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When I was 22 years old I was given the responsibility of managing a 400 million dollar apartment community and overseeing a staff of twelve employees of all different generations, races, ethnic and social backgrounds. Operationally my work was exemplary and the property was more profitable than ever. Meanwhile my management skills were a disaster. Turnover was high, employees were unhappy and worst of all people didn't enjoy coming to work, including myself. All I knew was how to do things, not how to lead others in doing.
I remember asking my supervisor,
"how can I make this a great place?"
She said to me "you need to build a strong team."
I said, "how do I do that?"
Her response was, "Just get people to do their job."
The problem was that wasn't the problem. Even if it was, I didn't know how to do that. All I knew was how things should be done. Protocol. Standard operating procedure, it served me little.
The transition between being a front-line employee or a "do-er" to manager is as treacherous as ever. Often managers are made by the skills they have at their current position and their knowledge and not based on any particular skill at managing personnel. Training for operational skill sets is always important but equally important is training for people and critical thinking skills.
A recent study was released by ConceptReserve that revealed the following:
- 48% of managers are still acting as individual contributors, rather than team leaders and wide-scope business thinkers.
- 27% of Fortune 1000 leaders believe their management-level employees are stuck somewhere in the transition, enacting their management roles but hindered due to their continuation of individual non-management tasks.
Being an individual contributor isn't to be misunderstood with not knowing how to delegate. Managers understand the concept of delegating, the problem is, "that they have issues in letting go of the work. They are captivated by being the expert and reaping the intrinsic rewards to that title."
Even more frightening when you consider a manager's impact on the bottom line. Research uncovered, "that the average manager takes three to five years to make the managerial transition, and those who get "stuck" can remain so for up to 20 years or more. " Why is the transition taking so long. Perhaps because organizations aren't preparing managers with the people and thinking skills needed in their new role.
The study lists these assumptions as fatal mistakes made by the majority of "stuck" managers
1. My individual contributor success will translate into management success.
2. It's out of my control—someone else can and should fix this.
3. Being the expert is the most important factor for my credibility.
4. It's the rational and logical approach to a solution that counts.
5. The people I manage are just like me (in their thinking, approach, expectations, goals and priorities).
6. Competent people do not need help.
The bottom line is being a leader is more than being in charge. You can't have managers stuck in transition three to five years definitely not twenty. The transition to management must start before a change is ever made. Organizations as a whole need to understand how different people work, how they think and how they like to give and receive information as thoroughly as they understand how to build a bridge, a microchip, commodity trading or whatever it is they do.
