Many managers are promoted as a result of their impressive technical skills, but, as Lynnette Hoffman writes, that doesn’t necessarily make them a good manager
Many managers are promoted as a result of their impressive technical skills, but, as Lynnette Hoffman writes, that doesn’t necessarily make them a good manager
If the world was perfect, HR professionals would sit down with a job description, a list of core competencies, plenty of time and a mandate to recruit specifically for the position on hand every time. They’d hire managers who were fair, firm and easy to approach – and who also had all the required technical skills. But, surprise surprise, positions need to be filled quickly sometimes, budgets come into play, perfect candidates are hard to find, promoting internally makes sense sometimes, and a whole host of other complex factors come into play when determining who ends up in a management position, says Carolyn Barker, CEO of the Australian Institute of Management (Queensland and the Northern Territory).
“Often people fall into management. They’re employed initially on the basis of being specialists, so they may come in as IT specialists or marketing specialists or whatever – and show they have ability. And management has become the formal process of recognising that,” Barker says.
“People often spend years learning a specialty –such as operations or supply chain management, but very little time learning how to deal with people. So they’re anointed as the next team leader or supervisor and often they’re just not prepared for it.”
The key for HR professionals is not to make assumptions that someone with the technical skills will automatically make a good manager. In fact, there are a whole range of non-technical skills, such as communications, good listening, good delivery of the message, understanding team dynamics, managing different types of people, knowing what strategies to use to deal with conflict, to name but a few, that are vital to good leaders and managers. And in most organisations, there are people in positions of leadership who lack those skills.
“The most consistent challenge HR managers face is being able to deal with people of all types, whether they like them or not,” Barker says. But the good news is that those sorts of skills are teachable and can be learned. “The basic skills can be taught. Things like understanding your own skills, giving and receiving feedback, listening. Not everyone is a good listener, but you can teach them to be better listeners,” Barker says.
Teaching those skills can take several forms. One trend is toward more informal and experiential learning– not the outward bound type physical outdoor experience – but working with other people to learn about yourself, using techniques such as role playing, and using a team approach to get feedback from a group and to practice their craft. A growing number of organisations are using coaching from a trusted third party to help staff develop goals and act as a critical voice and “a broker” to help staff hone their management skills.
“Unstructured learning such as coaching works well when there is a specific skill gap and the individual can be paired with a person with whom they have chemistry, trust or respect to encourage self-learning. This type of development is often used where there are challenges with soft skills. It provides a more conducive environment for goal setting and introspection that can be shared with a ‘critical friend’. The individual can then self correct or practice new behaviours with their work group … often to outstanding effect,” Barker says.
But, she says, these forms of training should complement the more traditional, formal models, and not replace them. “Most people benefit from structured formal learning whether they like it or not, no matter who provides it.”
First-time managers need to develop a solid understanding of the basics, such as communications, negotiations time management, basic accounting and conflict management, among other skills. “For many people learning can be more productive in a structured setting, especially for people in an entry level management position, as they go up through the ranks it will put them in a really good stead.”
So what’s the bottom line? “As soon as people are given other people to manage, it’s the responsibility of the organisation, large or small, to see if they have skills gaps and help correct them,”Barker says. “Core management skills can be learned. The challenge is understanding that it takes a holistic approach and putting systems and processes in place to ensure you’re identifying skills gaps and dealing with them as quickly as possible.”
