How do you supervise your former supervisor?

These situations almost never work out.

There can be only one boss, and from what you describe you have competition. It's going to create problems for you with your staff, your peers, and your management. Your former supervisor doesn't recognize he's "former", and no matter what he tells you he probably never will.

It's to your credit that you want to find an amicable solution, but the chances you can do that are very small. Rather than try to work things out you should be forming an exit strategy for him, something that will allow him to move on or out with his dignity intact and without making you look heavy-handed. You can't just fire the guy...that'll make things worse for you in the long run. Either find him another opportunity in your firm, or engineer some way to push him out.

Don't do anything quickly, because no matter what happens you'll be perceived negatively. This may take a few months to unfold, and the best you can probably achieve in that period of time is a reasonable detente with the guy in which he gets his work done within performance parameters and doesn't overstep his bounds.

It can be daunting, can't it? So, let's make it possibly worse:"Is he also older than you?"

I've run into this and handled this in the following manner: First does he have MY more current education and did I actually communicate to him in a common vocabulary or did I use technese from MY educational backround he(they) may not have.?

Are my insecurities over this the problem?

AM I SCREWWING UP by not sitting down and telling him that HE is something I need to get used to because of our shared past and his Tremendous competence from my position then { and of course noe it is reversed and your afraid he will be offended or some such.

I am in this position as well, having been promoted above my old boss. I treat him as a colleague rather than a subordinate - he has a lot more experience than me, so I try to make good use of it. We discuss his work regularly, and I use that opportunity to direct his work. We have a good relationship, which helps, and he accepts the reversed position, which is good.

Things are likely to change soon though, as there is a pending reorganisation, and one of us is likely to be laid off.

Well,

you knew that when you got the job, this situation could arise. This is an integral part of management and the fact that you do not know how to handle this, could point to the possibility of you just not being ready for management. Normally a good company trains people for that or does not promote people who do not have the skills for management.
So, stop whining and get YOUR act right.
And just to be positive, get HR involved, log every issue with proper documentation, do a performance review, talk to the guy over a drink.

we're on the same boat (your supervisor, i mean). while at first i felt so humiliated and annoyed by the turn of events, i eventually learned to deal with it in a positive way. come to think of it, i have more time with my daughter now (compared to last year when all i did was complain that i don't have enough time for anything besides work). i suggest you show him utmost respect by soliciting his advice on current/future plans or programs since he may have started some of those himself. in that way, you can show him that you deserve the rank you now have. cheers!

Not knowing the full details of this particular case its hard to be specific but in generalistic terms if you respected this guy as a supervisor then there is no reason why the situation cant be resolved to everyones advantage. If you had little respect for him then its going to be very difficult going forward and you might have to end up getting him out one way or another

The key thing now is for you to earn his respect, how you do this will vary with your own mangement style. But listen to his ideas and use his experience to your advantage. I'm guessing a bit but is it the case this guy is good technically but lacks that wider vision needed by someone in a more senior position. If so take on board his technical advise but be sure to explain why you reject his ideas if there is a difference of opinion. If he feels you are just trying to stamp your authority then he is just going to dig his heels in and look for ways to undermine you.

Might be an idea to take him out for a beer and an off the record chat, explain that he has been a mentor to you in the past and that he has helped you develope and get this promotion, that way he might feel he has achieved something by your promotion and feels he has something invested in you and will want you to do well, explain that you still value his decisons and that there will be times when you will disagree but it will never be personal.

Be professional

Sit the former supervisor down with your new supervisor and outline clear authority roles that you and you new supervisor agrees on. Remember to get the new supervisor to buy-in to the new policies before all three of you meet.

Some items that need to be agreed upon are:

1. Agree to include the old supervisor in the decision process when available. This step lets the old supervisor know you want his operational experience in the decision making process, but not his decision.

2. Agree that any decisions that involve "Extreme" operational risks that need to be made in minutes be handled by him on the ground. Additionally require that if a decision is made, you be apprised of these decisions and the details immediately. This gives the old supervisor very limited athority, but some authority in critical moments. It also requires that unless the operatinons are "dead" without a decision, then this is the only time when the old supervisor can exercise this authority.

3. If these policies are violated, the old supervisor agrees to be voluntarily moved to a new section or removed. This is a key item that you and your new supervisor must agree on. It demonstrates to you that your new supervisor supports you in your new role with the authority of the role.

One final note - If your new supervisor cannot agree with these policies then you have not gained the professional respect of the new supervisor in your new managerial role and could become the designated scapegoat. You are then between a rock and a hard place and need to find new employment.

All the Best,

Carl

Time to get even!! :-)

My only advise having come from a simliar position is that make sure that you have proper policy and procedure in place and then have them endorse by your executive management. That way you can execute orders without bias on the basis that you following the endorsed procedure. If the person doesn't then want follow the excepted procedure then he has a problem.

As someone else said, stay friends if possible and a drink on Friday afternoon might not be a bad thing either.

To an extent I agree that the individual mentioned needs to be handled with some respect. It must not be easy to be the one passed over for the position. This said however things need to be put directly to him.

1. You are the boss, plain and simple.

2. You respect the guys abilities (if applicable). Although from your statement of:

"still thinks of himself as the 'decision maker'. He makes serious blunders whe it comes to decisions, and reasoning with him on issues always complicates things more."

That there is a reason why he didn't get the job.

State that if he wants to be part of the team and thinks he can deal with the new situation positively then he is welcome to stay and that you will give him the same opportunities as you will the other members of the team. Otherwise he is going to have to move on.

Now this said, it all depends on the particulars. From the sounds of it, it may be more detrimental to your unit to have the guy there. I have always tried to give my problem employees the opportunity to make the changes that needed to be done to get on board.

I have communicated directly, to the point, what I expected (and yes one has been in a similar situation to that you outlined above). It was then their decision to follow through. Of the seven problem employees I have had, only one did not follow through, who I fired. The rest stayed for at least another two years (during a time of decent market growth).

I do not envy your position, having been in the spot before, it is not a fun one to deal with.

I've seen situations where a softness or reluctance to confront and ultimately fire someone has en the cause of loss of morale of the others on the team.

Being the boss means knowing that you have to approach every situation on its own merits and do what is right. Its easy to deal in generalizations like, never fire or always fire.

James

First and foremost, ensure that he understands your role in the hierarchy. It's possible that he doesn't realize that you're his supervisor simply because it's never been explicitly communicated (you mentioned a muddy history of decision making on his part, which is typically the result of a lacking of common sense, and/or a lacking of awareness)

I would suggest for the sake of amicability that this explicit notice be given to a broader audience so that he doesn't feel singled out, and it may not be a bad idea for your supervisor to give it (perhaps a congratulations on your new role managing the team whose members include [xyz]... email)

If such a communication has already been given, and he still doesn't get it, then you have basically two options, the cowards way out: i.e. removing him without even trying to establish a good working relationship; Or the honorable way out which is to demonstrate (not by bullying) that you are you are qualified to lead him, and earn his fealty.

You point out that reasoning with him complicates the issues; I would assert that by attempting to reason with him, you give further fuel to his confusion as to who is in charge. For better or worse, you're intended to lead, and a leader should never _need_ to justify their decisions to their subordinates. Use their knowledge and expertise, along with your own, as the basis for your decisions, stand by them, and let history record your successes.

I see the same problem in my organization too. The new promoted manager make many efforts to keep cooperation with the former supervisor. But they have problems here or there from time to time. Humankind is not machine, he or she has feelings which definately affects his/her actions in some dgrees. Therefore, I think the only way is kindly let him/her leave your department.

Coming from someone who has been in your shoes more than once.

I have found that the best way to make the point that you are now the boss and all decission making is done be you or is made through you is to put it on paper. Without it being on paper and in his face he will not come to terms with the fact he is no longer in charge.

It also gives you a paper trail to show that you have counseled this individual should it come that point where you have to throw in your cards and fire him should he not listen again.

managing a manager means managing the segragation of duties among the managers you have and making sure of oversight of details.

There really should be very few things that conflict. If you have a supervisor working for you, then you almost assuredly have other supervisors working for you. You shouldn't be able to manage everything that 4 or 5 managers do for you (if they are good people). What you have to do is make sure the lines of decision are clear, and that those that work for you have their own area of autonomy. If you micromanage the guy, then you are not using the resources you have to best advantage.

If you are not managing several managers, then I'd ask your boss why the increase in vertical orientation of the organization occurred. It may be the blunders of which you speak were exactly why he was "demoted". If this is the case, he may be a valuable worker, and it might be that your boss saw promoting you as the only viable way to keep him, and remove the errors at the same time.

First let me start out by saying I'm not in the IT field, I'm in Construction through a Union.For what it is worth here is what I can tell you from experience.In the course of a year I might work for 3-8 different contractors. And when I get sent put on a job I might get set up as a foreman or I might just go out as a welder.And of course depending on the size of the job depends on how many other guys and gals get sent out with me.What this means is that on any given job, the one I was on yesterday, the one I'm on today, or the one I'm on going on tomorrow, someone different may be boss. Although your situation is a tiny bit different in that you don't have to worry about possible retaliation on tomorrows job for what you did on todays job, my thought is that the same few unwritten rules still apply.
Start out by remembering that we all are adults and are responsible for our own actions in the work force. Meaning that as an employee it is your responsibility once you have agreed to go to work for a given wage to give your best day.
By taking on the job as a supervisor you have agreed to organise, and utilize your employees so that they can be productive and like it or not to protect the companies interests.
Find ways to best use each employees talents.
Make sure that your thoughts on your ex supervisor aren't born out of personality conflicts, and make sure that in private you have expressed to him/her exactly what responsibilities they have in the new job discription. And never forget that a good supervisor knows that nobody can know everything and a good supervisor relies on the knowledge of all employees.Most times that is enough to straighten out someone that has forgotten that they aren't boss right now.

I found myself in the exact same position 2 years ago. I was hired in straight out of college, and was assigned to the department head as an intern. Unfortunately the guy that was running the department was one of those people that feels if he teachs you anything you will take his job, so he taught me as little as possible. It turns out that the owner wanted someone in the department head position who has the degree and also the certs. That was me. after being here one year the owner called me at home and asked if I thought I could run the department. I answered yes. He then called a meeting and announced the decisssion to the department. Since he did not give the leader of the department any advance notice, it caused a large rift to form between me and the guy that was my boss and is now working under me. It took awhile, but thru cooperation on the part of us both, it has worked out to be a good thing. I simply made it obviuos to my employees that I would give everyone a fair chance. the guy that I replaced carried a chip on his shoulder for awhile, but eventually came around and is now one of my best employees. I know that it sounds like a fairy tale, but I think the best way to handle the situation is not to make any snap decissions and give the other guy some time to get right with it in his own way.

How critical is this guy to the function of the organization? Sometimes it you just have to point to the Org chart. If you are a supervisor, coordinate with a line manager. If your a line manager - make a decision. I usually sidebar once, formal meeting once, document once, involve others once, document twice then....

I highly recommend the Crucial Conversations/ Crucial Confrontation site for detailed advice on how to deal with situations like this. The URL is http://www.vitalsmarts.com/CrucialSkills/.
They have a link where you may ask questions like yours to the authors of the books on this subject, and they give very helpful suggestions.

Are you confident of handling your role without your former superior? If yes then consider a confidential chat with them re allowing them to make the most of their abilities somewhere else!

I'm always on the look out for good IT people as I'm in the process of reopening my recruiting business; it's Ok to give my details to them in that case.

Hi, That same situation happened to me back in the 90's, and the guy who suddenly found himself taking orders from me didn't like it one bit, he even went so far as to sabotage my work to make me look bad. Fortunately the owner of the company had a good head on his shoulders and took my side (it helped when he actually caught him redhanded) after the third time. So, I guess what I'm saying is, watch your back, and you might have to do what we did, and put him on Probation, 3 serious blunders as you put it, and your gone, or transferred to another dept. Good Luck.

I feel for you in this, I have been there on both sides of the fence, firstly first line supervisory is the hardest job in the line, you are the meat in the sandwich between middle managment and the floor. If middle managment is helpful it is a cruise but if you have some dictotorial upstart it can be a pain. I stepped down from the first line due to health problems and found it was easy, in saying that I did not always agree with decisions being made. But with talking and working together as a team it was fine and found I was accepted into my new role by the floor with not too much flack. there was a little bit from the trouble makers, who thought it was about time ,but they are the same with any supervisor, and my replacment found that out very quickly. I just did my job ,kept my head down and after about a fortnight I found that we developed a great working relationship. And quite often talked as equals about things that were going on.I think it helps to have a like mind in cases like this as the job can be very lonely when hard decisions have to be made. Afer about 12 months I moved on, but still see the guys and get on fine with most of them, so I wasnt that bad as a boss, And enjoy my new role as a contractor to the same company

I am a little confused by the description in the post, so I will try to balance at least two interpretations.

The post does not mention a demotion for the previous supervisor. One interpretation of the situation is that the previous supervisor's position is unchanged and he should probably to expect his responsibility is unchanged. The new manager must take care in this situation that he is managing at the appropriate level and micro-managing the previous supervisor.

If the new supervisor's role is newly created, then there will be some effort to sort out the responsibilities of the new role. This role will subsume responsibilities from both the higher and lower roles.

If the previous supervisor has been demoted, then one needs to carefully explain the reasons behind the demotion and insist those behaviors change.

The new supervisor needs to clearly define his role and responsibilities and set objective evaluation criteria for his reports. These must be clearly (and repeatedly) communicated to the direct reports. This can and must be communicated both amicably and firmly.

Unclear communications structures and power-games are toxic to an organization. I would recommend that the new supervisor make a good faith effort to define his role and expectations, but if the power struggle is not resolved within 4 weeks, then the previous supervisor needs to be transfered away.

I have been through this twice now; one was me taking over the IT group, the other was my boss becoming a consultant for my group. I had to fire the first because she just simply wouldn't listen and accept the order of things. now my ex boss/consultant has had numerous power plays with me...it's a frustrating situation. I often wonder if our bosses do it so they don't have to be the one to fire them. If they were incompetent as your boss than they will almost certainly be incompetent as your employee. I say cut your losses and start looking at resumes on monster.

I think, that you grew up on the company because you have more skills that your former supervisor, in this case , you should have the ability to define him/her clearly objetives, and maybe those objetives must be work in those skills hat you have but he/she doesn't have, in order to reach your own objetives. I think if you are a person in charge of whatever position on the company your first objetive is to do that your collaborators grow up with you.

I've worked with and supervised large groups
and likewise been supervised by half of them.
I make a better supervisor of associates I
don't know or have never worked with before,
than with previous bosses or as the boss.
I have seen others from outside the main
core of engineers who look upon some of these
working conditions and see some favoritism
but I have only been able to see smart planning
and anticapatory assignments and knowing your
workers needs and limitations. Insight into
workers individual habits calls for skillfull
planning and remember one thing...Hot jobs are
not the time to train others in linchpin
applications.

It sounds like your former supervisor got demoted for very similar reasons that one of mine did years ago -- inability to make decisions, especially sound ones.

The difference is that my formaer supervisor was more than happy to be out of the "hot seat" so I didn't have the problem you now face.

What I would do is to have a face-to-face with this guy and lay it out for him calmly and matter-of-factly... this is the way it is and you're making my job more difficult than it should be.
This must change or you will leave me no option but to take actions I would rather not be forced to take.

Document the meeting and what was said including his comments. If he still remains a problem, then talk to your boss and determine the next step (assuming your boss needs to be involved). Follow your company's protocol in dealing with this issue. If it comes down to it, you may have to let the guy go. No one wants to do this, but you need to get yourself prepared to do something you'd rather not do. That gives you the determination to follow it through to whatever the eventual outcome ends up being.

Sit down and discuss this with him. Explain the tough situation both of you are in, and see how each of you can be "part of the solution" versus the problem. You needed to have this conversation right after you obtained this position. He was the decision maker, now you are. You need to establish boundaries and set expectations. You can make this work as long as he is willing to make it work. Without this conversation you may be drawing the wrong conclusion

I can't say I've been in this exact situation before, but I did have to run middle man between one of my employees and my boss.

My boss wanted me to fire the employee for having a bad attitude, which is of course illegal. Point being, my supervisor and the troubled employee did NOT like each other... and that's putting it lightly. My mission was to seperate them without making a big deal out of the situation.

Anyway, I ran interference and encouraged the employee where he was highly skilled. Since he had a great brain and bad attitude, I encouraged him in the good work he did while shying away from the minor problems since my boss was always telling the employee what he was doing wrong. This gained trust with the employee. That's not usually good practice, but was needed in this case since I wanted to keep the employee's skills.

I also gave him more long term projects (programming) which took more of his time throughout the day. This put him enthralled in new projects while most major decisions came through the department. I say "new projects" because this employee got bored with day-to-day routine tasks, so the new projects gave him focus which was needed to keep him out of trouble. That way he didn't even know he was being left out.

My suggestion... find ways to encourage your employee(gives confidence boost) while nudging him in the direction that keeps him busy(gives him less time to think of what he's missing out on in the decision making process).

1. You have reasoned with him directly. Try again and try being more blunt but tread lightly. Is he doing this on purpose?
2. Ask whoever supervises both of you to have a meeting stating the new order of things without zero-ing in on him.
3. If this doesn't work, you may have to go back up the chain of command again for help.

I am in a unique position that has been created from years of indecision due to my companies inability to rid themself of someone similar to what you have described a "former" that has no management ability what so ever, but they were afraid to remove him due to legal issues. Now they have created a situation by appeasing him, that when my supervisor has moved on to a different part of the organization and the change is there for me to be promoted, they are holding back due to fear of legal action from the "former". My advice, if he shows lack of ability and also is not a team player, get rid of the broker part and replace it with someone more capable and most likely at this time cheaper to train to replace him. If you dont' like most everyone else has said, you are only looking for more trouble from the rest of your staff.

First off, the guy is not around to defend himself. I say this coz you mentioned that he 'makes serious blunders when it comes to decisions'. Without the opportunity to further investigate, it must be assumed that what you say is true. I must also assume that the current situation of your department is already the administrative solution applied by management.

Now what to do (opinion):
1. Be genuinely concerned. You must consider both management and its people, including the 'wayward' former supervisor of yours.
2. Live each day one day at a time. Each situation is unique. You may want to look up a number of established methods or management techniques. This is good to serve as foundation but once you know the rules, it is often good, especially for people management to 'think out of the box'.
3. You have heard of win-win, right? That is probably the keyword here. In the Blake/Mouton grid management seminar series, this is what is called as 5/5 management style - be concerned for management (the first 5) and be concerned for your people (the other 5). Not 5/1 (1 being the lowest and 5 highest) nor 1/5. Avoid also the pitfall 5+5 which is 'opportunistic' or 'political' style.
4. Hey but once you know this and perhaps the other methods, feel free to do it in your own way.
Improvise, yo!!
5. And again, for emphasis, be genuinely concerned - for your work and your fellow employees. With this in your arsenal you simply cannot lose.

I'm a few months into this situation. I now manage my previous manager and to make it worst, we are the only two in the team so we are all we have. He is a couple of years older than me, I think.
I can't tell you that I've handled the situation but I'll offer you what I've done. I called a meeting immediately to make sure that we are both on the same page not telling him that I'm his boss now but to tell him that we will be learning from each other. Next thing is hard for me (that could just be me) and that's to start deligating. By deligating regularly will help him realize that he is no longer the decision maker.
I than follow up with a regular meeting (maybe monthly) just to talking about how we think we are doing as a team and make a point to ask him how he thinks I am doing as a manager.
I think it's important that you let him know that he's still part of the team and that you value his expertise. That you are not there to compete with him. Let him know that you guys are a team and the team has a job to do. Emphasize on 'team effort'. I use the word 'we' a lot. Give him credit where credit is due. I only use the work 'I' when I want to take a blame for the team.

Thanks for listening to my 2 cents.

Kit

I was in this situation for the last 4 years, only I was the former manager. At first I didn't make it easy for the new manager, but later I decided to talk with her and try to work together. She would ask my opinon on any network equipment change and network administration issue. It worked very well for a while, but there is something a manager does not seem to like; to be told by a former manager they don't know what they are doing. You are both going to have difference of opinion. Its not that his decisions are wrong; its just that his decisions are not yours. Make him a part of your decisions. Let him know that you both work well together and mean it! If this doesn't work, you are going to have to let him go. I know...I was let go(7/1/10).