Managing Direct Reports Who are Friends - how to strike the perfect balance
During your career as manager/people leader, you might find yourself in the situation where you have to manage direct reports who are close friends in your personal life. Finding the sweet spot between maintaining professional boundaries and nurturing the personal relationship can be challenging. The key to success is to treat them with the same respect, fairness, and objectivity as you would any other team member, while also acknowledging the bond you share In this article, I’ll explore some of the strategies I have found successful when your direct report is also a friend.
First and foremost, it’s important to differentiate between your work and personal life. If it helps you navigate this tricky territory, you can establish clear expectations for both roles:
Be open with your friend about the need to keep the personal and professional lives separate.
Establish a mutual understanding that work-related discussions should be limited to the workplace.
Secondly, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of maintaining fairness and objectivity. One of the biggest challenges when managing a friend is avoiding biased decision-making. Here’s a few strategies to help you with this:
Ensure that the evaluation & feedback processes are transparent
Encourage open communication among your team members in order to foster trust.
Regularly assess yourself to make sure that your decisions are impartial and benefit the whole team, not just a select few.
Probably the most sensitive aspect of overseeing a friend as a direct report is handling conflicts. The key is to approach them as professionally and impartially as possible. A few considerations when dealing with conflicts:
Address performance issues in a timely and constructive manner.
Resolve the conflict by focusing on the matter at hand rather than on personal feelings.
I am a firm believer in the power of camaraderie between a manager and their teams. Setting boundaries, maintaining fairness, navigating conflicts, and leveraging the companionship for team success can create a harmonious work environment.