In my last Insight, I talked about new managers and explained that good management skills are necessary for their success.
When helping your new managers to be good at their jobs, you need to:
- Give your new managers as much information as possible—Inform them what their new responsibilities will be, what their new roles will be, tell them what you expect of them and find out what they expect from you. Tell them what the goals for their departments are and what the priorities and goals of the company are. Help your new managers determine how their departments fit into the company as a whole.
- Help your new managers build a network—Encourage your new managers to build a network by talking to other managers. Encourage them to have an open dialogue and discuss: what the other managers do in their departments, how they get things done and how their department links to other departments.
Also, encourage your new managers to find additional resources, such as people inside or outside your organization who could answer questions for them. The HR department is a good base for your new managers to have in their network.
- Facilitate good management skills training—Your new managers need to have a fundamental foundation of management skills that can help them accomplish results through the people they will be managing.
There are three good management skills all your new managers should have:
- Authenticity—They need to be authentic, honest, provide honest opinions, act with integrity, be trustworthy and promote trust and sharing in the groups they manage. They also need to share information appropriately without “sugarcoating.”
- The ability to bring out the best in people—Managers need to be able to bring out the best in the people they manage because, ultimately, the manager’s success is going to depend on the successes of the people who work for them.
Managers need to make sure that they set clear expectations with their employees for work assignments and workplace behaviors. Also, provide continuous feedback to your new managers so they know how they’re doing and if they have areas that need improvement.
Another way for your new managers to bring out the best in people is for them to provide access to training for the employees they manage.
- Reception to feedback—This means new managers should not only be open to receiving feedback on their performance, but should also thoughtfully consider the feedback given to them and choose how to best act on it.
An Example
I once worked with a warehouse company. There were several people who were really good at their jobs—the packaging people, the inventory person, the person on the receiving end. These folks were promoted to supervisory positions.
Unfortunately, these people were plopped into their new supervisory positions with the expectation that they would now manage their former co-workers; it was a really difficult transition for them. These employees were willing to make the transition, but were looking for help to make sure they transitioned successfully.
My approach focused on giving these new managers really good management skills so they could be successful from day one.
The company’s HR specialist was a key player in making this transition happen. She provided the new managers with the information they needed (policies, procedures, etc.). She created job descriptions so that the managers knew what was expected of them in their new positions and what was expected of the people and jobs they supervised.
After the new managers worked with the HR specialist, I then helped them enlarge their network so they didn’t have to be a “lone ranger.” This network included people the managers could turn to for advice, coaching, guidance and feedback.
With the HR specialist, I also helped institute formal classes to build the new managers’ skills in coaching, giving feedback, setting expectations for employees and managing performance.
It took about nine months to complete the entire transition, which may seem like a long time, but at the end of the program, the managers were more positive and enthusiastic. Turnover decreased significantly and employee performance started improving.
That’s why it’s so important for all managers—but especially new managers—to get the training they need to develop good management skills.