I got PROMOTED...Now the dilemma....

[Robinrs]

Okay, it's a GOOD THING... but I need some advice....

I started working here at the cable station in December, a true blessing because it DOUBLED my previous salary and I really love the place and the atmosphere.

I was hired because the traffic coordinator and the manager were both moving to other states. The VP of Operations took over the traffic managers duties and hired me and another girl to do the traffic.

He later hired two assistants, all wonderful people, but was LOOKING for a Traffic Manager.

Well, yesterday he took me in his office and told me as of Aug 1st I WOULD BE THE TRAFFIC MANAGER!! It comes with a big raise and the whole nine yards!! WooHOOOOOOO!!!

Now my dilemma:

The ladies I work with are a diverse team. One is awesome, the other two, sisters, are sweet but HORRIBLE workers.

The full timer is on my current level, a nice girl who is totally full of herself, (she thinks she's a better worker than she actually IS). She was put on probation last month because of many unnecessary errors, mostly because she spends 9/10ths of her day on the PHONE. I sit two cubicles away from her and wonder DAILY how the current supervisor STANDS for this but his office is way down the hall so he's not privy to it.

Her sister, a part timer, does a good job when she's THERE, she's supposed to come in twice a week but comes in when she pleases, or NOT...

The awesome one is my confidante, she's a retired traffic manager who does this 4 days a week, and I would LOVE to have her all the time!

Has anyone been promoted OVER very close co-workers? Has it been a problem? I don't think it will change a lot of things but I know WAY more than a manager should know and I'm wondering if it can be a problem....

Any suggestions? Any experience?????

Thanks in advance!

 

[kejoda]

No experience Robin but congratulations on the promotion!!!!

 

[auntpolly]

Yes congratulations!

But I think that you have to start out right and be the boss -- you can't really be friends like you used to -- you have to start out right away with confidence and authority (I don't mean being mean) because if you don't, later it will be too late.

Yes, it happened to me once, and I tried to be "nice" (LOL) and buddies and then they never really did take me seriously.

 

[ead79]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! Way to go, Robin!

Don't worry too much about what your co-workers think. It sounds like your boss is very pleased with your work, and that's what is important. I know you'll do wonderfully.

 

[luvwinnie]

Just wanted to say congrats....oh, is the BABY still there? Hope not!

 

[agnes!]

Does this mean if the little "waaaaaaaah" guy gets inappropriately brought back in you will be able to do something about it ?

agnes!
PS - Congratulations !!!

 

[MushyMushy]

Congratulations!



Are you going to be changing the baby rule when you are in power?

 

[LoraJ]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

I feel bad about your dilema. You may have some problems with the ones who are on the phone all day. Hopefully they won't slack off too much. I wish I had advice on how to handle them.

I applaud you for working in traffic. Where I work, the people in that department go crazy and have a high turn-around. Are you with TBS, TNT etc? If so you're our competition (USA, Bravo, SciFi).

 

[Robinrs]

You guys are soooo funny!!!

All of this kind of snowballed because during a meeting the "waaaaaah" was brought up and I mentioned that in every area of my life I KNOW where I stand but since I was not this person's supervisor I did not feel the need to tell her to NOT bring her child in here. That, in my humble opinion, is a manager's job.

I guess they gave it to me so I COULD tell her!!

Well, she did not bring him in yesterday and today he's home with his Grandma! I think the THANK GOD we all said when she told us where he was was HINT enough!

Thanks for the congrats AND the advice, btw they DON'T KNOW, yet!

And guess what I did when he told me about the raise?

'I'M GOING TO DISNEYWORLD!!!' ....planning my trip NOW!!

 

[Mimi Q]

Congrats on the promotion Robin. Have fun planning your trip.

 

[reddixie]

Congrats on the promotion!!!! Good luck all the way around.

 

[catsrule]

conCATulations, Robin. YAY, your going to the World also. Give all those kitties a bellyrub.

 

[Keli]

Congratulations on the promotion! That's great news

As far as handling your new charges I would be friendly but still be the supervisor. I wouldn't let friendship interfere with doing a good job for the company.

But I would let every employee start out with a clean slate. You'll know soon enough if they are continuing in bad habits or not and can deal with each one as they come up. Honestly, they may not behave the same way once you're their boss. Most people will do as much as they can get away with. If they realize you run a tight ship they just may decide to shape up themselves. And I would give them that opportunity.

 

[barkley]

i promoted to supervising people i had worked side by side with and in some cases it was great, in some it was 'hell'. i found that making it clear that everyone was subject to the exact same rules, procedures and guidelines despite our relationships made things operate better.

i don't nesc. agree with the concept of letting everyone start with a clean slate. as a manager one of the key responsibilities is to make sure your work unit operates effectively-so if you are already aware of problems that are preventing this you need to address it. initialy because i was aware of some issues with co-workers (not adhering to their work scheduals, too many personal calls) i made a point at our first formal 'unit' meeting to restate the company policy on it (in fact i just went ahead and reviewed all of the policy on attendance, personal calls things like that so everyone would be on the same page)-i backed this up by asking each person at a private face to face conference if they understood the rules, had an questions/concerns about it.

it seemed to work realy well-in fact, i had one co-worker who drove most of us nuts when i was a line staff member. she was always missing work, coming in late...our previous supervisor had pretty much chosen to ignore it. when i had my first face to face conference with her after the unit meeting and asked if she had questions/concerns about attendance she was was very upfront about knowing she had a lousy record-but when she explained what she thought the problem was (she had some major medical issues going on and the doctors kept changing meds some of which kept her up all night so she was wiped out the next day, some which wiped her out-kept trying to juggle the multiple medical referral appointments to days when she knew she would'nt have clients coming in but that caused her to get backed up on case work so she was always playing 'catch up') i realized no-one had ever taken the time to explain the company policy on alternate work hours. i explained what was available and she conferred with her doctors to see what day of the week was best to pick to always have med appointments schedualed for. she ended up going to a 4/10 schedual that started later in the morning so it allowed her time to shake off the meds, more time to work on cases when the phone was'nt ringing off the hook-and one set day a week that her md could use to schedual all tests, referrals. she ended up becoming a top performing employee.

there will always be former co-workers that resent your now supervising them (i used to get frustrated over how i became 'the enemy' in some's eyes once i promoted-we got along great before and i could have said the same thing i said as a supervisor and it would have been taken fine) but there's not much you can do about it beyond demonstrating through your actions that you were the right person for the job.

don't know the whole story behind the 'waaaaah' but i can guess i had an issue with that and what drove me crazy was the fact that the company had an adamant policy against it-but another supervisor of another unit let her people slide on it, so there was always "but such and such gets to bring her kids.....". i got tired of saying (felt like i was talking to my kids) "i'm not such and such's supervisor, these are the company rules and we will adhere to them" (and it was'nt my place to tell my supervisor how to supervise one of my peers so i just had to deal with it).

congrats and good wishes!

 

[crazyme5kids]

Congratulations on your promotion! No real advice, but maybe talk to the VP and ask his advice and thoughts on how to handle it.

 

[Robinrs]

Wow! Great replies!!

I guess I will take it one day at a time. It will be VERY hard to forget everything I already know, this person made it an issue to tell me all of the things she did to "get over" on the company and I can only imagine her response when she realizes what she told me....

 

[Keli]

It will be VERY hard to forget everything I already know, this person made it an issue to tell me all of the things she did to "get over" on the company and I can only imagine her response when she realizes what she told me....

This made me LOL. I can just see her cringing the moment she hears you are her new boss! You know she'll be kicking herself a thousand times over for 'sharing' so much info. If nothing else, I bet she will learn a big lesson here.

 

[tiggerlover]

No advice here either, just wanted to say congratulations, Robin!!!! Best of luck in your new position.

 

[Robinrs]

This made me LOL. I can just see her cringing the moment she hears you are her new boss! You know she'll be kicking herself a thousand times over for 'sharing' so much info. If nothing else, I bet she will learn a big lesson here.

LOL, last week she came in early and got immediately on the phone making personal calls. She was on the phone to Michigan (we're in Atlanta) for (get this) TWO HOURS!

She later told me she was checking on another job and wanted to move back home to Detroit. There were no jobs there so she GUESSES she'll stay here. She then went on to say that since she works hourly she decided to come in early and leave late to make some more money to finance her trip back home... ... not working, mind you, just running her mouth on the phone.

Yep, I want to see the look on her face when she realizes how much she confided to me....

 

[MamaLema]

Sorry, you lost me at the double my salary part