Boss!!! Not Peer Anymore.....

End of the appraisal period always bring many new surprises for all of us sometimes pleasant and sometimes not so amusing...
One such surprise comes when amongst all your peers suddenly you are given a promotion and the situation is little awkward for each one of you, in fact it also changes the camaraderie kinetics, especially for people reporting to you.
Share your stories....how will you tackle your peers who now have become your team members. How will you bring in the change?

Greetings,
Good one ! Here's an experience sharing from a friend who have been recently promoted. He had been working with this team for past 2 years. Though he was chosen to train them on several small projects, officially the designations remained same. Behaviorally , he is from Goa, so is friendly and amiable. When, he was communicated about his promotion, he was given a list of do's and don'ts with his team. Though, there was quite a celebration, when it was announced. He is still facing the unspoken issues. Few are taking him casually, whereas others openly doubt his capability. Strangely all this while , they trusted him with escalations and issues. Its obvious , that initial shock is yet to sink in.
It would be interesting to know , how this develops. I look forward to more from our members.
Regards,
(Cite Contribution)

Well getting promoted within the team and suddenly with team members reporting to you is obviously not an easy task to get successfully accomplished. One would have frictions and issues even over trivial things which were non-issues when you were part of the team. Apart from that competition to prove one's inability and incompetence to lead will mount in the initial phase. It requires a lot of tact, understanding, patience, time and strategy building to really cement you place as a leader-the one that your team members look up to and willfully cooperate.........................rgrds

That is one significant reason why smart organisations and large organisations rarely promote anyone and keep them in the same team. In fact, their efforts are always focused on trying to re-locate the promotee. Because, when a person starts afresh with another team as their boss, that is the only way they know that person - as a Boss! And equally importantly, smart people usually try to get promotion with each job change. That way, the entire organisation only knows them in their new capacity. How often do you see someone resign, join somewhere else, and then return with a double - promotion from where they were when they resigned the first time around!

And, if you think about it, that's how nature likes it too - especially with the big cats, bears, bovines etc... Each time a male reaches puberty, he has to leave his parent group. He must go in the wilderness and set up a whole new order all over again, or, engage the alpha male from another group until one surrenders or perishes.

Hence the saying: Managers are appointed, leaders stake their claim!

Dear Gaurav

You are quite right. That's what usually happens, though some people may be promoted to intermediate positions where they are not involved in appraising their ex-peers. I have come across a few cases like that both in idnsutry and academia. In a higher education institution when a lady was promoted it took to more than 12 months for the peers to recognise that the right person had been promoted. The lady in question kept her cool and produced results; she responded and did not react to back-biting statements made by others.

In a multi-site retail firm, a person from a different geographical location was promoted as the manager to avoid the animosity that could have arisen if one of the assistant managers had been promoted. I also have come across persons leaving a company and rejoining it after a couple of years at a much higher salary and position than held before.

Though I am digressing I found a good piece on Internal Promotion vs appointing an external candidate in a consultancy firm at Do you promote up or recruit in? | Analysis | Recruiter <link updated to site home> ( Search On Cite | Search On Google )

Have a nice day.

Simhan

A retired academic in the UK.