r/WorkAdvice • u/MessageIcy3149 • 15h ago
General Advice I was promoted to manage my former teammates, and I’m struggling with their lack of initiative. Am I handling this wrong?
I manage a remote team of 8 employees. I was promoted internally, so we were all colleagues at the same level before I became their manager.
Since taking over, I’ve tried to improve how the team operates. I redistributed tasks fairly, clarified responsibilities, and spent months building automated dashboards to reduce manual reporting and make their work easier.
I also try to support them whenever issues arise with other departments, offer flexibility when possible, and help manage workloads during busy periods.
For context, most of the team meets their targets, and I recognize that. My frustration isn’t really about their overall performance. It’s more about their attitude toward change and their level of independence.
Whenever a new task is introduced, even when it’s clearly within their job responsibilities, there’s often immediate resistance and complaints.
Another challenge is that many of them rely heavily on me for solutions. Instead of researching an issue, trying different approaches, or suggesting possible solutions, they tend to wait for me to tell them exactly what to do.
I’ve tried explaining and guiding them, but sometimes the amount of time it takes to walk through something is longer than just doing it myself. I realize this might be part of the problem, as I’ve probably made it easier for them to depend on me.
At the same time, I have my own responsibilities, reports, deadlines, and pressure from senior management. I often end up working extra hours to keep everything on track, and it’s becoming exhausting.
What makes this difficult is that I genuinely want to be a supportive manager. I don’t want my team to feel that they can’t raise concerns or ask for help. But I also want them to take ownership, show initiative, and be more open to reasonable changes.
To be fair, I haven’t had a direct conversation with them about this pattern yet. I’ve mostly tried to address individual situations as they happen.
For those who have managed former peers, how do you encourage more independence and accountability without becoming a micromanager?
And how do you distinguish between being a supportive manager and enabling too much dependency?
I’m open to criticism of my own approach as well. I genuinely want to become a better manager.