ASK HR: Got a promotion, now my colleagues hate me. How do I handle this?

Q. I am 27. I started working for an advertising company in mid-2015. The management was quick to notice my high potential and assigned several supervisory roles to me shortly after. However, this had a negative effect on my relationship with my more experienced colleagues, and who had worked longer in the company. They no longer want to associate with me and resent me for my new role. The management though continues to applaud me, but I feel that I am on my own. I need career growth, but I also need to get along with my colleagues. How do I handle this?

Congratulations on rapid growth in your career. It is a pity that many people still think the minimum waiting period before you can get a promotion should be two to three years, and that is if you are lucky. When the status quo is challenged, we jump quickly to the negative and think of reasons why the promoted person is not deserving instead of seeking to know what they are doing better than us. The workplace has changed so much in the past decade and it is encouraging to see hard work is being rewarded promptly. And so, you should not be ashamed of your career growth, unless of course it is unmerited.

In many organisations, hardworking and productive employees are promoted and given more responsibilities and left to figure out how to lead teams to deliver. I have seen many productive people get promoted to new exciting roles, only to quickly relegate to bottom performance quartile within a very short time. Moving from planning and delivering own goals to oversight over others’ productivity is not an easy switch and should be supported with relevant training. You need to quickly find out the competencies required in your new role and seek support to bridge any skill gaps. You also need to up your game on interpersonal skills. You are supervising your peers and most likely they were eyeing the job. Their obvious feelings will be jealous and resentment. Your obvious reaction should be to show them why you nailed the job by providing superior support in their work to enable them excel.

Don’t be discouraged if they don’t want to hang out with you anymore, this is expected as they see you as part of “management” and you know the whole culture story around ‘them’ and ‘us’. Sorry, you are now part of ‘them’ as you determine their work, review their performance, have a say in their pay and so forth. But if you demonstrate clear competence in your new role and are fair and impartial, they will see the value you add in their jobs and close the divide.