Rule number one is to be a team player. Rule number two is never to forget rule number one. It will make it easier for you, easier for your boss and easier for your group.
Assuming that your peers are also managers, your boss is then a manager of managers. As a result, their job is very different from yours. Whereas your job is to be sure that specific hands-on work is being appropriately performed, your boss’s job is to assemble a cohesive management team that works together as a unit for the greater good of the organization.
Unless you can’t be replaced, your boss is your best friend, or your mom owns the company, not being a team player will eventually cause you to be pushed out of the organization. Business leaders want teams that can work together. Also, if your peers can’t or won’t work with you, they can make your life miserable. Reorganizations can also be an issue. If your boss leaves, or is promoted, there is a large probability that you may find yourself working for one of your current peers. Guess what, if you treated this person poorly when they were your peer, chances are they will be very unpleasant to you as your manager. Another thing to keep in mind is that helping your peers also helps your boss. Business leaders want their teams to be successful, all teams, not just yours.
All that said, working with your peers is not always a bed of roses. Depending on your company’s culture and/or your specific job function, you may find yourself continually competing with your peers for resources, budget dollars, control of specific business areas, bonus dollars, stock options and many other things. As a result:
- Learn the rules of the game
- Don’t take advantage of your peers (too much)
- Don’t be a push-over and let your peers take advantage of you
You will find that many of the rules you learned in elementary school still apply.
- If you let them take your lunch money today without a fight, they will probably try to take it again tomorrow
- If you are willing to take the blame for their issues today, you will probably be blamed for their problems tomorrow
- If you show leadership and initiative today, over time people may be willing to follow your lead
- If you don’t play well in the sandbox, you won’t be invited to play
Working with other managers is a different dynamic than working with other individual contributors. This primary difference is because you are managing the work, not doing the work. Thus, your role is more about coordination, communication and cooperation. As a manager, generally speaking, competence is assumed. Your success or failure in a particular role very often has very little to do with your personal skills and/or abilities. Your success has more to do with how your personality and working style fits into the organization’s culture and your personal relationship with your boss and fellow managers.
