When an employee hears that they will be getting a new boss, anxiety can set in, even when they have known and worked with the person who will be filling the position. In fact, they may even feel more apprehension when they already know the person!
When they don’t know the person at all, they may have fears related to the expression “the devil you know.” Their out-going boss was a known entity. The employee knew their shortcomings and strengths and knew the best way to manage their relationship with the old boss.
All of this brings me to the point that when a valued employee is getting a new boss, it may be worth considering whether you should solicit their feedback.
Looming Problems with a Familiar New Boss
An experience I had, which I wish had been avoided, was getting a new boss who I had been work friends with for many years. Though I liked this person socially, I knew from the get-go that we were likely to experience friction as boss and employee. I expressed these concerns to my out-going boss and other executives, but it made no difference.
The plan to promote this individual proceeded.
A better approach to take would have been to have a meeting with me in which the decision-makers behind this pending promotion could have asked me exactly what my concerns were.
I would have expressed to them that I noticed micromanaging, controlling, and workaholic tendencies in the prospective new boss that I knew were not a good fit for me as an employee.
The executives could still have chosen to proceed with the promotion, but at least they would have known of potential management issues and could have facilitated conversations at the outset to avoid likely problems.
Early mediation between a new boss and a valued employee can include having an executive sit in and ask the new boss to share their expectations for the employee who has been managed by someone else for a long time, including changes the new boss knows they will want the longtime employee to make.
The employee then can be asked to share their expectations with the new boss, including explaining their current work process to affirm where the status quo works and where changes will need to be made.
The executive overseeing the transition then would do a monthly check in with the employee and their new boss to search for solutions to any tensions that have arisen.
When the New Boss Is a Stranger
When an internal promotion is not possible, and a new employee is coming in to manage a longtime valued employee(s), bringing the longtime employee(s) into the hiring process can be helpful.
It’s in the company’s interest to head off a new hire that is likely to generate interpersonal unhappiness and potential conflict.
The way it could work is the hiring manager(s) would do the first couple of interviews. Once the candidate has made it past those initial interviews, the employee(s) they would oversee would be brought into a meeting with the prospective hire to ask questions and express concerns.
A nuanced approach is to limit the involvement in the hiring process to only the most senior members of the department or work group the new boss will oversee.
Like the internal promotion that raises concerns with an employee, management could decide to go forward anyway with an external hire who raised concerns for one or more employees the new boss will manage. The advantage in that case would be that executives would have advance warning of potential problems and could mediate right from the start with continued oversight. That way, solutions to problems are found as soon as possible with alternatives to unhappy, disengaged employees and layoffs discovered before it’s too late.
Does your organization seek and value employee input when a new boss is coming in?