Coaching leadership style is often focused on relationships: how leaders support and interact with their teams and other managers to ensure productivity and a smooth transition from teammate to team leader. If you’ve received a quick promotion, moving from associate to manager more rapidly than most, relationships with your former teammates can become strained and conflicts may develop.

“Why you before me?” some of your peers may wonder. “How will this impact the way we interact with and relate to each other?”

The key to making a smooth transition from peer to principle is communication. Make yourself easily available to them, while showing empathy and understanding about their needs and wants. Doing this will greatly reduce the stress and uncertainty they may feel from the shift in the way they view and relate to you.

Accept that perception is frequently more important than reality and, because you’re dealing with the biases and feelings of others, it’s important that they see you as essentially the same person they’ve always known. Despite your new role as “the boss”, making a smooth transition to your new role will require you to assure them that you remain “on their side”; the empathetic and supportive person they enjoyed working with before.

The Challenges of Moving from Teammate to Team Leader

Keeping the relationships you have with former peers intact is critical to your success as you face the challenges of moving from teammate to team leader. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, an invitation-only community for leading business and career coaches who offer guidance for leaders and managers at Forbes.com, there are more than a dozen steps you can take to smooth the transition you’re facing.

Here are the top 7 tips from the Forbes list that I suggest for new leaders, when coaching leadership style:

1. Hold One-on-One, Face-to-Face Meetings – Help people ease into the transition by having one-on-one meetings with all of your team members. Lay out your vision for the team and seek input from each person. Understand their desires, frustrations, and expectations. Gain their trust by being inclusive. Use your insider knowledge of their pain points to alleviate any concerns they may have that you are a step closer to the decision makers.
2. Set Boundaries – People who go from buddy to boss tend to treat their team like friends. Set clear expectations from the start. As peers, you would go out for happy hours but now, as manager, you should only stay for one drink or simply not go. Avoid gossip and water cooler conversations. Remain approachable, but show through your behavior that you are now their manager. You can be friendly without being a friend.
3. Share the Success – No one makes progress without help and collaboration from others. It’s important to acknowledge your co-workers who have been part of your success journey. Acknowledge them publicly, if possible. This helps to establish your brand as an authentic leader who appreciates collaboration, colleagues, and employees.
4. Stay Confident – You were promoted to team leader for a reason. You’re good. You bring things to the table that will help you be an amazing leader. Your team needs you to move forward confidently while making it clear to them you value their engagement to create something great. Trust them to contribute. Help them play to their strengths.
5. Empower Your People – Moving from peer to management means you probably know a lot about what’s unpopular with your team. This is a tremendous opportunity for you to showcase your leadership skills. Meet individually with your team and listen to their ideas, suggestions, and complaints. Empower them to come up with and/or champion solutions. The more you allow your team to shine, the more you shine as a manager.
6. Set Clear Expectations – When transitioning roles to leading your peers, set expectations as their new leader. Open and transparent dialogue is key. Keep the language and feedback real. Understand how your peers like to be coached and set your expectations for how you’d like to coach them.
7. Re-Introduce Yourself in Your New Role as Team Leader – Hit the reset button to help people get to know you as their leader. Share things your team may not know, like how your background has formed your values, how you define high performance, pet peeves, or how your directs can best let you know if they disagree with you. Be open and transparent, while confidently sharing your leadership style and strengths.

Emotional Intelligence in Leadership 

If you’ve received a quick promotion, moving from team member to team leader in a relatively short time span (say 3-5 years on the job), you’ll need to rely on your emotional intelligence skills and empathy more than ever before. Put your sense of empathy into high gear and keep the lines of communication wide open as you work to face the newly realized challenges you’re facing.

If you would you like to learn more about how to refine your skillset as a newly promoted leader, with coaching leadership style, improved communication, and the enhanced use of emotional intelligence in the workplace, my Free Leadership Webinar may be exactly what you need.