New Job & managing a demoted employee

Submitted by Bill_G on Thursday May 2nd, 2013 12:01 pm
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So I will soon be taking a new job with my existing company. The division is growing rapidly and getting very complex, and so they are demoting the person in the current role and replacing him with me. But, he will report to me in a diminished capacity.

Furthering complicating this, as you may have guessed, he clearly has performance issues.

There are great casts about dealing with employee performance issues, but I haven't seen anything specific about taking over a group along with a demoted employee who used to be the manager.

Any articles, advice, books, opinions etc would be much appreciated.

Submitted by lindge on Thursday May 2nd, 2013 7:26 pm

This person hasn't been

This person hasn't been fired, indicating one of two things:
1. The person really doesn't have significant performance issues
2. The person does have performance issues and you now know your new manager is not effective as they didn't fire the person

To start with I'd speak with your new manager if you haven't already, and get the details. Would also speak separately with the demoted manager to get his perspective. When speaking with the demoted guy, I'd make sure to ask for his support & commitment going forward which is a reasonable professional expectation.

Once you take over the team you can reach your own conclusion re his performance and as you roll-out the trinity you will have the opportunity to build a relationship with him and provide feedback / coaching. Having said that, if he starts causing ongoing disruption within the team due to his demotion, that's not acceptable and you can't keep him around.

Good luck with things...

Submitted by robin_s on Sunday May 12th, 2013 2:05 pm

Perspective of the demoted manager

I have personal experience in a situation like this, and I was the manager who was demoted. In my case, an individual expressed interest in working for our company who was clearly more qualified than I was for my role (operations manager). I wasn't failing - he was just that much better. It was the right decision for our CEO to make.

From my point of view, he did everything right when he arrived. Even before he officially started, he connected with me to talk about the organizational structure, and what my new role would be. He was respectful, open, and honest. I can honestly say I would have enjoyed working for him.

However, I was presented with an offer from another company, and I left my job within weeks of the new manager starting. I think this was best for him, me, and the organization. Because even though he did nothing to make me feel diminished, the truth is a demotion is a bitter pill to swallow. The role I was going into was a key position, and from my perspective as a manager, you don't fill a key position with a demotion. There were reminders every day of what I had lost. Even though it was the right thing for the company, it didn't work for me. There would have been no opportunity for me to move up again, and I would not have been content in a lower role.

So my advice to you would be to reach out to your predecessor, and let him know that he is a valued member of your team. Do what you can to build a relationship, but be prepared that no matter what you do, it may not work out, and he may choose to leave. If he is a valuable employee that you do not want to lose, can you help him see a good career path with your organization? Find out what his career goals are, and how you can help him chart a new path. Above all, be sensitive to his pain. Because it's there, regardless of whether it shows or not.

Submitted by mooyootoo on Monday May 13th, 2013 10:48 am

I have 2 of those

I was brought into an organisation that had gone through some significant downsizing (with the possiblity of more still looming). When I arrived, it was to manage a group that was previously 2 groups, and my 2 senior staff had worked as interim managers of their respective groups for significant amounts of time. While they weren't actually demoted, and neither has come out and said so, I've seen signs that there may be some hard feelings, since they weren't even considered for the role. I'm aware of the fact that this might just be confirmation bias - I'm not 100% sure whether they're bitter, or whether it's my own paranoia. It doesn't matter either way that much though, provided they keep producing and act professional.

I can say this hasn't gone well, or at least not as well as I'd have hoped. It's only been a couple of months, but this is my first job as a manager, in an organisation where I lack technical depth (I have expertise, just in other areas), so it's been rocky. I know much of the fault lies with me, since I've been burying my head in documents trying to get up to speed, while not focusing enough on the relationship building (because, having never managed before I just didn't consciously value them enough).

It's become clear that this approach isn't working, so I'm doing an about face - I'm (still trying) coming to grips with the fact that I don't need to know more than my staff about their work to contribute and enable success, and am focusing on getting (and keeping) good channels of communication. I'm starting one-on-ones this week, and while I don't believe it will solve all my problems, I'm very hopeful that it will kick start everything in the right direction and be a very useful tool in solving all my problems. Give them every chance to take the right (professional) tack, as I'm sure you would hope someone would give you. I'm hopeful that they'll come around in my situation, it hasn't been very long after all, and if not we'll need to start identifying behaviors that aren't productive. I really don't look forward to negative feedback, and hope that behaviors correct themselves before I get to that point in the roll-out.

Good luck!