I have reviews this week with my employees, who are also my friends...?

Question

I was recently promoted to a manager in my company and now I'm "over" my friends. We still all hang out and are really good friends, so I am nervous about giving them their reviews this week. How should I act? We're all so used to goofing off together and I feel funny sitting down telling them their strengths and weaknesses.

Answer 1

I had to do this a few weeks ago!  It is very hard to separate work from your friendships, so try to keep that in mind that when you are doing their reviews, it is about work only.  Hopefully you don't have to be hard on any of them because that is difficult to discipline and then try to keep the friendships the same afterwards.  If you keep a good attitude and show respect for them I am sure they will do the same for you.  Good luck!

Answer 2

Begin the conversation by giving a complete outline of how you plan on getting a mutual view of their past years career plan both their sucesses and failures. That way you can discuss together like friends how the two of you can refocus for the future year to get more goals accomplished easier. When the final big question comes from them about how good they were ask them what they expect as a raise. if they answer seriously cut the number by 75% and tell them that is the biggest you think you can get from your HR supervisor. ps I hope they are doing well in their career goals that way you won't have a bad experience.