Woman at work as boss

siobhan086

Need you help with this one girls.

I work in a large regional hospital in nursng admin. I'm due to becomethe acting manager for an initial period of 6 months. I will be in charge of 30 women and about 6 men.

Already things are very b*tchy because of my promotion with people jockying for position, swapping duty at late notice, and tring to take liberties with me as their manager.

Has anyone else out there been promoted, and now manages staff they used to work alongside? How did you cope? What did you do to make things work?

Thanks for listening,

Siobhan

PauloMN

Sorry, not a girl but hopefully I can still advise...

Get your team leads on side and let them share the burden. I assume you have people in lead roles reporting to you as part of the setup as managing 36 people directly is simply not possible.

The team leads/managers/senior staff (whatever you call them there) should be helping you out with that number of people. Try to run through things with them first, give them your ideas and plans and get their feedback. Using them correctly will reduce the burden a lot and will help filter communications back and forward.

It's very hard managing people you have worked with as peers but try to resist the urge to treat people differently that you have been friends with. Just be fair and try to lay down your expectations from day one.

You are the manager and if stuff like swapping shifts at late notice etc. is a non-runner, then let them know that, otherwise it'll just snowball until your seniors have to get involved, and you don't want that.

siobhan086

Thanks for the reply

Yes, I have 5 senior staff, but the trouble is that they are the ones who are pushing their luck.

dudara

Moved to Work & Jobs.

Hope you get some good advice there.

dudara

Eoin

Out of interest, why are you making the distinction that you are a female boss, and asking for advice from the "girls"? Do your male subordinates have a problem working for a woman or something?

leeroybrown

I'm opening myself up to a few flames here but I'd suggest that a woman promoted into a managerial position would have a lot more trouble with her female former work colleagues than with the male ones.

FruitLover

leeroybrown wrote: »

I'd suggest that a woman promoted into a managerial position would have a lot more trouble with her female former work colleagues than with the male ones.

Agreed (unless the male colleagues are gay)

Eoin

leeroybrown wrote: »

I'm opening myself up to a few flames here but I'd suggest that a woman promoted into a managerial position would have a lot more trouble with her female former work colleagues than with the male ones.

That could be a factor, but I think it's just a shame to see the distinction being made straight off the bat, when the issues mentioned so far don't seem relevant to it.

the_syco

You have to stop trying to be one of the girls, as they're taking advantage of this. You're the boss now, so act like one. Give them orders, and if they fail to follow them, give the worst one a disciplinary. This will show them that you're no longer taking crap.

Doctor DooM

You need to sit them all down together so you are not singling anyone in particular out and explain to them the kind of activities which are not on, and explain that as senior members of staff they must behave responsibly in front of their juniors, as it is part of their job.

This is always an issue with internal promotion- Fight your instinct to go easier on those you know. Let them see you have a professional side.

siobhan086

leeroybrown wrote: »

I'm opening myself up to a few flames here but I'd suggest that a woman promoted into a managerial position would have a lot more trouble with her female former work colleagues than with the male ones.

Yes that's it. My former "friends" who I chatted with in the staff room about
clothes, men and everything else are the problem.

The men in my department are simple creatures, God bless them


I originally asked for help from any women out there because I thought their experience would be most relevant.
But I'm happily suprised for any male input.

It's just that only women know what other women are like.

How we can be so b*tchy towards each other when someone is doing well.

the_syco

siobhan086 wrote: »

It's just that only women know what other women are like.

How we can be so b*tchy towards each other when someone is doing well.

You'd be surprised. One of the guys in my workplace who got passed over no didn't talk to one of the guys who got the promotion instead of himself.

No doubt all the girls went for the job, and girls being girls, which side of the fence would you rather? Them, or where you are now, as to them, it'll boil down to that. You got the promotion, they didn't. If one of them had gotten it, you'd be part of the group on the other side of the fence "fighting the (wo)man".