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Wednesday, February 16, 2011
How I See It
Management's rite of passage is wrong
By Roberta Chinsky Matuson, president of Human Resource Solutions
The legacy of Ken Olsen - by Gordon College & Televerse Productions
The Genius of Ken Olson – by Gordon College & Televerse Productions
Do you remember what it was like when you were first promoted into management? I do. I compare the experience to a typical episode of Grey’s Anatomy: Lots of people swirling around handling the wounded, yet few stopping long enough to show inexperienced personnel the ropes. Similar to new residents, I was tossed into my first management job and was left to fend for myself with little preparation. No one trained my boss, nor did it appear that anyone trained the boss who came before her. It was simply understood to be a rite of passage, that one was expected to go through, on route to the C-Suite. In retrospect, it was more like a hazing.
It’s been more than 25 years since this happened to me and from what I can tell, little has changed in terms of the way we develop and support our new leaders. This is somewhat surprising given the complexity of business today. We can begin to reverse this trend by taking steps to ensure tomorrow’s new leaders won’t become the walking wounded.
Making amends
Imagine how much more productive people would be if they entered into their new roles with a clear sense of how to do their jobs. You don’t have to be part of a large organization to ensure this happens. In fact, this is an area where small companies have an advantage. Newly minted managers can work directly with senior management, without the middle layers getting in the way. Organizations can quickly establish training or mentoring programs without having to seek three levels of approval. You can begin small with brown bag “lunch and learns” or you can go big with a off-site meeting with an experienced facilitator who can quickly get people moving in the right direction.
Finding a speaker for a lunch-and-learn is easier than it sounds. Ask those in your network if they can recommend an author who has recently released a business book. Many newly published authors are willing to reduce their speaking fees in exchange for an agreement to purchase a minimum number of books.
Coming full circle
Quality circles were all the rage in the 1980s. This is where companies assembled volunteer groups of employees, with the specific purpose of finding ways to improve quality. Next came the CEO circles, a safe haven where like-minded CEOs shared their challenges in a confidential setting. This trend is still going strong today.
The time has come for organizations to provide similar support to managers in the form of management circles. This would be a place where supervisors and managers assemble to openly discuss the everyday challenges that are holding them back from achieving success as a leader. An experienced facilitator, with a track record for helping people thrive in management roles, would lead these meetings. Benefits to the organization would include reducing the amount of time it takes new managers to become productive, decreasing the amount of stress usually associated with a change in management and increased employee retention as workers realize the company is really willing to invest in their people.
Some of you may be thinking that your organization won’t be able to participate because you can’t make a circle when you only have two managers. Those companies could join forces with non-competing firms to create a management circle. This idea sure beats sending your people to some $1,500 generic management seminar with the hopes they will return as the next Jack Welch.
As the economy continues to improve and retirement portfolios recover, we will see a mass exodus of experienced managers setting sail on their retirement journeys. You have a small window of opportunity to ensure that those who are next in line are fully prepared to take on the roles that will be vacated. That window gets a bit smaller everyday you wait.
Roberta Chinsky Matuson is the president of Human Resource Solutions (www.yourhrexperts.com) and author of the book Suddenly in Charge: Managing Up, Managing Down, Succeeding All Around.
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