Çiğdem Karadeniz PCC, CPCC, ORSC

Career Coach

• Your new position

Congratulations on your new appointment! But don’t think that everybody is happy for your promotion. Some people are extremely unhappy for not being chosen. They may be jealous of your new position. This is not about you. Some people unavoidably want to see your failure. And some, who obey would start to invest on you. Perhaps, for them the ticket to success is in your hands. Though they are not malignant, their approach is unpleasant.

Some test you soon. They examine you by asking questions. If your answers cannot satisfy them things look bad for you; you either confess that you don’t know the answer and or brazen it out. At bottom, reason they ask those questions is to prove you are not knowledgeable enough and to embarrass you in this way.

Most of them – I hope most of them- will wait and assess your attitude. As you show your ability they will score and either judge you or glorify you. This is expected of people and a healthy approach.

• Exercising authority

One thing that new managers fail at is to use their authority in the right place. If the newly appointed manager starts “acting boss” and give orders to, especially in an arrogant and domineering manner, this could be a bad start. You may not hear what is spoken but people will be talking behind: “he/she got carried away after his/her promotion “ or “lost his/her senses because of his/her responsibilities” or “he/she got above his/her self”.

You don’t need this. If you don’t crack the wip, exercising authority when necessary will be bowed down with respect. Then people whom you lead will accept the fact that you are their manager with admiration. Exercising authority not in subject to people but in relation to the position is more effective. Exercising authority at all times is not eminently useful.

• Building personal relationships

On the first days you may have to communicate every one in your area of responsibility. Don’t do this in the first week. Let people get used to your new role, be comfortable with it. If you do it right after your promotion, they can feel under pressure or be daunted. When it’s time to talk you can call for a meeting in your office talk and ask sufficiently. The first meeting should point the way to communication not for an exhaustive conversation. (Have you noticed? People think you are a wise communicator as you allow them to express themselves)

• If your friends are your subordinates

One of the major problems that new appointed managers are how to manage relationships with their friends in their departments. This is a question you can never know to answer to. Amongst the most frequent questions are “is it right to remain friends with your former peers after you got promoted? “
One thing is certain; your approach to all your team members should be unbiased. Real problem is not you favouring them but sometimes being more demanding to them in comparison to the other team members.

• Team restructuring

You may want to restructure your team in time. You had better not do this shortly after your promotion. It is more appropriate to get to know your team betters well and understand their roles. Restructuring is a stressful situation for every member of your team. It will be only just if you really think it is necessary. Of course you can fix the possible mistakes during the restructuring process afterwards but it is better not to start with making mistakes.

• Managing your mood

Subordinates attach importance to your moods a lot – especially if you often have a changing mood. Mature manager does not have tantrums- maturity is not measured by age by the way. Forthright, real and honest furiousness could work sometimes.

• Managing your emotions

You should work on your state of mind. But tone that is not effected by anything is not also right – a person who is always joyous, always sad or a person who has no emotions what so ever. If you mask your spirit people will not get to know you. Being calm at any time is a different situation. Sometimes there are reasons for remaining calm. If you can keep your cool even in the toughest situations, you are taking a concrete step to solve most troublesome problems. That means you can think clearly and find a way out easily. If you can share your feelings without losing your cool people will understand that you are their manager not a robot.