Until yesterday, you discussed management decisions together. Today, you are the person who has to make and explain some of those decisions.
You know the people. You know who does good work, who needs support and which problems the team has been avoiding for a long time. That can be an advantage. But knowing people does not settle the question of how you will now lead them.
It is easy to make one of two mistakes.
The first is to change nothing. You remain available to everyone in the same way, avoid difficult conversations and expect people to understand your new responsibility without discussing it. When someone fails to deliver, you take over their work to protect the relationship.
The second is to change everything overnight. You become stricter than the work requires, distance yourself from people and treat every objection as a test of your authority.
In either case, the team is left guessing what happened to the person they know.
The new role calls for a conversation. What are you now responsible for? Which decisions can you make? Which tasks will you no longer carry out as before? What can people expect from you when a problem arises?
Friendship does not have to disappear. But it cannot determine whose mistakes you overlook. If you ask one person to explain a delay but say nothing to another because you are close, the team will notice that difference before you admit it to yourself.
Sometimes you will have to make a decision that a former peer dislikes. You can listen, explain your reasons and stand by the decision. Disagreement does not have to damage the relationship.
Support from the people who appointed you matters too. If they give you responsibility but retain all the authority, people will quickly learn that they can bypass your decisions.
The move from colleague to manager is not completed by changing your email signature.
It shows in whether you can be fair when fairness is uncomfortable. Whether you can listen without promising to accept every request. And whether the people who were your peers yesterday know where they stand with you today.
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