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Nearly 60% of frontline managers underperform during their first two years in the seat
When an employee is promoted to a new managerial job or hired directly into a new managerial job – perhaps straight from college, the new manager is required to use additional skills to the ones he/she used to rise as a star independent contributor to the company.
Many companies and their stars fail to recognize this fact and lease their success to luck and the proverbial “throwing spaghetti at the wall to see if it sticks..” This is bad strategy, as “nearly 60% of frontline managers underperform during their first two years in the seat, driving performance gaps and employee turnover across the entire frontline..”
However, the mindful development and training of new supervisors and managers in people skills, customer focus, and performance management skills leads to “high-performing direct reports.” that create value for the customers and a winning, successful business formula.
People skills in the beginning
While some level of technical expertise is necessary for supervisory positions – depending on the specific supervisory job – nothing makes up for failure to develop people skills. There are basically two kinds of bosses: good bosses and bad bosses. Good bosses demonstrate clear and consistent patterns of challenge and support. They are neither “softies.” nor people who don.’t require best efforts. At the same time, good bosses are often credited with providing true encouragement and support that enables high performance.
Good new managers also:
Model appropriate behavior. Bad bosses use a wide variety of awful/poor behaviors .– and many of them are character issues. Character issues trickle down to employees, often resulting in lack of discretionary effort, company loyalty, and inappropriate behavior.
Are patient. Going slowly in the beginning earns the respect and credibility necessary to make changes – even those that not everyone agrees with .– in the future. Making changes and quick decisions when first starting a new supervisory or managerial role can hurt effectiveness.
Learn about direct reports. What are an employee’s strengths and weaknesses? Knowing who is good at what is critical to getting work done.
Are visible and accessible. The more accessible a supervisor or manager is, the smaller the “learning curve.” for getting to know and understand the boss. The more a manager is out-and-about (management by walking around), the more dialogue will take place. Being visible also improves productivity, as the mere presence of a supervisor communicates supervisory interest in the work and attention to quality of the work.
Troubleshooting in the beginning
Friendships are an area where new managers often find trouble. A common mistake new supervisors make is assuming that everyone else is as excited about their promotion as they are – or that friends will have the same approach to the relationship as they do. For many, a new supervisory or management role requires supervising or managing friends or past peers. This must be handled with care. Common pitfalls the new manager needs to avoid: apologizing for the new position; showing favoritism instead of managing performance; emphasizing friendships beyond the workplace while at work; and being artificial .– pretending the friendship doesn’t exist.
Some good-natured ribbing, especially from friends or coworkers, is normal. However, others, for a variety of reasons, either might resent the promotion or not know when enough is enough and keep up the teasing or snipes. Sometimes, just ignoring the needling stops the behavior.
Otherwise, if it keeps going, the best way to handle that situation is for the manager to keep composure. He/she neither needs to justify their new position/promotion nor humor the situation. Make it clear that that commentary is unacceptable. Maintain confidence. Dealing with the situation immediately increases the new manager’s influence and gains him/her respect from most people. The fact is that the nature of friendships is changed and often challenged due to a supervisor or managerial relationship. This must be managed effectively.
Initial team meetings
Initial team meetings are where expectations are set, a “feeling out.” process occurs, and opinions get formed. The first few meetings are used to set a supervisory tone, establish initial credibility, clearly communicate confidence in the new position and clarify performance expectations.
The new manager needs to identify essential content pieces for the first team/group meeting. These include: reassurance that it will be business as normal; reassurance that everyone has a clean slate; stressing teamwork and cooperation; emphasizing open and candid communication both ways; and the “no surprises.” rule (if they have problems or difficulties, they should be brought to the new manager’s attention).
To get off to a good start, the following tips are suggested for having a productive and successful first meeting:
· Have it soon.
· Make it short.
· Have the meeting at the end of the day if possible.
· Make the topic simple – for instance, expectations in general.
· Leave some time for questions.
Conclusion
In the end, education is key. With careful planning and grooming on the part of the company and thoughtful motivation and practice on the part of the new manager, successful leadership can be nurtured and accomplished.
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