I’m afraid my star employee is going to quit

A reader writes:

I was recently promoted to a director role, and one of my direct reports is my former boss who hired me into the company, “Tom.”

Tom was a great boss in the eight years I worked for him. He’s an all-around terrific manager who coaches well, provides clear goals, gives flexibility to meet those goals, provides opportunities to learn and grow, advocates for his team, the works.

After a few years working for him, a promotion opened up and Tom urged me to apply. I got it, became his peer, and built my own effective team using his style as my model. Last year, our department director positioned opened up. Tom and I both applied. I impressed our relatively new division VP, and got the job.

Days after that, I found out through a colleague that Tom was very disappointed. Apparently the previous division VP had told Tom that he was a “shoo-in” for. the job when it opened. In fact, he turned down some outside opportunities that would have paid more because he was anticipating this promotion. I had no idea that this was his expectation.

Tom has been nothing but professional and complimentary with me, but I’m really concerned about how I can manage him effectively. I need him to stay—he has longstanding personal relationships with all our key clients. If he left suddenly, we would be in a real bind.

Our HR and division VP have also emphasized the need to keep Tom on staff due to his role as a talent spotter and his client relationships. I asked about getting him a raise and an intermediate promotion, but our corporate structure is pretty stratified and there’s nothing between his level and mine. What do you recommend to navigate the potential awkwardness of managing my former boss, as well as keeping him happy despite his disappointment in not getting this job—and his missing out on the raise that came with it?

I answer this question over at Inc. today, where I’m revisiting letters that have been buried in the archives here from years ago (and sometimes updating/expanding my answers to them). You can read it here.

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