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How long were you an SAE before promoting to AS?
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Best advice was to be kind but not too chummy with the people you manage. It's my tendency to want to be best buds with everyone I work with, but I was given this advice before I got promoted and quickly saw how important it was that I kept a boundary with my employees if I wanted them to respect my management decisions. So I'm very empathetic and kind, but I don't make it my business to become best friends.
A few that come to mind:
1) Even on a down day, it's important to put on a solid face. Your team members will pick up on nonverbal cues and everyone will interpret it differently, so put the best possible foot forward.
2) Be friendly with your direct reports, but don't become friends with them. You need to be sure to draw a line, otherwise it can make potential difficult conversations even harder to have.
3) Take a step back sometimes and make sure to look at the bigger picture. You're role is going to change and that can be difficult to learn on the fly. You might feel uncomfortable if you're going to be removed from the day-to-day projects, and that can take time to get comfortable with. Your role is likely going to be more geared towards growing your department and being the best champion for your team members, and figuring out what the best path forward is for them is, both professionally and personally.
My old mentor once told me that I could not take things so personal. She said the poop flows down hill and people often take out their frustrations on others. Its important to not let it upset you and keep moving forward.
You won’t win everything, nor should you. I think a lot of people in leadership are there for good reasons, lots of knowledge or experience, but even through that, you will be wrong at some point. There will be a better way or something that you missed, and you have to be able to accept that.
Always put every bit of communication in 'writing'.