New manager here: how do you handle teammates becoming quiet/distant after you used to be peers?
Hi everyone, I’m a newly promoted manager in a US-based company, pero mga pinoys ang team namin.
Before my promotion, I could say comfortable naman yung teammates ko sakin and they would naturally come to me for questions or help. Lately though, I’ve noticed one teammate became more distant and no longer reaches out the same way. He was previously a manager in his past job as well, so I’m not sure if this is just an awkward transition or if I’m reading too much into it.
He used to be very vocal about company structures, processes, feedback, etc., and lagi niya yun shinesare sakin before. During the first week after my promotion, okay-ish pa naman. But after one task incident, parang nag-iba yung vibe.
Basically, there was a task he worked on where the approach/output needed some correction. I asked him to revise it, but it didn’t get addressed, so I ended up fixing it myself to keep the work moving (bc it's urgent, it's EOD too and he logged off already). I know he spent effort on it, so I’m wondering if that situation may have affected him negatively. After that, he became noticeably quieter.
Hindi na siya masyado nagpa-participate during meetings, and even during our 1:1s parang ayaw na niya makipag-usap minsan. His tone also feels different compared before.
For added context, I’m also the youngest in the team, but I’m the most tenured in the company. So I’m trying to be mindful of that dynamic too.
Our team calls have also been very quiet lately. Since Pinoy team kami, I was hoping sana mas engaging or collaborative yung discussions, but at the same time ayoko rin naman pilitin magsalita yung mga tao or ilagay sila on the spot.
Recently, the company introduced OKRs, so I tried adding more structure around team goals and ownership para mas clear yung direction namin as a team. But now I’m second-guessing if maybe it came across as too much or too sudden, even though intention ko naman was to help the team align better.
For managers here, how do you handle this kind of situation? Do you privately check in, give them space, or adjust how you run team calls? How do you balance creating structure with not making the team feel micromanaged, especially when you’re managing people who used to be your peers?
P.S. I know I might be overthinking this a bit too much, but would really appreciate advice from other managers. I just want to do this role well and support the team better.