Today’s question is a sticky one, and one that I bet almost every leader can relate to at some point or another in their career…
Do you see the need to maintain some type of distance between a leader and followers?
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Now, we’d love to hear from you. How do you maintain friendships and relationships while still maintaining your new role? Leave your answer in the comments below.
I am of the opinion that when you are given a responsibility to lead at any level you have to recognize that a change may occur between two or more people based on transparency and overall work ethics.
It may not be immediate but over time people will have varying ideas and expectations which will eventually lead to a differing in both objective and outcome.
For some, the objective will become concerted into an effort in the same direction leading to a harmonious effort and that will build the relationship.
For others the constant cycles of responsibility, commitment and accountability will erode a relationship and conflict may arise.
Bottom line is how the leader responds to these challenges and how much leeway they extend before they get themselves into a questionable situation where they are called to task for their decision making.
Randy – Thanks for your comment. We are in agreement that the role change will change the relationship. Having clear expectations and a conversation about that early on will reduce the downside risk significantly.
Kevin 🙂
To further my previous comment,
It is my opinion that managers must also maintain a professional distance from each other based upon the same principles as the worker supervisor scenario.
There will com a time when the best of friends who associate beyond the work scope into their private lives will eventually be approached to jeopardize their work or personal ethics to resolve a situation.
Both the worker and the boss or the co-worker at all levels can experience the pressure to resolve a situation by capitulating to the other persons wishes which in turn directly contradicts one’s own personal paradigms.
This will then make the work experience less than what they desire and lead to complications and work dissatisfaction.
I moved from bud to boss 5 years ago, leading a team of computer programmers in a helpdesk environment. One thing that I have had to do was recognize the expectations of the individuals based on their cultural background. I have a small but very diverse team of people from the US, South Africa, India, (formerly East) Germany, and Costa Rica. The daily business environment in those countries is not exactly the same as the US. For example, India seems to be much more formal in the office relationships, more like the US in the 1950s to 1960s. Titles and status are much more important to my Indian employees than others. I have tried to learn about each person as individuals and really pay attention and respect their expectations of our working relationship. Some need a more friendly relationship and others just need work assignments and the support system to get their work done. I did the bud to boss move once before, over 30 years ago, in a restaurant where I became an assistant manager at age 19. I saw the range of reaction from supportive to resentful even then, and I think I learned from that experience that their is no one kind of boss you can be for all members of your team.
Davis – Thanks for your comment. Setting expectations based on the style and preference (culturally and otherwise) of the individual is a major factor in the success you will have. I wish you much success.
The answer of the learned consultant sounds complicated. The issue is whether you choose the people or they are given to you by the management.
In the first scenario, it is easier though not 100% error-proof. The best is to build a team, like in the army special forces unit, where everybody knows their role and strives to carry out designated objectives while being very loyal to each team member – no distance.
If you, as a manager, have to work with people that are assigned to you and you can’t hire who you want, it is more difficult, because these workers may feel obliged to those who hired them. in this case, the distance is necessary until you study them and decide whether to maintain formal relations or to make them devoted team members like in the first case.