In my last Insight, I talked about how leadership skills training is becoming more important as the workplace shifts.
Leadership skills training is especially important these days because the old way of doing things is slowly going out the door and a new way of doing things is entering, which requires managers to manage differently.
For example, the dialog managers have with Generation Y employees is much different than it was with employees from other generations. As a manager of previous generations, you could pretty much let a group of employees know what needed to be done and when and it would get done. Now managers need to tell employees what needs to be done and why it needs to be done, and then give them opportunities to have some dialog around it. Generation Y employees are going to want the opportunity to debate what’s been said, which can be difficult for Baby Boomers to manage.
The Challenge
It’s been a challenge for the managers of today to embrace the changing times and learn to manage employees differently than they have in the past.
I think that’s why it’s important to really evaluate all your managers individually and find out ways to help them close their skill set gaps.
For example, you may have a Baby Boomer manager who may have been very successful in the past, but the skill sets they currently have don’t work anymore, so they need to learn different ways to manage people if they’re going to continue to be successful.
Evaluating Your Managers/Employees
Once companies have established the competencies that are the most important to drive their goals for success, there are many tools that can be utilized to determine gaps. Some of these tools include:
- Employee opinion/employee climate surveys
- Managerial development tools, such as a 360 review or individual assessments
Once you’ve determined the gaps, you can begin closing them with leadership skills training.
Successful behavior changes come slowly. It’s important to keep in mind that this training may be asking some of your managers/employees to make changes on things they have done their whole lives, so it may be a little difficult in the beginning.
In order to begin closing the gaps, you have to really focus on what needs to be changed as well as have clear development plans to achieve the changes.
For example, where in the past an employee might have dropped by their boss’ office to have a conversation, now employees might instead send an e-mail or instant message. Although this is different, this is one of the things managers need to be trained to adjust to. They need to be trained to respond to an e-mail or instant message query just as they would if the employee stopped by their office.
Getting your managers to look at things from different angles and learn more about the changing workplace and how to better manage the employees of today will help them have continued success in the future.