“Individuals promoted to managerial positions do not always clearly understand their role as managers and the ways in which they can add-value as managers,” says Duncan Miles.

Managers are often chosen to manage because they are good at doing something else. Few organisations provide managers with a model or system for managing, and few have systems for preparing managers for their future roles, or for developing them once in those roles. Rarely are new managers warned about the chaotic nature of day-to-day management.

Yet despite all of these factors, managers are expected to achieve results mainly through other people. To complicate matters even more they are often deficient in interpersonal skills and little, if anything, is done to remedy this situation – this frequently results in their staff complaining about ‘bad managers’. The complaining is often done behind the manager’s back and, as a result, the manager receives little guidance and little feedback on their performance. They are often left living in blissful ignorance of their impact.

Some of these problems are caused because of the way managers are recruited, trained and managed. When managers are chosen because they are good at something other than management, or where they are simply promoted as a matter of course, these problems will be increased.

If they have no prior experience of managing and receive little effective training, the result is likely to be that they will have no clear concept of the role of a manager in adding-value and, worse still, will probably continue doing what they did prior to being promoted to the managerial position.

There will be confusion about the roles and functions of those around them and, critically, the strategic aspects of their managerial role will be undervalued and their lack of skills and experience will make their managerial functions ineffective.

In general, individuals promoted to managerial positions do not always understand clearly their role as managers and the ways in which they can add-value as managers. Even if they do understand the role, they may not possess the skills to implement it.

Poor standards

New managers tend to say nothing and frequently do not want to be seen ‘rocking the boat’. Many poor managers think they are doing well because they either imitate poor role models or because no one in the organisation is prepared to call attention to the poor standards of recruitment, training and management of managers.

If the problems and issues are clearly understood, it might then be a fairly simple task to improve the performance of managers. One way of turning the crisis in management into an opportunity is to turn the institutional and managerial deficits mentioned earlier into the development needs of managers.

What, then, are the levers for improvement? How do we provide the correct focus, support and development for our managers?

We can ensure that we choose managers who have a demonstrable capacity to become self-starting, self-directing, and autonomous. We need to ensure that managers really know what their job entails and how they add real value to the business.

New managers will need to be supported in developing business enhancing goals and given support and resources to meet them. On-going advice, feedback and guidance will be essential and will help them to establish an effective culture in which they and others collaborate with each other. The aim should be to ensure that they develop a managerial style that adds value to the business and that facilitates the work of those around them.

Adding value

The primary role of the new manager should always be to add value to the wealth-creating process within the organisation. This might be for profit or institutional enhancing or socially enhancing wealth for non-profit making organisations.

An important point for the new manager to remember is that they will need to add value through each activity that he or she does. Managers are usually not neutral, they either add value or cost. Truly effective managers make value-added things happen.

In day-to-day operations, the principal managerial dilemma is often one of trying to look good versus one of being effective. Strangely enough, the latter is often achieved through ensuring that you add real value. The former, though, is probably more common and can be characterised by behaviours such as indecision, frenzy, and misdirected work activities.

The new manager needs to receive open and honest feedback about their performance if they are to change their natural focus, from the desire to look good to one where the focus is on ensuring that they meet the needs of the business. The new manager should constantly be looking to answer a couple of key questions: ‘what should I work on?’ and ‘what outcomes will best serve the business?’

The answer to these questions may result in activities that help to put the finishing touches to a new strategy, or that translate the organisational strategy into one for a smaller work unit, or perhaps put in place more effective work practices.

Management development programmes and training activities should equip managers with the skills and processes to understand, formulate, implement and fine tune strategy. They should focus on enhancing skill levels in communication and cross functional or boundary working.

Programmes should also provide the new manager with effective techniques for keeping in touch with the changing needs of customers and equip them with methods and techniques to design effective and efficient work programmes, and to formulate structures that continue to serve the business and ensure costs are contained.

It is essential that performance management systems help the new managers to give their best and to establish comprehensive job functions and roles that ultimately support the business.

Line managers, training managers and HR teams will be required to support the new manager in creating a business enhancing agenda that creates and reinforces a culture that serves the business, not the individual. This will be achieved through the development of effective strategic, operational and HR plans.

By focusing management development programmes on these topics we should be able to avoid the potential crisis that exists in management today.

Duncan Miles is director of Inspire Training and Consultancy Limited. For more information, please visit: www.inspiretraining.net or call 01962 852 796.