From Buddy to Boss: 3 Tips for Managing Former Peers

Promoted to manager of your former peers? Talk about a challenging dynamic!

Watch this video for three simple strategies to make the transition smoother and to help you build a healthy working relationship with your peer-turned-employee.

• Read the video transcript

  Being a new manager is hard enough on its own, but what happens so often is that we end up promoting into management and then managing one or more former peers. Right?! Here I was working side by side with this person, and all of a sudden, now I'm their manager. And it's hard for both parties really.

  This happened recently to one of my clients and just seeing the challenge unfold reminded me that this is an important topic for a Two-Minute Tip.

  So I want to offer you three strategies today if you are in that situation, okay? And they all start with "A" so you should be able to remember them.

  The first strategy is to "Acknowledge the awkward." Right? If you land the job, maybe they even interviewed for the same job. Just acknowledge upfront that, yeah, this could be a little bit challenging. And you get that. You empathize with their position. You want to be able to have open dialogue with them to ensure you can create a healthy relationship moving forward. So acknowledge the awkwardness, okay?

  The second strategy is to "Ask for their input, their ideas, their insights often." Right? This communicates to them that you value their perspective. You realize they may have insights that you don't have. And so it's simple, but asking for their input, their insights, their ideas often will go a long way for building trust and really helping them feel valued in the relationship.

  And then the third one, little curveball here, is to "Act like their manager." What I see happen all too often is that we're so afraid of coming across now as superior or arrogant and so we actually shy away and no longer act like the person's manager with authority. And that's going to damage the relationship as well. And so you need to actually have the confidence to act like their manager in this situation, okay?

  Those are your three strategies for those situations where you suddenly find yourself managing a former peer.