“A leader’s job is not to do the work for others, it’s to help others figure out how to do it themselves, to get things done, and to succeed beyond what they thought possible.” – Simon Sinek
Most organizations promote employees into managerial positions based on operational technical competencies. Many times though, while these technical traits are valuable necessities in maintaining the status quo, superlative management performance involves a higher level of true strategic leadership skills that challenge the status quo. New managers are abounding with excitement and energy after being promoted to a leadership role with new heights of responsibilities. Yet, companies do not provide the skills map to help guide or equip them with management training essentials to keep them and their teams on course to meet objectives.
A large number of Rookie Managers fail to understand the shifting leadership role: Effective management performance is no longer strictly about personal achievement and success but more about empowering others within your team and company to achieve success. Navigating through the new realities of leadership will in and of itself have normal intricacies that Rookie Managers must overcome. Even the most outstanding employees have trouble adjusting to these new realities. Invariably, Rookie Managers face a myriad of problems and obstacles especially in the beginning stages of their careers. Without proper management training or leadership support, Rookie Managers struggle to balance the daily obstacles and challenges of the new role, exacerbating normal insecurities by internalizing their stress, thereby losing focus and eroding performance. Rookie Managers fail to develop critical management skills that transform their mindsets to properly support their new role as strategic managers as well as effectively lead their teams to sustained peak performance levels.
We have seen a considerable surge in client requests for leadership training within the corporate arena. Companies have found that even the smartest, most confident, forward thinking, resourceful employees struggle with the transition from individual contributors to newly promoted management positions. Organizations can build the capacity for strategic leadership but are hesitant to invest in training and leadership programs for young managers.
According to a Gallup poll of more than 1 million workers employed in the United States, “People leave managers not companies…in the end, turnover is mostly a manager issue.” The poll found, “Poorly managed work groups are on average 50 percent less productive and 44 percent less profitable than well-managed groups.” The number one reason employees leave a job is because of their manager. The problem is that training is seen as an expense and not as an investment. Companies fail to see that leadership shortfalls are, and will continue to prove to be, the single greatest differentiator between high-performance and all other organizations. Establishing a focus on achieving a single powerful purpose through integration of different specializations and maximizing distinctive capabilities will ensure the company’s overall success.
The typical Rookie Management scenario unfolds something like this: Smart, confident, resourceful individual contributor is promoted to management position. In the absence of proper comprehensive training and coaching, the Rookie Manager is hesitant to delegate work; unable to clarify goals and objectives; intimidated by upper management to seek help; overwhelmed by failing projects and mounting workloads; unable to project confidence or provide critical constructive performance feedback to struggling staff members resulting in high turnover of direct reports, low morale from lack of engagement and minimal productivity. It is becoming more increasingly apparent that it is not enough to hire the best talent and promote managers from within and turn them loose.
Warren Bennis, renowned leadership expert and pioneer, stated, “Great leaders are made, not born. Not everyone will become a leader…Most managers and CEO’s become bosses, but not leaders. They wield power instead of transforming themselves, their workers and their organization.” The Rookie Manager skills gap has substantial widespread effects on daily lives of people as well as operational efficiency across an organization. Investing in training for young leaders is the best weapon company leaders have to develop the strategic leadership skills necessary for the organization to realize greater employee engagement, stronger teams, reduced turnover, more efficient operations and consistent innovation and higher profits.
Companies historically start with identifying competent, high-integrity team members but fail to empower them to maximize potential and optimize company goals. Studies show that organizations must have a strong belief in providing educational development tools that become the focus for Rookie Managers to progress capabilities to become successful leaders in order to stimulate strategic growth and transformation.
The following 5 principles can help unlock the potential strategic leadership within the Rookie Manager to overcome early obstacles within the beginning stages of management. These principles represent a combination of organizational systems and individual capabilities — the hardware and software of transformation – that will enable young managers to transform into strategic leaders.
- EMPOWERMENT: Empowerment is a core precept of organizational success and is the most difficult task for Rookie Managers. Thrust into a new role with more responsibilities that include tight deadlines and greater pressures, new managers have the natural response to do everything themselves. Failure to distribute responsibility effectively results in Rookie Managers working excessively long hours, frustrated and hesitant in taking on new projects and responsibilities, disengaging team members resulting in absenteeism and turnover and low productivity. It’s important to learn to cultivate power by building collaborative relationships and developing trust. Strategic Rookie Managers must rely on empowering people at all levels to make decisions, be accountable for high productivity and encourage innovation through diverse points of view. Leadership roles must shift easily among team members, without regard for hierarchical positions. Collaboration of cross-functional forums that inspire innovative thinking creates a culture in which any member can spark interaction and conversation across teams and all levels with access to senior leaders as well as younger staff members. Strategic leaders gain their skill through practice and are emboldened to take innovative risks, supported by upper management and recognized for all successes, no matter how small. This environment increases the collective intelligence, adaptability, and resilience of the organization over time. In high performance organizations, empowerment starts with choosing entrepreneurial mindset individuals that take ownership of individual achievement and development, with acute understanding of personal goals and the company’s vision.
- TRUST: Many Rookie Managers are high octane individuals who make their way to the top of the hierarchy by demonstrating high levels of superlative performance with persistence and resilience. Inexperienced managers view leadership as a vertical function, related to power. These are valuable traits, but they are not the skills of a leader. Strategic Leaders must no longer trust in power, using command and control techniques to manage, but instead rely on the power of trust, empowerment and development. Rookie managers fear being vulnerable and are unable to build mutually trustworthy relationships with senior managers and team members, failing to integrate team members and unify efforts to a common vision. New Managers flounder trying to cover up a failing project or hesitate asking for help due to mistrust. At the core of significant success in growth and innovation in a rapidly changing economy based on knowledge and information, is the essence of trust in leadership. Peter Drucker asserts that “…great organizations are no longer built on force…They are built on trust.” Senior management, staff members, clients and partners must believe that a leader’s core values and decisions are formed from the cornerstone of trust. Managers must consistently imbed trust as a governing mechanism in cultivating strategic partnerships and relationships in order to achieve optimal productivity that exceeds individual parts. Strategic leaders know that real power is in creating an environment of trust that encourages open communication, creativity, collaboration and innovation without fear of failure. Leaders must be able to cultivate a trust culture of transparency that fosters meaningful conversations for exchange of valuable information to improve everyday practices. A climate of trust results in high employee engagement and productivity with reinforced heightened levels of commitment to the organization’s mission and goals and encourages loyalty and leadership that inspires to perpetuate strategic risk for continued innovation and growth. Trust is the most critical element in fostering loyalty, true enthusiasm and positive participation, commitment and accountability amongst teams and ensures the best performance from everyone.
- CONFIDENCE: Rookie Managers must be able to project confidence at all times, whether they feel confident or not, especially in the very critical early stages of a new management role. Confidence is a fundamental tenet upon which leadership is framed. Strategic leaders have a rock solid foundation of confidence built on a deep sense of their core values – what is right and wrong. They are easy to follow, because their words and actions are in alignment and consistent with personal and company values. Leaders must be able to inspire, energize and motivate everyone around them, specifically staff and team members that look to them for guidance and mentorship. The demeanor and actions of a Rookie Manager define the standard for acceptable conduct within a department or organization. Rookie Managers many times are overwhelmed with the increasing challenges of a new role and are often so internally focused that they are unaware of the critical repercussions of their distress and erratic behaviors. Leaders must portray a confident, thoughtful, optimistic demeanor with which to guide, empower and direct staff and team members. Confident managers lead with compassionate authority, are able to make tough decisions, communicate with honest candor, provide consistent constructive feedback, are not afraid to fail, accept criticism and feedback more positively and encourage confidence in others. Rookie Managers must be able to confidently establish credibility early on with senior managers and staff in order to achieve goals and objectives and ensure continued success. Especially in a growing market confidence is more than a motivator for employees, it’s a key to success.
- STRATEGIC THINKING: To be successful at the next level of management, Rookie Managers must demonstrate that they can act and think strategically. New managers have a habit of returning to an individual contributor mindset – instinctively running to the immediate rescue of emergency issues that arise. They’re accustomed to fightng fires at the front lines. However, strong leaders learn to think and perform strategically, understanding the difference between critical initiatives and goals versus common activities. Rookie Managers must be able to establish a goal-setting discipline schedule that differentiates between supporting activities and more tactical goals. Clear and concise communication of individual, team and company goals will help ensure that staff and team members are responding and working on the right issues with proper delegation of resources. Strategic Managers are able delegate authority and act on the bigger picture while achieving daily goals simultaneously. They are able to create maximum employee engagement for peak performance in others while leading with respect and advocacy to cultivate trust, loyalty, passion and commitment. As Steve Jobs famously said “it doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.”
- FEEDBACK: Inexperienced managers wait far too long to talk with staff about performance and offer feedback. A common scenario may look like this: A staff member is struggling to meet performance goals or is acting inappropriately. The Rookie Manager waits to act, hoping that the situation magically improves. Other team members observe the situation and become frustrated by the manager’s inaction, interpreted as acceptance of the behavior. The inaction becomes a source of resentment and a sign of weakness for other employees. The Rookie Manager’s dissatisfaction and annoyance also builds, unbelievable that the employee doesn’t get it. What should have been a straightforward performance review has now evolved into a credibility issue that has eroded the team and destroyed morale. When the Rookie Manager finally addresses the problem, it becomes personalized, and the team member feels attacked by criticism instead of empowered by feedback. Rookie Managers must create an environment in which constructive feedback is perceived as a source of empowerment, not disparagement. Managers may not always be able to deliver positive feedback, but the key is to foster within the feedback the desire to help others achieve individual as well as corporate goals. Meaningful conversations with a true belief in individual development must emerge in a trust-oriented culture. Performance management must be done frequently, voluntarily to include goal setting that aligns with strategic company incentives. Performance reviews and real time frequent coaching must be conducted in a timely manner to have the greatest performance impact with career development in mind. Managers must organize workers to optimize engagement, not just to maximize efficiency, but also to nurture skills, develop talent, and inspire them to achieve the highest potential.
The State of the Leadership Development studies indicate that 77 percent of organizations surveyed stated that their leadership strategy was minimally or not at all aligned with their business strategy. In addition, 71 percent said their leaders are not ready to lead their organizations into the future; 51 percent said their present leadership is not at all ready to lead in today’s times. In addition, 81 percent of organizations indicated their leaders are not at all effective at developing their employees. Coaching was identified as the skill with the greatest gap in all leaders and communication, resiliency, critical thinking, collaboration and data analysis were also described as the five skills most essential but lacking the greatest in all managers.
Leadership shortfalls are, and will continue to prove to be, the single greatest differentiator between high-performance and all other organizations.
Jack Welch stated: “Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” In today’s knowledge-driven, fast-paced economy, people have become an organization’s most precious and underutilized resource. They are pivotal to a company’s success, and survival. Especially for the state of Rookie Managers and future leaders, organizations must provide training and development tools as a guide for empowerment in order to effectively execute strategies, inspire and motivate employees and create peak performing cultures of leadership. The most basic elements of strategic leadership management are very often taken for granted. An organization that supports and develops its Rookie Managers will have far reaching advantages in cultivating high performance teams that aspire and inspire beyond projected goals of success. In order to create the deep trust in a culture that enables an empowerment mindset to thrive, individuals who are trustworthy and whose vision is shared with the company must rise to the occasion, in a trustworthy institution that fosters and supports empowerment.
