You’ve just got your first promotion into management and many of those who will report to you were previously your coworkers. You’ve been through fire together as peers, but now you’re the boss. Will your relationship with your colleagues change? A better question: How could it not?
So. How do you maintain trust? How do you make sure your team still feels comfortable walking up to you and voicing their hearts?When you become the boss, you may notice that the frustrations your team feels about their work, company leadership — or you — go silent. And those frustrations are valuable data to you as a leader. But to assume no news is good news is not a wise option. Instead, start with the assumption that your watercooler badge has been taken away.
You might say something like, “Hey folx, I wanted to gather everyone together to talk about this next season for our team. I have a different role now and I want to use it to make things better. I don’t want to lose your trust in the process, and I want you to know that I’m committed to creating a psychologically safe work environment where we feel comfortable speaking candidly, disagreeing, and sharing ideas without fear of repercussions.
Pay attention to facial expressions on Zoom, and follow up with people when something seems off. You could say, “Hey, I noticed you didn’t seem quite yourself this morning — just wanted to check in and see if you were doing ok or if you had additional thoughts about the meeting.” The best way to handle yellow flags is with empathy and validation. Raising a concern feels risky, so your team members need to know that they can trust you before they’ll be willing to share their concerns. Start by acknowledging the person’s courage and initiative in trying to deal with a sticky situation or for opening up to you. Make sure you hear them out entirely before beginning to problem-solve, explain, or defend.
For instance, you may discover that your team feels like there’s a lack of consistency in how new ideas are rolled out in the organization. Maybe they’re not sure when and where to provide their opinions about changes that impact their individual workflows. Or perhaps there’s a disconnect between your leaders and those who implement their visions, meaning you need to build a stronger communication bridge.
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