Top management in every industry is known for setting our best skilled workers for failure. It is as if we are specifically trying to sabotage our own companies by lowering the skill level of the workforce and using poor management to try to fix it. A fancy new title and a raise are not good for a manger. A top-notch executive 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, but the born leader. Although scholars continue to discuss 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 with an attentive audience and organizing the weekend fishing trip or bar party. The Manager is the person who is given that title by executives to be in charge of people, projects and money.
In theory, anyone can be taught to drive 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 to lead. Although the best worker may also be a natural leader, this is rarely the case. Rather than looking for the best workers in the company to fill open managerial positions, 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 watched in their current role for signs of future leadership and advancement.
Management structures by levels:
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 refresh the entire reporting chain; Develop the structure from the beginning. It is better to have a structure with vacant positions, or those that are not currently needed in the smaller organization, then it is to remodel the entire structure at a later date to suit the growing company.
In some industries, the lowest level of management is the Shift Manager, Department Director, or Section Chief. In construction, we refer to this position as foreman, work supervisor, or superintendent. Each company should choose these titles carefully and the reporting hierarchy with which they are associated. For the purposes of this article, suppose the person who manages workers directly is called a Department Manager (DM). The Department Manager maintains work flow, assigns tasks, coordinates with other departments, ensures items are in stock, and informs the customer, all while continuing to work alongside subordinates to facilitate the day’s activities. Department managers report to the person who manages various departments, a position that is primarily clerical and paperwork, usually called a general manager (GM). General managers, in turn, report to a member of the executive staff, usually the chief operating officer (COO).
It is not uncommon to further divide the DM and MG management levels into sub-categories. For example, the DM category could be subdivided into: Junior Department Manager, Department Manager, and Senior Department Manager. A Junior DM can be the term used to describe a new entry into the management ranks working under the direction of a DM or senior DM. A DM would be an experienced manager with a larger workforce and larger job assignments. Finally, a senior DM would have the most experience assisting with employee training, large projects, and those jobs that require specialized skills or dealing with detail-oriented clients. The senior managing director will likely lead the largest or most complex department. The GM ranks could be divided similarly.
It is also wise to have pre-management positions that introduce potential candidates to the ranks without the official responsibilities that accompany them. Therefore, an Assistant Department Manager would serve as a normal crew member most of the time; but he would be available to take over a part of the project as required by the DM. Additionally, they will serve as acting DMs when the DM is on vacation or off work for personal reasons.
Management training is essential:
The most successful restaurant chain in world history, McDonald’s, is the subject of many jokes. Yet they are so successful because they are experts. Not only are they adept at “hamburger flipping,” their world-renowned Hamburger University is a benchmark for educating management trainees on operating procedures, customer service, cleanliness, 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 generally find that these industries promote their best applicants with a new degree and a raise, only to throw them to the wolves telling them to go and run the workplace. Throwing a partner into the Mississippi River to teach them to swim may have been accepted in Tom Sawyer’s day, but it is a doomed procedure with managerial apprentices. At a minimum, each level of management should receive initial training followed by recurring annual training that deepens and expands as employees move up the ranks.
The best place to start is the job description. What skills / tools will make the new manager improve the profitability of the company and enhance the reputation? Focus on key business areas:
- Customer service
- Communicate professionally
- Recurring duties
- Complete the paperwork
- Management and team building
- Organization and time management
- Improved technical skill
- Role in the profitability of the company
- Official interaction with employees
- Merit Shop Responsibilities
Next, look for third-party providers of one- to two-day seminar-style courses and add self-study activities (books, books on tape, 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 scheduling, 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 in which an apprentice focuses only on management training until it is completed. Or, conversely, management trainees can complete classroom training mixed with field work over an extended period of time (for example, six months for management training).
Whatever the focus of your business, you must incorporate four general themes to make a profit and be successful in the new economy:
- Develop a management structure for where you want your business to be, not where it is.
- Hire even entry-level technicians (trainees) with potential management in mind.
- Constantly analyze the workforce to identify leaders for future management positions.
- Train, train, and train again.
