One of the total delights of my job is being invited by clients to support the professional development of their teams. Whether running training to develop skills, facilitating team-building or coaching individuals to develop their confidence or potential, I have been privileged, over the past 25 years, to have gained a ringside seat in a wide range of work environments.
This experience has confirmed many of the management theories that fill the books in my office; effective leaders need a solid grasp of their corporate vision & values, clarity around business goals and an ability to communicate them well alongside a repertoire of critical management skills and enough emotional intelligence to build trust, credibility, and a desire amongst their people to join them on the corporate journey.
But it takes time, not to mention budget, to accumulate the learning necessary to develop these attributes and skills. So, the “pinch point” is often felt at the lowest level in most organisations, where experience is lacking and an awareness of the potential pitfalls to avoid when managing others is unknown. I’m referring, of course, to the role of the team leader or first line manager. Stepping into junior management can present a whole raft of challenges – and these are not always adequately anticipated.
Over the years I have seen first-hand the issues that can arise for newly appointed team leaders. Often promoted from amongst their peers, they nevertheless retain the responsibilities of being a junior accountant, engineer, broker or tradesman – whatever their profession – and so still have to deliver technical excellence, yet now with the added responsibility of managing the team. In the early days, this can be quite a juggling act!
The potential sources of tension are obvious; firstly, there can be a struggle to establish credible authority. When the team has known the leader as “one of them” – warts and all – it takes a while for them to change lenses and see them in a fresh light, since they are used to seeing that person as a colleague. As a power station maintenance team leader once said to me “Last Friday I was drinking with them all in the pub after work – and now I’m expected to give them feedback and appraise their performance. I wanted the job, but this feels really uncomfortable”.
Experienced managers know that earning the respect of a team depends on so much more than status. It requires, at minimum, an ability to influence effectively, to communicate calmly and assertively, to behave fairly and to listen and question skilfully. Yet how many people in highly technical roles have, at junior level, been encouraged to ensure that interpersonal skills were placed high on their personal development agenda – or at least on a par with their need for technical attainment?
There was an intense period, some years back, when I was delivering a lot of training for companies within the energy sector, both in the UK and Ireland, and I met many managers who dismissed the people skills element of their role as “the soft stuff” of business. In my experience this derision often concealed a lack of skill or confidence in tackling tough issues with colleagues. When I once asked power plant engineers whether they’d rather carry out a planned maintenance check on a gas turbine or conduct a performance review with a colleague whose work has drifted significantly off track, you can probably second guess – with some confidence – what their answer was!
I often wonder to what extent similar concerns still arise in organisations today when people are promoted into junior management, particularly from within their team. There’s a serious undertone here. As they rise through the organisation, a lack of opportunity for personal – not technical – development may lead to managers failing to provide the very thing their junior team leaders most need to set them up for success – effective role models. Without these, new team leaders may find that they have no template to copy or aspire to.
So, what can be done to develop the confidence and competence of team leaders at the beginning of their management careers? In many roles, they have a perfect right to expect their employers to provide them with the appropriate tools and equipment to perform their duties safely and effectively. Is it unreasonable, then, for them to also expect effective and timely learning and development that broadens their horizons, hones their skills and builds their confidence?
Even before promotion, team leaders benefit from development & coaching that encourages greater self-awareness, identifies personal strengths and highlights key development areas for the future. This helps them to develop a positive mindset about themselves and their relationships with those around them and identify and address their own blocks to confidence and high self-esteem. In time, of course they will also need help with a whole raft of skill development from business management & goal setting to performance management and team building.
These skills are all vital if new team leaders are to embrace their role whole heartedly and confidently. After all, it’s only if they are seen to do that, that the next generation of potential first line-managers will feel encouraged to believe that it’s a role worth aspiring to.
That’s got to be an investment worth making, for any organisation!
