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Can managers and employees be friends?

Mar 11, 2022

Whenever someone is first moved into a management position I always get the same question. Can I be friends with my staff?

 

In short, yes... but no.

 

If you are new to the company I would say that you always want to be friendly. But making “best friends” isn’t recommended.

 

We want to be able to build trust and earn respect with our teams. We want to be able to get to know them on a professional level but also personal level. This requires that we as leaders also open up.  But we don’t want to share too much. We don’t want to be venting about work or personal problems etc. with our staff.

 

If you’ve been promoted within your company this can be a little trickier.  You will think you have friends that you work with and that things will be the same.

 

Let me tell you, it won’t.  In my podcast I share that most of the people I thought were friends were actually more like work acquaintances.  And those that were really my friends were the ones that would do everything in their power to help me succeed!

 

To learn more go give a listen to my most recent podcast.

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