So I’m getting a promotion soon (yay!), moving up from just a line cook to sous-chef and I’ve only been with this company for a few months. Thing is that I’m still quite young (mid twenties) and will be the direct supervisor of some people a fair bit older than I am. Think 10-20 years older. It might just still be a bit of imposter syndrome, but the idea of having to tell people who have been in the business for far longer than I what to do and such really weirds me out.
I feel I wouldn’t like it if “some young brat” that just got hired almost immediately gets a promotion and becomes my supervisor eventhough I worked at the company for far longer. Though maybe not everyone feels like this.
Do other people who have experience with a situation like this have any advice on how to deal with this? It’s kinda been keeping me up at night…
I was 35 when I took over a team of 11 people. Most of them are younger, but a few were older.
It really depends on the people, so your key going forward will be paying attention, making time to talk to them, and following through on whatever you say…so be careful with what you say. It’s okay to not know and have to follow back up.
Time management has been my biggest struggle. Doing the daily job plus having the time and energy to actually manage (by setting expectations, following up, etc.) can be exhausting. One thing at a time - try not to counteract this issue by doing 30 things at once. That’s an easy way to lose track of something.