The unprepared Manager: Why businesses need to rethink leadership
In today's fast-paced business environment, many organizations are promoting individuals to managerial roles without adequate training. This lack of preparation creates a chaotic leadership landscape, affecting both the managers and their teams.
One of the biggest mistakes organizations make is offering management training only after someone has been promoted. By then, the new manager is already overwhelmed with responsibilities and has little time for training.
Another common scenario is promoting top-performing employees to management roles. This approach can backfire, turning your best players into ineffective leaders. For example, if Janet is a rockstar in sales, she might get promoted to sales manager. While this may seem like a logical step, it's often the quickest way to ruin your top talent. Managing people requires a different skill set than excelling in a specific role, and many newly promoted managers find themselves floundering.
Some individuals are enamored with the idea of becoming a manager but have little understanding of what the role entails. This lack of awareness can lead to poor performance and dissatisfaction, both for the manager and their team.
How can we better prepare our staff for management level opportunities? Here are three steps to consider:
Step 1: Decide What Qualities Your Organization Wants in a Leader
The first step is to create a clear profile of what a successful leader looks like in your organization. What's the price of admission in your organization to become a leader? It's competency mapping, at its simplest.
Identify the core behaviors and skills that are essential for a managerial role. This should include communication skills, problem-solving abilities, and emotional intelligence. Once you have a list, you can create a competency map that outlines these qualities in detail.
Step 2: Assess Your Staff
The next step is to assess your current staff to see how closely they align with the leadership profile you've created. Know your people. Who have you got right now? Do they even remotely come near your profile? If your employee can't knock these competencies out of the park, performatively, they’re not really right for the job. If they’re not quite there, you can map out a path to get them there.
If you've got performance criteria you can start mapping that against a person's performance. This could involve using a rubric to rate staff on various competencies and behaviors.
Step 3: Create a Developmental Program
Once potential leaders have been identified, they should undergo a developmental program that exposes them to the realities of management. Let your staff experience what it's like to be in a managerial role on a smaller scale before promoting them. You're going to send them to astronaut camp. They won’t all graduate to become astronauts. To some of them you’re going to say, “I'm sorry, Jimmy, but you threw up on the zero gravity simulator, so I guess you're out, buddy. You know what, though? You'd make a great engineer.”
You’ve got to give them the chance to see what it’s like before you promote. We're promoting people and then saying, “Figure out how to do the job.” You wouldn't do this anywhere else. If you're going to place them into a leadership role, start giving them the development before you promote. So if they make it through astronaut camp, and they are qualified, then they are ready to go when mission control says the word.
Stop throwing people in the deep end of the pool and then asking, “Do you like water?" Preparing your staff for management level opportunities is not just about promoting the right people; it's about preparing them for the responsibilities that come with the role.
This pre-training is crucial for several reasons:
- Avoids Burnout: Managers are already busy with their roles; adding training on top of that can lead to burnout.
- Self-Selection: Some people may realize that management is not for them, saving the company from a poor leadership decision.
- Prepares for Challenges: Proper training equips new managers to handle the complexities of their role, reducing the likelihood of failure.
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People don't quit companies; they quit managers. Unprepared managers are a liability, not just to their teams but to the organization as a whole. By implementing a robust leadership development program, companies can ensure that their managers are well-equipped to lead, thereby improving team performance, reducing turnover, and ultimately, driving business success.