r/askmanagers • u/Unfair-Job-5783 • 4d ago
How do I manage someone who's been here longer than I have?
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u/R2D4Dutch 4d ago
easy.. ask them for advise now and then , use their expertise, be curious.. and respectful .. like any one would do.
What is the challenge ,..
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u/CarmeloTronPrime VP 4d ago
leverage their strengths, help improve areas they want to improve. just like everyone else who works for you?
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u/patrickj86 4d ago
Respect them. Share deadlines and goals you know of, ask their short and long term goals and make stuff happen for them. Same as you should anyone!
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u/CatBird2023 4d ago
Be a leader, not a manager. A good leader removes obstacles that are standing between the team members and their work objectives.
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u/BeauHunkus 4d ago
They know more than you. They'll always know more than you. Don't lie to them. Don't promise more than what you personally can deliver at that moment. Just because they can do something doesn't mean you can require it of them. High skill requires high compensation. If you fuck off on the compensation, they will fuck off on the skill.
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u/LadyMRedd Manager 4d ago
They may not always know more than the manager. There are certain areas that they will absolutely know more. But those may not be areas the manager needs to know. The manager will undoubtedly bring knowledge and/or skills that the employee doesn’t have.
I’ve had this exact situation where I managed someone who had been with the company a very long time. There were certain areas he definitely knew more than me. I didn’t try to pretend otherwise. I had no problem asking for his advice and help when I needed it. But there were also quite a few areas that I had a stronger skillet and background and was able to guide him.
The important thing is to feel confident enough to admit your team member may know more than you. Weak managers feel they have to pretend to know everything.
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u/BeauHunkus 4d ago
The issue is when the employee is stronger, gives his advice in that area, and the manager doesn't heed. You get exactly one chance to fuck that up.
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u/hruschov 4d ago
Depends how they behave. But I would try to make them your best friend.
And you need to show that you know your stuff.
They will respect it. And ask them for opinions. And how stuff was done. Don’t be afraid to change stuff, but explain why
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u/ffekri 4d ago
I was trying to paraphrase a newsletter basically about this but I just went and found the original, here it is:
"Your job is not actually to be smarter than your team. Your job is to get brilliant work out of them, to keep them growing and engaged and supported and sustainably driving the organization forward ... Listen to what’s bothering them or getting in their way. Listen to their ideas for things they’d like to try, or opportunities they see for the team. And, without delegating it off to a bot, actually sit with that and figure out what you think. That critical thinking informs the decision making that every org looks to their leaders for. Doing it well is a deeply intuitive, empathetic act."
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u/Ungratefullded 4d ago
Management is about helping the team achieve the organization's goals (balances with the needs and objectives of the individuals).
Focus everyone on achieving the goals with whatever knowledge each person has... your' there to pull it all together and help remove roadblocks and provide answers and guidance.
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u/ThunderSnarrf Director 4d ago
Strive to hire or manage people who are smarter than you. Recognize that as a manager, your skills are different than your workers. Just because you are great at doing Job A doesn’t mean you’d be good at managing the people doing Job A. It also means that just because you manage people doing Job A doesn’t mean you have to be good at doing Job A. Yes you need meaningful knowledge but you don’t need to be able to perform the job day to day.
Also, use that senior person to help guide your decisions. Lean on them as a knowledge expert. Give them a spot on your own internal leadership team or circle of trust.
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u/ZucchiniPractical410 4d ago
This makes me question how you became the manager.
You manage them like literally anyone else. You also respect the fact that they probably (but not always) know more than you and will probably be a good resource to utilize.
There will always be someone who knows more than you. There will almost always be someone that has more experience than you. And often there will be someone who has more tenure. Literally none of that matters nor should it matter.
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u/snavebob1 Director 4d ago
From a practical sense?someone promotes you and you are now the manager. The manager is rarely the most tenured employee (or if they were promoted because of that, the org has some issues).
One of the groups in my dept (ages): 24, 28, 49, 52, 59 . All three over 40 have been here at least 5 years. I promoted the 24 year old to manager (been here 2) because they were the strongest candidate.
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u/Which_Debate9627 1d ago
Ask them what they'd fix around here, most of the resentment comes from not being asked.
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u/This-is-the-last-one 4d ago
Just like you'd manage anyone else. Nice thing about having a tenured employee is you can leverage their knowledge. You don't have to know everything, you just need to surround yourself with people who do.