I work at an aerospace engineering company. Early in my management career, I was asked to take over the System Architecture team - the people who do the front-end conceptual design for a lot of products. Most of the people on that team were PhD’s in things like physics, chemical engineering, nuclear physics, etc., and many had multiple degrees. Some had been there 30 or 40 years - longer than I’d been alive. Note: I wasn’t asked to take it because I was smarter than anyone on the team - probably the opposite - each person on the team would have considered it a demotion to be given a management job.

I found the best approach was to just think of myself as a facilitator/enabler. I’d talk to the team members individually to understand what was in their way, then I’d legitimately try hard to remove those things. I talked to everyone like peers, and didn’t insert myself where it was likely that they knew better than me (e.g., I wasn’t going to be solving any technical problems on a nuclear propulsion design, so no reason even getting involved).

Just being respectful to everyone (whether they work for you or not) goes a long way. But you also have a job to do - there no reason to be apologetic if your job includes making assignments or whatever, just do it.

Congrats on the new job!

I’ve been there. Curiosity and respect go a long way. They were generally very supportive, despite some of them being there for 30+ years. Everyone just wants a good boss who’s looking out for them.

If you can show consistently you’re dedicated to the work and to their well being, there might be initial grumbling and then it’ll settle into whatever it is.

Be kind to yourself meanwhile. There’s nothing to prove and nothing to be. Because at the same time, if someone doesn’t like it they’ll already not like it.

Respect them, respect their knowledge and experience. Acknowledge that they know stuff, and then leverage this to tell (not ask!) them to do task XYZ.

I’ve never worked in a kitchen, and I’m sure it’s different than the office jobs I’ve done. But still, it’s important to remember that leadership is not about “telling people what to do” as you described it.

One of the easiest mistakes to make as a leader is assuming that your job is to always be in charge, to order people round, to maintain an air of authority. Sometimes yes, that’s needed, but in my experience it’s pretty rare.

Your job as a leader is to set direction, make sure people know what’s expected of them, make sure they have everything they need to do their job, and then stay out of their way. Especially if you’re leading people who are already experienced and know what they’re doing.

I used to work above a guy who had a reputation in the company for not really taking direction well from anyone (hence why he ended up in our section) and he was about double my age.

What I used to do was mention two things that needed doing and ask him which one he wanted to do. Most of what we did could’ve been done by either of us but in letting him pick what he wanted he had more inclination to actually do it. The rapport that came from this did allow me to jump on the few things that I wanted and get minimal backlash because I was fair most of the time.

Treat people with respect and make them feel like their opinions are valued.

If it comes to personal stories and life experience in conversation - try and take a lot more of a listening role and acknowledge their experience. They’ll feel valued in that space which will translate over to respect in the working space.

The only job I’ve had where I might have been “managing” employees older than myself we never had any issues because of an age gap. In fact, I even trained a guy to operate the same machine I ran who was like 30 years older and we got along great.

The best advice I can give is simply: don’t make it a big deal and they probably won’t either. I showed them the same amount of respect I would to someone my own age and didn’t treat them like they should be “higher up” in the field because of their seniority.

In my situation the older guy I trained was a railroad worker for like 20 years before switching to the machining job; we both understood that I had a couple years ahead of him at this particular facility and he took the opportunity to ask questions learn a lot while we worked together.

As an older guy with a 35+ year career I’ve had a number of bosses younger than me. If you don’t make it weird, I won’t make it weird. It’s no big deal. A lot of workplace authority is arbitrary / accidental anyway. Or just favoritism. Best to keep your head down and not let it bother you.

Mid-30s here in a corporate setting so not a direct parallel, but in my early 30s I hired someone who is late 50s and I was really scared about that. She was also coming from a manager position over ~150 people, entering an individual contributor role, and I only had 4 months of management experience at this company, and about a year over 7 years ago at another. I was really scared it would be a problem.

A year later, I can confidently say age has not mattered at all and she regularly talks about how good a leader I am.

Two things to remember: You got this promotion for a reason, and everyone (who isn’t self-employed) will end up with a manager younger than them at some point in their career. As long as you do the job well, people will respect you. And those who don’t are likely problem employees for other reasons.

A lot of good comments on here. One thing I’d add is that EVERYONE has imposter syndrome. The thing that differentiates good and bad leaders is how they handle their syndrome. If they try to hide it, they bully people and don’t seek guidance. If they give in to it, they can’t make decisions.

The trick is to maintain humility, recognize that you’ll be wrong, and learn from it. See your job as facilitating their jobs. Listen to your employees and communicate with them. Tell them what they do well. Find out what motivates them.

Older, more tenured employees will appreciate it if you ask for their feedback and if you see it as a team effort. There may be some that are so bitter they can’t get over it. Everyone is better off if they leave quickly.

Did the people on the line go out for to Sous slot?

If you beat them out for the role there’ll likely be animosity.

If they didn’t even try, a 30-40 yo line cook may be happy prepping mise and schlepping peas, and doesn’t want any part of the unpaid overtime you just signed up for.

Go watch the Bear, they got it.

Your first task is to identify who’s who, first by determining their sentiment towards you, who likes you, who’s indifferent, who hates you, if they hate, why…

Next, figure out their level of knowledge, who’s a fool, who’s a fool and thinks they’re smart, who’s truly smart and who’s smart but thinks they’re a fool.

With this map made, prepare your strategy. To start, don’t waste time on fools who hate you and the fools who flatter you, they’re a waste of time, but always treat them with respect, just don’t expend energy on them, as they usually sink themselves.

Treat those who are indifferent to you with respect and try to convert them into followers, showing that you understand their frustrations and problems that may make them uninterested in the work. But be careful not to become a psychologist.

Finally, regarding the people who like you, play it safe, subtly compliment them when you can, encourage their growth. If they’re the smart type who thinks they’re a fool, show them they have impostor syndrome and watch their morale boost. If they’re fools, understand why they’re fools, it might just be that they’re in the wrong position. But if it’s something worse, try to subtly keep your distance, so as not to turn a sympathetic fool into a new hater.

In conclusion, always treat people with respect, regardless of their position or age, remember that things change, tomorrow one of them could be your boss and you wouldn’t want to be humiliated because of revenge for something you did in the past.