In order to support the workplace shift that’s happening, it’s important that employers and managers look at the talent they currently have in their workplace that supports where the company is going.
Looking Inside Your Company
Every company is different, but most companies will have employees in a range of generations—from Baby Boomers to Generations X and Y.
Baby Boomers are more process-oriented and they’re really tied to the company.
With Generations X and Y, however, those individuals tend to be more self-developed and willing to try a new approach to things, but there’s often a gap in their knowledge of the core part of the company’s business.
So you have some Baby Boomer employees who have the business down, but are maybe short-sighted on self-development, then you have Generations X and Y that are self-developed and eager to learn, but might need help in getting oriented to the business.
How Leadership Skills Training Helps
Leadership skills training will prepare your employees to be better at guiding individuals and managing how they meet bottom line.
Leadership skills training will help leaders answer the following:
- Where are we wasting money in our department/in the company?
- How can I help direct people better?
- How do I get my people to follow me?
Answering these questions on their own is often a real challenge for leaders, which is why training works so well.
How Leadership Skills Training Comes Into Play
In the past, we spent a lot of time training leaders on a company’s management philosophy, in general. Now we’re going to be spending more time training leaders to be process-oriented because they’re more than likely going to already have a lot of management expertise from their education/work experience, but they might not have knowledge in how to approach the business aspect of their job.
Rather than just have a general curriculum that all managers are required to be trained on, it would be much better if companies worked individually with their managers to find out what the manager’s talent gaps are and then to help them find some ways to close some of those gaps.
In the past, companies would train employees through seminars or training courses, but now there are plenty of other opportunities for them to learn through online courses, reading articles, books, magazines, etc. or being assigned to a mentor.
Example
I have a client that has several leaders in the call center business, and the leaders that I worked with are probably Baby Boomer age and the people they are managing are probably more Generations X and Y. These leaders thought they were helping their employees and winning them over, but they really weren’t meeting their mark.
We had lots of discussions about not leading the employees you have today as you have led them in the past.
Employees of Generations X and Y want their managers to set expectations for them and then just let them get to work. These employees want their manager to say “Here’s what you need to do,” and then allow them to figure it out on their own.
In my next Insight, I’ll give you information about taking steps to evaluate your managers’ skill sets and train them in the new skill sets they need to continue their leadership success in the future.