My old-supervisor answers to me now… at Office-Politics

I got an interesting note from Franke James (pictured to the left) over at Office-Politics about a letter that she got from a reader. I offered some opinions about what this fellow should do, and Franke used them as part of her answer, which I thought was quite wise.  Here is the letter:

Dear Office-Politics,

Greetings! I have quite the dilemma, though most people think it would be a dream.  My old-supervisor answers to me now.

To make a long story short, the position of network manager was created, and the network supervisor thought he was going to get it. Unfortunately for him, he was written up too many times and was not able to apply for the position. I fortunately was able to apply, and due to my past experience and hard work, won the position.

My dilemma is…. I feel uncomfortable around this individual, given his past history and the fact he was my boss at one point. I am sure he harbors ill feelings towards me as well, unable to accept he was passed over for promotion due to his own misdeeds (yes HR has talked to him and everyone about him). How do I go about managing this individual? Is it possible to coach this person? He fits the profile of author Robert Sutton’s definition of an Asshole: he drains everyone he deals with.

My old peers have accepted me as manager, but I feel resistance from him and like he is being territorial. Being new to this position, having been ‘test driven’ for 4 weeks, I’m still waiting for the official announcement, even though I have been told by upper management that I have the position. How should I approach this situation? I do not want to be a commander this early as it could hurt my relationship with my old peers (besides the announcement not being made yet), but I’m afraid he may force me into it.

New Boss

This fellow is in a pretty complex situation.  My take was that his former boss had been given plenty of chances and perhaps it was time to push the delete button,  But Franke offered a more sophisticated and forgiving approach, and in re-reading the letter, I think she is right. You can see Franke's wise answer here

Comments

[Wally Bock]

The situation may be "pretty complex," but the solutions are the same ones that are always open to supervisors.

Start with the expectations chat. It's your job as the boss to lay out clear and reasonable expectations and check to see if they are understood. With the expectations, you need to describe the consequences: positive for the right behavior and acceptable or better performance, negative for anything else.

Then you need to follow up. You will probably need to have what I call a "Transitional" chat where you say something like, "You're doing this. If you keep it up I will document it and here are the consequences of continuing."

Then you will have to follow up and probably document. If your ex-boss sees the light, fine. If not you're giving him the opportunity to do so and building your file of documentation if he does not.