Friends before colleagues!

All 3 of us were senior managers in 2013. Two of us were great friends beyond work too

That yr I got promoted as AVP & my boss told me that Ratish (name changed) will now report into me

Wen Ratish got to know of this he was obviously as awkward as me. In such situations most people quit rather than report to a friend! I did not want that!

So we went out for dinner & spoke abt it & I assured him tat nothing changes between us. He wasn't very sure bt we agreed to see how things shape

Whenever I needed to monitor his work or remind him on something, instead of writing a mail I would walk up to him

& say "Yaar yeh kar de please" (Buddy, help me with this) & the dynamic worked both ways

He never let anything to be asked of him. He was vigilant & I could sense tat he appreciated our rapport & did not want to unsettle it by letting work suffer at any point

We still went out 4 dinners & there wasn't an iota of awkwardness of the initial days between us

After 2 years Ratish got a role at Flipkart & moved on & we continue to be friends

Few peers were uncomfortable with my rapport with Ratish (with d change in designation) but I couldn't overlook the fact tat we were friends before I became his boss

& we will be friends after it too & if work did not suffer, I saw no reason in changing this approach