Leadership

Last week I was facilitating a seminar for a group of new supervisors and one of them asked me, "Cal, if you were promoted from a position within your team to the position of supervisor, would you maintain the same social relationships with your friends that you now supervise?" I thought that was a very challenging question and had to think about it before giving an answer. I advised it would be unwise to maintain the same relationships because it might create a conflict of interest. Maintaining a close social relationship may create a morale problem because some of your employees may accuse you of favoritism.