First Line Manager Development

Manager Development

I was very fortunate to have a brilliant teacher and mentor early in my career that showed much interest in my development.  His job was not easy but he proved that he believed in me and my inner drive that I had in aspiring to management.  I realized that I had a true mentor and trainer who was not afraid to share his expertise and broaden my experiences. I am so grateful for his tutelage and his sharing of ideas with me.  Under his guidance my management career was most successful and has now spanned into three decades at both first and second levels.  Helping to develop managerial skills will help the organization.  Tom Peters said “Don’t just care about 1^st line management training programs but be obsessive about them.  To my coach and mentor I will always be thankful.

The development of employees is the most important asset that a company has in its ability to prosper.  Developing the talent of an organization will help sustain a company to meet its goals.  The absence of employee development leads to frustration and turnover.  A few years back I recall a conference where Tom Peters, “In search of excellence” said that the #1 cause of employee dissatisfaction was the quality of their 1^st line supervisor. Mr. Peters went on to state that 1 of the top 10 strategic decisions that a company needs to make is deciding who becomes a first line manager.  I was surprised by the magnitude that Mr. Peters placed on first line management importance and decided to research a little deeper into this topic.

I started to think about the role and everyday responsiblities of the first line manager.  The accountability of first line management is extensive.  These duties “sandwich” the first line manager as it relates to managing up & managing down. As a first line manager, you need to be:

·         A stalwart for your company’s mission. You will need to have a strong foundation of the core values of the company.

·         The first line manager is “the company” to his direct reports and also to the customer base that he often interacts with.

·         Deliver the metrics that are requested and help ensure that tasks are delivered on time and within budget.

·         Administrative responsibility grows exponentially.  Your will need to meet increasing deadlines on documentation, planning etc...

·         Communicate up on programs happening in your environment and keep your immediate supervisor apprised of any achievements or problems.

·         Be a “champion” of the company and senior management to your direct reports.

·         Filter appropriate communications within your group and support the initiatives of the company.

·         Be able to hire qualified personnel.

·         Train, coach, mentor and motivate your team!  This will be accomplished by “walking the talk”, one on one sessions and group meetings.

·         Establish goals and develop action plans to achieve those goals.

·         Set realistic tasks/standards in line with corporate goals.

·         Recognize performance

·         Fair and consistent appraisal

·         Provide an environment that is safe and free from harassment

·         Plan

·         Organize

·         Facilitate

·         Delegate

·         Sound Judgment

·         Listen

·         Make Decisions

·         Empathize

·         Lead

·         Persuade

·         Share

·         Partner

·         Be a Positive Role Model

·         Follow up on goals

·         Forget the “what I did” mode

·         Be able to say No

·         Not be a “pal” but a supervisor

·         Maintain appropriate business/personal balance

Now that we have a listing of some of the many responsibilities, (I’m sure that you can add more) let’s look at how we can nurture our direct reports and develop management from within our ranks.  First a quote from Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric and ranked # 7 as one of the greatest business leaders of the 20^th century…

"My main job was developing talent. I was a gardener providing water and other nourishment to our top 750 people. Of course, I had to pull out some weeds, too."

- Jack Welch

As mentioned earlier I was fortunate to have an amazing mentor.  He would go out of his way to teach me and broaden my exposure to a number of management assignments.  The coursework was comprised of both on the job and study assignments. 

He first assigned me a reading assignment where I was to provide him with written feedback as to the “takeaways” that I had.  There was no timeline established for when I would deliver my recap.  This assignment accomplished a number of things:

*The recap that I wrote clearly noted my interest level.  The time gap between assignment and completion spoke volumes.

*The amount of effort that I exhibited also clarified my interest level.

*The diary approach to recaps allowed my manager to observe my written skill sets noting strengths and development areas.

*My manager was also able to see how I prioritized and interpreted best practices.

These assignments would continue based on a broad array of topics focusing on various management skills.  Each additional topic would broaden my exposure as well as show progress on my writing development.

In addition to the reading assignments I was also exposed to a number of roles the first line manager including:

·         Assist in interviewing prospective candidates

·         Mentoring or field coaching assignments with new or seasoned team members.

·         Helping to build SMART goals with team members.

·         Planning exercises such as a team meeting

o   Hotel planning

o   Rooming

o   Meeting agenda

o   Food breaks etc...        

·         Delegate a section of a district meeting 

·         Maintain appropriate business/personal balance

·         In-box exercises to develop administrative responsibilities and prioritization

·         Developing coaching scenarios

·         Building consensus

The “In the field” development allowed me to be experienced in a ‘close to real world” environment some of the many day to day activities that first line managers face.  This helped pave the way for a successful orientation at the "official" HR training program for new managers.  Unfortunately in many companies today, the only training that a first line manager gets is "after" he/she is promoted. We need to work and change this paradigm as this position is of the utmost importance to the success of our entire organization.   It's been said many times that in order to be considered for sales management you have to prove yourself first in the sales organization.  However once this is proven, it does not mean that you will be successful in management.  Ultimately if the new sales manager fails, you will not only be retracing your steps and filling that position, but you also have lost a valued employee who failed because he was not properly and effectively on boarded to succeed. All too often we do not have as a priority field training for future managers.  This is sorely needed and should be a top focus of business moving forward.