BW Communities

The Mortar Of New Management

BW Online Bureau Nov 08, 2014

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[To write this article in the time I've allowed myself requires self-management. And it is fairly easy. But if I were to ask an entire team of people to write it and still produce a coherent argument, I would have my hands full. Why? Put simply, because it requires a dramatic shift in focus in one's thinking and actions. One has to move from the goal of self-motivation and self-achievement to that of setting a goal, actions and motivations for a team of people outside oneself – a team that accommodates many different personalities, each requiring their own brand of guidance and motivation. This is the new manager's dilemma, and one that is crucial to solve in any business.  New managers are an integral part of an organisation. They become middle managers. They climb the ladder and some go on to become CEOs. But what they learn as new managers is what they carry with them throughout their leadership careers. It is the value they continue to bring to the workplace. Not investing in them, therefore, is a long-term error of business judgement. Unless they gain the skills they need to lead at management level, new managers will go on to become poor middle managers and ultimately, poor CEOs. The point is that bad leadership, whether at the top, middle or bottom of the organisation, is bad for business. Consider these findings by the Performance Solutions Group, published last year. Only 38 per cent of employees think their leaders have a sincere interest in their well-being. Only 47 per cent think their leaders are trustworthy. Only 42 per cent think their leaders inspire and engage them, while 61% question whether their leaders deal effectively with poor performance. Only 42 per cent think senior management encourages the development of talent. A workforce that feels this way about its leaders is no asset. And they reflect uncomfortably on the level of support and training given to their managers' leadership skills. These leaders picked up poor skills along the way and it shows – not only in poor performance from badly led teams, but also in the area of staff retention. Talented staff will not stay in a poorly managed environment: as Marcus Buckingham put it, "people join firms but leave managers". Most people coming into a management role for the first time don't know what to do. They are paralysed with apprehension. Their knees buckle under added responsibility. Fear of failure haunts their every decision. They feel isolated and cornered; caught between the heavy demands of business and the needs of their worker friends. It's a hard shift to make, the change from getting results alone and motivating a team to achieve results. For some, this shift takes a long time. And this can cause flow problems for companies, no matter their size. However, it can be avoided by two things. One: get in early and develop new managers from the word go. Two: don't make someone a manager if they don't have the "edge" that it takes. Often, it is assumed that the person who is best at the job or the most experienced will make the best manager, but experience or skill in a specific area does not automatically translate to management skill. Unilever found this out the hard way. They had been promoting people to management positions as rewards for loyalty. Eventually they ended up with 36 tiers of management. That much bureaucracy is good for business like a blood clot is good for the heart. They ended up having to downscale to a final six tiers, which was not only time-consuming and labour-intensive, but also undermined the company's credibility in the eyes of its employees. People should be promoted because of their competence, and not simply because they have been with the organisation a long time. This competence can also be cultivated in the new manager. Investing in new managers leads to sustainable efficient leadership. Empower them to empower the workforce. Help them cope by giving them the tools they need; the business language they need. If you're going to promote someone into a management position, do it properly and with a view for the long-term productivity of the company. Give them the confidence to lead and manage effectively. And it starts by building their character. Teach them how to ask themselves: how can I manage myself better? How can I be authentically me? How can I work with other people? How do I listen to other people? How do I understand the assumptions they're making, and the one's I'm making? How can I work with the diversity of the group? Then, show them the ropes, the nuts and the bolts, the crankshaft and the pistons. A new manager needs to understand how to have the conversations that now come with their title. They need to understand business terminology – they haven't really been exposed to it at that level before. Enable them to ask intelligent questions in the boardroom, and to understand the answers. They'll need to know and understand basic finance, value stream management, operations, marketing, strategy and innovation. New managers are a strategic link and they need to be strengthened. To throw them in the deep end alone without development or investment in their abilities to lead and manage is to undermine the entire chain for a long time.  (Jenny Carter is the Course Director of the New Managers Programme at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business (GSB))