Foresight and Training Make Managers

Top management in every industry is well known for setting up our best-skilled workers for failure. It’s like we’re specifically trying to sabotage our own businesses by lowering the skill level of the workforce and using mismanagement to try to fix it. A fancy new title and a raise don’t eat to do. A top-notch management selection process and training program is the only way to ensure future success.

Leaders are great managers:

The best worker is not the best manager, the born leader is. Although scholars continue to argue over the finer details, it is widely accepted that “leaders are born and managers are made.” Leaders are followed. Managers’ directives are carried out. The Leader is the person who spreads grapevine news, teaches business tricks, and from whom co-workers seek advice. At breaks, the leader can be found telling “there I was” stories to an attentive audience and organizing the weekend fishing trip or bar party. The Manager is the person given that title by executives to be in charge of people, projects, and money.

In theory, anyone can be taught to manage well. Managers can be taught efficiency, organization, project flow, and even earn the respect of those they manage. Managers, as the theory goes, cannot be taught how to lead. Although the best worker may also be a natural leader, this is rarely the case. Instead of looking for the best people in the company to fill open management roles, consider promoting and training the natural leader. Management selection processes should begin prior to hiring with a view to identifying potential leaders. These employees should then be observed in their current role for signs of future leadership and advancement.

Tiered management structures:

Think big when developing your management structure. All great companies were once small. So instead of waiting until the company is big and then having to revamp the entire reporting chain; develop the structure from scratch. It is better to have a structure with vacant positions, or those not currently needed in the smaller organization, than to remodel the entire structure at a later date to accommodate the growing company.

In some industries, the lowest level of management is the Shift Manager, Department Director, or Section Head. In construction, we refer to this position as foreman, work supervisor, or superintendent. Each company should carefully consider these titles and the reporting hierarchy with which they are associated. For the purposes of this article, let’s assume that the person who directly manages the workers is called a Department Manager (DM). The department manager maintains workflow, assigns tasks, coordinates with other departments, ensures items are in stock, and reports to the customer, all while working alongside subordinates to facilitate the day’s activities. Department Managers report to the person who manages a number of departments, a position that is primarily office and paper-intensive, usually called a General Manager (GM). General managers, in turn, report to an executive staff member, usually the chief operating officer (COO).

It is not uncommon to further divide the DM and GM management levels into subcategories. For example, the DM category could be subdivided into: Junior Department Manager, Department Manager, and Senior Department Manager. A junior DM may be the term used to describe a new entry in the management ranks who works under the direction of a DM or senior DM. A DM would be an experienced manager with a larger workforce and larger work assignments. Finally, a Senior DM would have the most experience helping with employee training, large projects, and those jobs that require specialized skills or dealing with detail-oriented clients. The senior DM would probably run the largest or most complex department. GM ranks could be divided in a similar way.

It is also advisable to have pre-management positions that introduce prospective entrants into the queues without the official responsibilities that go with them. Thus, an assistant department manager would function as a normal crew member most of the time; but he would be available to take over a portion of the project as needed by the DM. Additionally, they will act as acting DM when the DM is on vacation or away from work for personal reasons.

Management training is essential:

The most successful restaurant chain in world history, McDonald’s is the butt of many jokes. However, they are so successful because they are experts. They’re not just experts at “flipping burgers,” their world-renowned Hamburger University is a benchmark for educating management trainees on operating procedures, customer service, housekeeping, and business development. Similarly, Disney, United Parcel Service (UPS), Dell and many others have been recognized as best in class for management training and/or customer service.

Unfortunately, many other industries have the opposite distinction. They are recognized as the industry that does not provide management training or has the worst customer service. Digging deeper, you’ll typically find that these industries promote their best hopefuls with a new title and pay raise, only to throw them to the wolves by telling them to take over the workplace. Throwing a buddy into the Mississippi River to teach him how to swim may have been accepted in Tom Sawyer’s day, but it’s a doomed procedure with management trainees. At a minimum, each level of management should receive initial training followed by annual recurring training that deepens and broadens as employees rise through the ranks.

The best place to start is with the job description. What skills/tools will make the new manager improve the profitability of the company and improve the reputation? Focus on key business areas:

• Customer service
• communicate professionally
• recurring duties
• complete the paperwork
• Team management and training
• Organization and time management
• Improvement of technical skills
• Role in company profitability
• Official employee interaction
• Merit Workshop Responsibilities

Next, find third-party providers of one- or two-day seminar courses and add self-study activities (books, recorded books, videos, webinars, etc.) that specialize in training new or advanced managers. Those activities that are specific to your company (completing a job report, corporate marketing soft skills, or parts programming, for example) should be taught internally by the DM team or executive staff.

Skills can be taught in intensive one-week or multi-week training courses where a student focuses only on management training until completion. Conversely, however, management trainees may complete classroom training mixed with fieldwork over an extended period of time (say, six months for management training).

Whatever your company’s focus, you must incorporate four overarching themes to profit and succeed in the new economy:

1. Develop a management structure for where you want your company to be, not where it is.
2. Hire even entry-level technicians (trainees) with potential management in mind.
3. Constantly analyze the workforce to identify leaders for future management positions.
4. Train, train and train again.