Q. Hi, we have just promoted a fresh batch of young leaders to managerial roles. How can we make sure that this transition to management is smooth? – Safa A. A.
Hi Safa, thank you for your question. It’s good to know that you are one among the 42.2% of professionals who prefer promoting from within rather than hire new talent from outside the company. Since you have hand-picked your young team of managers, that means you are well confident of their abilities, however it’s important to understand that to these professionals the roles and responsibilities of a manager are very new.
Since most professionals do not get enough training in the art of management, here is a list of five things every new manager needs to know:
1. Clearly communicated responsibilities and KPIs: This seems obvious enough but for a lot of new managers, their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are not made clear. Discuss with them the factors that will be used to measure their performance and how often this will be done. According to Bayt.com’s ‘Work satisfaction in the MENA’ poll (November 2012), more than a quarter of professionals in the MENA region feel that communication channels are not open in their organization.
2. Proper training: Managing is a skill many professionals relatively lack, and management of subordinates does take a special set of skills and requires a good degree of empathy, discipline and emotional intelligence. Employers promoting professionals to the management track should invest in training them on the requirements of the new role and coaching them closely to avoid discontent and disloyalty spreading in the lower ranks. As per Bayt.com’s ‘Management Challenges in the MENA’ poll (January 2012), 31.1% of MENA professionals describe their manager as having ‘poor management skills’.
3. Feedback: Getting timely and constructive feedback is very important for new managers to develop in their new role. Withholding criticism will only aggravate the problem on the long run. A good idea would be to allocate a mentor to each of these new managers to guide them along the way. You could also hold monthly manager discussions to help new managers learn together, share their experiences, gain insight and get coaching from seasoned leaders on how to tackle tough situations.
4. Effective collaboration: Finding the right resources needed to support the team is an important task these new managers will be dealing with. Make sure that you train the managers on how to act in scenarios where a team member is struggling, how to work most effectively with other departments, tools available to a manager in such situations etc.
5. Supportive company culture: If you have an effective recruitment and induction process in place then you can be sure that your team members share the same corporate culture. Aim to promote a corporate culture where employees are aware of your company’s values, mission and vision statement. For your managers to be engaged in performing at maximum levels (and beyond) requires both strong people management skills, a consistent set of processes, and the right atmosphere for providing accurate, clear and constructive feedback on a regular basis.
