After working with or in just about every type of organization there is, I’ve come to the conclusion that organizational life , like life in general , is all about relationships. And while our educational institutions do a great job of teaching the technical side of work , how to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer, accountant, or technician , very little time , even in the best schools , gets devoted to how to work and play well with others. Much of my energy goes to helping people build and sustain effective relationships. One of those critical relationships is the one between manager and direct report.
Being a manager , regardless of the level – is about getting work done through others as opposed to doing it yourself. The sad fact is that engineers, accountants, marketing experts, and sales professionals who were great as individual contributors and then promoted into management positions because of their individual performance are usually unprepared to take on that new role. Being a manager requires different skills than being an individual contributor. Technical expertise is not enough. Among other things, managers need to know how to set goals, communicate expectations, hold people accountable for their performance, manage budgets, and work cross-functionally. And the statistics about the impact of an unskillful manager are quite telling. Studies show that up to 80% of employee turnover is because of a “bad boss.
So true! Once people are promoted into a position that involves oversight of the work of others, they enter a new career field: behavioral science. Employers rarely, if ever, equip these new managers for their job. They can help themselves develop the necessary skills by taking courses in Psychology and/or Organization Development.
Unfortunately, many professionals accept a promotion into management only for the increase in compensation and benefits–not because they want the responsibility that goes with it–they do not want to learn how to be good at the job. This is the beginning of the development of the bad bosses that drive good employees away.
Marilyn Haight
Author of “Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Boss? 13 Types and How to Survive Them” http://www.bigbadboss.com
Great comment, Marilyn! While I agree that there are not enough businesses that proactively provide managers with the skills they need for success, I think we need to give credit to employers that DO try to equip newly promoted managers to do their jobs. General Mills is one great example. For the past several years my colleague Dr. Linda Houden and I have co-facilitated a weeklong program at General Mills called “Managing People. One of several offerings from the company’s Organization Effectiveness Department, it provides both new managers as well as those who have never been through a formal management development program practical guidance and tools on how to get work done through others and be a successful manager.