A guide to Healthy Work Environment by one of the Top 10 MBA
colleges in Hyderabad
Studying in an one of the
MBA Colleges in Hyderabad would take you to a career path where you would have
to lead a team of people. Working as a leader can be a lonely job and you might
have to deliver difficult messages, take tough decisions and keep them
confidential till the time is right.
Even under such boundaries,
being a social animal he is, it is totally possible to develop a friendship
with someone in your organisation. It is to note that peer to peer friendship
at work is something totally different than having a power imbalance with your
friend. Can a leader be friends with his subordinate and if yes how would it
work given that he has to keep secrets from his friend from time to time.
If your subordinate friend understands
of your roles and responsibilities in the organization, he might have the
tendency to withstand such challenges. But not everyone is equipped with such
muscle and in that case, here are five tips on how to manage a friendship with
your subordinate:
Choose Your Friends
Carefully - Remember the first day
at school, your mother told you to choose your friends wisely before kissing
you goodbye. This advice is especially relevant when you start to work. Having
a friend who is also your subordinate needs a great level of judgement as well
as understanding. Both parties need to be mature and should have enough
self-esteem in order to build the trust over time.
Set Right Expectations From
The Start - This will make sure that
your friendship lasts no matter what. In future, you will have information and
responsibilities that would be beyond the scope of your friend, and you should
be upfront about it right from the start. Be very frank and transparent what
can you share and what you can’t. This would help create an expectation level
and hence lesser misunderstandings in future.
Be Transparent About Your
Friendship With Others - Being
friends with someone in the team can be tricky business as others in the team
might feel that you are partial towards your friend. However, acting as if it
does not exist would raise even more suspicion as if you friends with someone,
people will notice no matter what. In such scenarios, be upfront about your
friendship and assure your other team members in terms of words as well as
actions that your friend won’t be favoured in any wrong way.
Do Your Job - You are hired to do a job. It would be challenging at times.
But, keeping your personal and professional life separate would come in handy
here when there is some difficult communication you need to carry out with your
friends. This could be regarding the bonus, or laying off or that long due
promotion. Be direct and prompt in your communications. Do your job and assure
them that you still want to be friends at the same time giving them a little
space to assimilate the news.
Mutual trust and
transparency are the basis of a friendship. Having a friendship with your
employee can be tricky but handling it in a mature and transparent way can make
this possible and would go a long way in keeping your friendship healthy.
