Handling a Promotion When Your Colleagues Act Stone-faced

Promotions within a company are something most employees look forward to, but few receive. Sometimes, those who receive promotions can be on the receiving end from other employees who feel discriminated against, or suspect management bias in being left out. Such situations, if mishandled, can make life difficult for the newly promoted employee who now has the job of acting boss over buddies.

Here are a few simple tips to make life easier when you have a promotion but still remain within the same vertical, and essentially have to interact with the same employees, but in a different role.

1. Act your part – the management, your new job role, and your past workplace buddies expect you to act different, do that – don't be overwhelmed with the prospect of alienating friends
2. Know that it is natural for employees to resist change, so don't think that the crowd acting stone-faced is out to get you at the first opportunity – they are simply not smart or crooked enough to hide their feelings
3. Be wary of the cheers – while there would be genuine friends and well wishers, the backstabbers would always hide among the cheering crowd and would never be in the stone-faced crowd – they are smarter
4. Throw a party and part with some cash on partying – you pay the taxes to the government, you also pay taxes to maintain bonhomie and good relations – getting promoted means it's now you who is in the direct line of fire, and you need to get your job done with these people,
5. Avoid antagonizing any one from the beginning, you'll have plenty of time to talk out things later with those who seem especially hurt by your promotion
6. Tell the team up front that you are grateful to all of them, because your promotion would be nowhere without the entire team performing well and making it possible
7. Don't go overboard with explanations – act your part, you don't need to explain each of your actions and then wait for approval from your buddies
8. Sit down in one-on-one meetings with especially difficult but vital members of the work group
9. Don't let anyone assume the role of your advisor

Once, the social shock is effectively dealt with and contained, or even if it is not contained, sit down with the group and push them to focus on the work on hand and not on your new role.



Here are some things you should focus on immediately after getting your promotion taking your work group members into confidence, wherever required:

• look for and initiate methods and ways of fairly distributing the job load
• aggressively manage your time and reduce time-wasting activities
• Set targets that are sensible as well as testing
• Delegate work wherever possible without over burdening anyone
• Prioritize and begin the work
• Ask for ideas and opinions of experienced employees on issues
• Arrange meetings for new projects so that concerned employees are responsive about their roles and can create predictable environments

Usually, it takes only a few days in current workplaces for the adjustment to be over, if handled properly. But sometimes it can take a bit more for someone who feels especially aggrieved. And last of all, never lose your manners – they carry great weight.