Once hired, the responsibility falls on the employer to ensure that the management skills of their employees are being developed so they are able to receive the benefits that promoting internally for management positions can bring.
A Mutually Beneficial Relationship
The act of an employer seeking to develop management skills in their employees makes way for a mutually beneficial developmental relationship. Although the employee is hired with the specific skill-set that employer is looking for, the duties and responsibilities will change for the employee over time. The employee should be expected to be able to change, learn, and adapt to their new roles as they continue their career within the company. On the other side of things, the employee will be receiving experience and training from the employer as they learn these new skills. This enables them to continue to improve their overall skill-set as a whole. They can then use these newly learned skills to increase their production and become a more valuable asset to their company for any future position they are aiming for. One of the ways the employer can provide this type of experience to their employees is by teaching them management skills. By developing their management skills, they will prepare them to fill future management positions within the company down the road. This is how investing in a company’s staff in the short term can benefit the employer in the long-term.
Investing In The Employees Is An Investment In The Company
When an employer invests time developing the management skills of their employees, it is a long-term investment in themselves. It is something that will not only pay off in the short-term as it will also pay dividends in the long-term. When it comes time to fill those upper management roles, you, as the employer, will have candidates that are already familiar with your company and have had years of experience being trained for these exact positions.
From the employee’s perspective, gaining management skills on the job provides them with a career that will not turn into a dead-end job for them. Even if they are not able to land a high position within their company, they can at least take their skills elsewhere when it comes time to advance their career. If you want to keep your best-performing employees, they have to be able to see that their future will be bright with opportunity if they stay within the company.
The Downsides Of Not Developing Management Skills
There are many downsides in not developing the management skills of your employees. By not doing this, you should expect to see poor leadership from your employees, you will be forced to fill management positions from outside of the company, and your staff will not feel responsible when their fellow coworkers are under-performing.
Poor Leadership Throughout The Office
Teaching good leadership qualities throughout your company is the foundation of any successful business.[1] If you want to get the most out of your employees, you need not only good leadership from upper management, but you also need employees that are able to provide leadership amongst themselves. If you fail to pass these management skills down to your lower-level employees, it will have a negative effect on the overall efficiency in production that you see from your staff. This is how failing to develop the management skills of your employees can come back to bite you.
You Will Be Forced To Hire Outside Of The Company
When it comes time to fill new management roles as they become available, being able to promote from within your company is the most effective way to continue your business operations without any hiccups. If you do not prepare your employees to take over these positions, you will be forced to hire outside of the company. When you do this, you will have to endure problems that will inevitably occur because of the unfamiliarity that these outsiders have with your company.
Your Staff Won’t Take Responsibility For Others
If one employee is slacking, they may be able to fly under the radar and avoid detection from management. When management doesn’t catch things like this, it only encourages that behavior even more. When you give more responsibility to your employees, they will be more likely to police their coworkers and ensure that this does not happen.
Key Areas To Focus On When Developing Management Skills
As you teach employees the good qualities of a leader, there are the four important areas that you should focus on. These will provide a great foundation for the employee so that they will be prepared to take over their management role when the time comes.
Expose Them To Networking Events
Take your employees along with you in networking events. For a new employee, these events may seem intimidating. By exposing them early on, they will feel a lot more comfortable once they are left in charge to do networking themselves. Teach them how to connect with strangers and the benefits that come with networking.
Diversify Their Experience
Give them experience and good leadership skills outside of their skill-set.[2] A good manager should have experience in all areas of the company. Make sure they are gaining experience outside of what their specific job duties expose them to.
Put Them In Difficult Situations
When they are faced with difficult situations, placing them in difficult situations will teach them how to better handle them in the future. Instead of walking them through a problem, try to guide them in the direction that will help them solve it on their own. These are valuable problem-solving skills that they will need when others start coming to them for help.
Mentor Them
Allow your current management to mentor individual employees one-on-one. This will help give employees a unique look into what it takes to have this type of position. It gives them an opportunity to decide if becoming a manager is something that they want to pursue for their future. Final Takeaways The best way to prepare your company for the future is to prepare your employees to be a part of that future. Providing them with the skills they will need to advance within your company will help you retain your best-performing employees and it will set your company up to add experienced leaders to your team. Featured photo credit: Huffington Post via huffingtonpost.com
