superhero_takingoffThere it was in black and white.

“Congratulations are in order! On behalf of the Leadership Team, I am pleased to recognize our recent promotions. Please join me in congratulating each of these individuals below on a job well done.

To those who were promoted…Thank you for your hard work and dedication to our clients and to our Company. Your promotion represents a significant milestone. Best wishes for continued success in your career.”

Finally!  It’s official.

I’m a manager! I felt like a superhero.

 

Bring It On!
Over the next week, I received several congratulatory emails from senior leaders. Nice! And then they started. I received emails giving me access to an opportunity management system, a budget system, and a management portal.  Oh, and another email let me know that I now had access to additional functionality in the performance management system.  Great!  I met my new team and spent a brief amount of time with the outgoing manager.  Anything else?  Of course, things just kept coming.

 

OK! Now what? 
I was beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed.  I assumed the training invitations would arrive…they didn’t come.  I asked other managers for help…they were helpful and didn’t have a lot of time to give me.  I searched for training in the learning management system…there was none specific to the applications to which I now had access.

 

Seriously?
How can companies expect their new managers to be successful if they aren’t provided with the information they need? Hours and hours are spent on evaluating whether or not to promote an employee.  Performance management records are studied, meeting are held to discuss potential management candidates, numbers are run to determine the financial aspects of what the company can afford/the forecasted needs of the company based on the projected pipeline of work, etc.  And then, once the decision is made and the new managers are informed, everything goes back to normal from a company standpoint. The company and its leaders fail to follow through to ensure that the new managers have what is needed to be successful.

In most companies, promotion to management is based on the employees previous work effort/success.  No evaluation of management skills is considered and we know that not everyone is management material. Even if the new manager has the potential to be effective, companies do little to help them learn/enhance management skills.

 

The Result
Without proper manager onboarding, a company may find itself with lower engagement scores on the next employee engagement survey, i.e. more disengaged employees.  Managers play a key role in engagement since they have (or should have) direct contact with their employees.  If a new manager isn’t suited to a management role, the employees will disengage or possibly leave.

 

The Goal
Manager selection should be a priority.  After the right candidate is selected, the focus should shift to manager development.  The better your new manager onboarding process, the more effective new managers can be. And, the more effective new managers can be, the higher the likelihood you have a more engaged workforce.

 

What are your thoughts on new managers and what they need to be successful in their new roles?  What experiences can you share with other Agents?

 

P.S.  First time here? Welcome to the Agent In Engagement site. Thanks for taking the time to stop by!  I hope you’ll explore the rest of the site.Let me know what employee engagement topics interest you.

Other recent Agent in Engagement articles by Gregory F Simpson:

 

 

Let’s Get Engaged!

I’m Agent in Engagement Simpson…Gregory F Simpson.

I’m excited about this opportunity to connect with fellow “Agents.” Subscribe to the RSS Feed to receive the latest updates and/or register  to comment on posts.

 

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