What to do with a new manager? March is the time to find out
LCB is at it again this month with another great big question – or is it a great, big question? And…has it been a month already???
The question for March is:
What would you do to support new managers?
Ray Sims was the first to post and proposed utilizing audio self-paced learning, coaching and a community of practice. Ray is targeting two areas that have been proven to speed someone’s integration into a new role:
- Quickly becoming part of a network
- Relevant knowledge is distributed through-out a long period time
There is too much stuff for people to remember; especially when starting a new role. Learning to me is about providing easy access to information at the time people need it. Audio learning, coaching and a thriving community will certainly go a long way in providing muliple access points to the information a new manager will need.
I feel there is also room for another piece here as well. If learning is about access to information, how do you ensure new managers will experience lasting change in skills, mindset or behavior? Just as they develop at anything else…practice.
An integration period is a prime time for new managers to participate in an action learning project. In an ideal world their groups would consist of other managers at various stages of their management career. The initial sessions would immerse the new manager in activities to heighten self-awareness (i.e. a 360 degree assessment conducted in their former position, a Myers-Briggs or DISC report, a natural abilities test, etc.) after which participants list which areas in which they would like to develop. Next, the managers are exposed to some foundational content (my favorites are Appreciative Inquiry and systems thinking) that will be the concepts to which they’ll be held accountable throughout the program.
A relevant, timely business challenge is presented to the participants and they are responsible for all data collection, solution design and execution. All the while a learning coach acts as an embedded reminder to participants of their individual development goals as well as referring them back to concepts from the initial workshops. Over the course of a few months participants present a solution to the business challenge. Throughout the time they have been forced to reflect on their own behavior and new concepts via the action learning coach.
It is only through being made to apply the concepts that participants will be quicker to adopt any new behaviors, mindsets and skills needed to be a manager. Along the way a cross-functional network of managers of varying tenure will be formed and provide a solid foundation for knowledge transfer and knowledge management. This will also serve to support the overall company-wide community that Ray suggested. As the grayer managers move on, relationships have formed and developed the infrastructure for the insights, experience and stories to be passed on to the newer managers.
This combination of learning and development create a killer combo for the rapid on-boarding of managers. It’s not successful because the new-comers are going in to management roles, though. It’s successful because the new-comers are human and that’s the way we learn and develop.
The beauty is that this is a foundation that can be tweaked for positions all throughout the organization – not just managers.
Thanks Jacob. Nicely said regarding the integration of an ‘action learning’ component.
Ray
Thank you Ray. The points in your post relate perfectly to one of my favorite articles on rapid on-boarding. It was a study done by MIT and they found that the best on-boarding programs combined a relational approach (communities) with an informational approach (audio learning et al).
Nicely put …. found this article really useful.
Thanks for the note Arjun – I’m glad you enjoyed the post.
Jacob
Jacob-
I’d have them start first with defining their expected Performance Competence: the ability to perform tasks to produce outputs to stakeholder metrics…for all of the processes that they perform in (as managers or as individual contributors).
A peer coach would be a useful guide in all of this. And…I’d do all of the following before diving into any blended Learning, formal or directed-informal, or informal.
Defining one’s Performance Competence requires figuring out the specific enterprise processes that one will perform in and what roles one is expected to play. I have a free template for that- The Management Areas of Performance model. It allows them to start with a model, developed after several dozen Management/ Leadership Curriculum Architecture Design projects (mostly for the Fortune 500) since the early 1980s.
Once they identify the Management “systems” and its processes, they then need to figure out exactly who the stakeholders are for each process…and determine what their requirements and desires are AND then determine if there are any conflcits in all of the requirements from the varied stakeholders. Which makes balancing those requirements a bit tricky. And…I’d want to know if those processes are meeting those stakeholders’ requirements AND those desires.
Once you’ve listed your stakeholders its time for an immersion in stakeholder interviews regarding requirements/desires and how well the processes and practices are doing. And specific suggestions related to their near-term, mid-term future needs.
Then one could figure out whether or not to work to improve any processes before learning how to do them as they currently are.
Finally, put together a Learning Plan action list and prioritize it and then go for the right Learning first, second and third based on one’s assessment of which Process Performance Competence is most critical and in need of remedy via Learning…and use Formal Learning if offered and it’s convenient, directed-Informal Learning if it isn’t…and Informal Learning which will just happen anyway from personal lessons learned in the pursuit of performance competence.
Because it’s not about Learning. It’s about Performance Competence.
More on my Blog at: http://pursuingperformanceblog.blogspot.com/ and on my Web Site: http://www.eppic.biz
Cheers!
Guy W. Wallace, CPT
EPPIC Inc.
Thank you for the extensive comment, Guy. I do have a different opinion. In my experience, managing to competencies in a knowledge society does not allow the Performance Management function to adapt as quickly as the employees will need to in order to achieve their peak performance. Too much rigidity in a job description, while tidy for those managing training, does not support the flexibility needed from today’s workforce.