How to supervise friends at work

Needed. It is not a crime to be friends with your juniors. However, the friendship must not interfere with company objectives. Photo by Abubaker Lubowa .

What you need to know:

  • Don’t lose your head. You don’t have to lose your head to manage friends. Just find a way of how you can draft them in to fit into your new job elevation.

Many of you have been in this position. You wake up one day elevated to a position where you have to lead others, some of whom you previously served with at the same level.
Catherine Namuwaya had a wealth of friends, she wondered how she was going to supervise them when she was given a new role in the company.
According to Namuwaya, even things as simple as passing instructions became difficult because many of her juniors, who were her friends, did not take her serious.
This, she says, initially affected her performance and she failed to hit deadlines. Unlike Namuwaya, Frank Mubetse, set boundaries right from the start and successfully managed a sales team for five years.
Managing friends, according to Yasin Magombe, a consultant at Addie Consults, presents challenges and will be worse if the person elevated lacks experience and command.
“First time managers tend to struggle a lot,” he says, but “they will finally get to grips if they have focus.”
Therefore, as a newly promoted worker, how can you go through challenges, especially in regard to managing friends.

Draw the lines
According to Mubetse, the most important aspect is to establish clear boundaries between work and personal relationships.
“While at work, be as professional as you can,” he says, adding that this will help you to manage through without much hardship.
Drawing lines might be hard, however, Magombe advises that you need to have an informal chat with all your friends to make them understand your role and what is required of them.
Therefore, to maintain relationships, he says: “Always let your team brainstorm instead of superimposing things on them to show you are in control.

Have fun with limits
Many of us tend to become bossy when we are elevated to new positions. This, experts say, is human but does not help, especially if you have for years enjoyed a special friendship with the people who you must now supervise.
Thus, experts advise that you must remain yourself and have fun with your friends when you can but with limitations.

Feedback
When giving feedback, give it confidentially and avoid sharing one’s feedback with any other friend on the team.
Besides, continuously keep appreciating them for the good input but also let them know when things are not working well.

Advice
Set boundaries. Whereas it is good to be friends with your juniors, boundaries must be drawn to separate work from friendship.
Make them understand. Your friends will be your best asset in your new role therefore, don’t sideline them. Just make them understand your new role and seek their assistance where they can.

how to manage friends

Set expectations
Annah Nafula, a websites manager at Capital FM, makes schedules for the people she works with and this helps her to easily cover up gaps that might arise in the process.
“If someone won’t be able to show up at work they are easily covered up,” she says, adding she always endeavor to create a lively working environment and avoids irritating traits such as shouting at colleagues.

Exercise team work
As the leader, you should help everyone realise it is not a one man show.
“For instance, if you shine everyone must shine. Do not sideline talk about personalities,” Nafula notes, emphasising that even where there is failure, the blame should go squarely on the team.

Understand people’s moods
We are all cut out from different clothes, therefore, as a leader try to understand the people on your team.
You must take interest in knowing what they can do better and when they are not at their best.
This will not only help you to deliver on different tasks but it will help you to allocate tasks to the right people.

Key Point
Inform them. Sometimes it will be hard to find a way of effectively managing your friends without creating friction. However, you don’t have to feel pity for anyone or yourself. Just make sure that you make your friends understand your new roles and what is required of them.