Q & A

Q: About three months ago, I got promoted to a supervisory position. I've been with the company for a little over a year and worked with the guys I now supervise. I'm having a hard time dealing with some of them because they are also my friends. My boss told me that I have to understand that being a supervisor is not a popularity contest, I have to ignore the past and deal with the present. I know she's right. I'm just not sure how to do it. I wonder if you could give me some pointers on how to deal with this.

A: This situation comes up often in our training sessions. It's a challenging one to resolve because it seems as though a wedge is driven between your responsibilities as a supervisor and your loyalty to your friends, now your employees. Here's what I suggest you do.

First, you should not forget the past. The relationships you have created over the last year are to be valued and can be of great benefit to everyone concerned, including the company. It all depends on how you look at it. The knowledge you have gained about the guys over the past year is now a wealth of information you can use in your new role. You know their likes and dislikes, what makes them tick, how they communicate, and what motivates them. Let's face it, more often than not, employees who get together outside of work, tend to talk about work. They often complain about or disagree with changes that are taking place. They criticize management's approach in dealing with a multitude of issues and are often disgruntled because their suggestions for improvement were not adopted, or even listened to. The list goes on. It's important to understand how powerful that information is. Why not use it to make positive changes in your department? Too often, managers discount the collective intelligence and skills base of their employees when making change. Don't make that mistake. The more you involve your people in the change process, the less resistant they will be to it.

Secondly, communicate the specific difficulties you are experiencing with some of the guys. Let them know how challenging it is for you to separate personal feelings from business issues. I suspect that you will be pleasantly surprised as to how receptive and helpful they will be. I believe that this world consists of three types of people. There are those who wait for things to happen, those who talk about things that happen and those who make things happen. The choice is yours.