In my research, I speak to a lot of employees about their managers and last week I spoke to two employees from the same company that had very different manager experiences. One said:
"He very rarely has discussions with me - he is on a needs only basis. I don't know what he wants or even if I'm doing a good job, let alone learn anything from him". While another said:
"I have learned so much from my manager. He spends time with us one-one-one and has asked us all what skills we want to develop and coaches us in that area. And if he makes an appointment with us, he keeps it. Couldn't ask for more".
Aside from the great impact that this kind of manager has on an employee, here’s what’s so great about managers like this: when your training budget is slashed, a low cost, high impact substitue for training is having your managers allocate time for one-on-one skill sharing. Remember that we’ve spent 10 years in talking with current and former employees? What we learned is that employees learn more, faster, from their managers (and then from their peers) than via any other training source.
Who’s doing this well in your business? Can you see examples of managers who REFUSE to share their skills for fear of being superseded (or because they’re just not very nice!)? What have you done to successfully get managers developing their people?
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
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4 comments:
I took my last job based on the fact that the manager was excellent - I could tell in the interview and wanted to work with them. I took the job even though the job wasn't my ideal role. I've learned more from working with my manager closely in the last couple of years than what I learned at university, I reckon!
Unfortunately skill sharing in our organisation depends on individual managers doing it themselves. It is a shame because it probably means it never happens.
our team had a manager who made a point of not sharing any information. we had an entire project that we did virtually blind - we'd only get exactly enough info to get us through each stage - what's all that all about?!
A manager who takes the time to help you develop your skills that little bit further can help encourage you to reach those goals you didn't realise you were ready to achieve. Regular contact with managers makes a difference to how satisfied and connected an employee feels in the workplace. Luckily I have had great managers in the past but I was shocked when a friend mentioned that her own manager never switches his phone on and takes ages to reply to emails! Regular open communication should be a priority on each managers 'check list.'
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