Don’t be an “accidental manager”
If we were ever in doubt about the impact managers can have on organisations – for good or ill – those doubts have been quashed by a recent report by the UK’s Chartered Management Institute (CMI). The study has some sobering things to say about the poor state of management in our organisations – and the negative impact that’s having for everyone involved.
The research confirms what we already instinctively know: that managers really do make a difference to the people they’re responsible for, from motivation and satisfaction to their likelihood of quitting. Nearly one in three people interviewed by the CMI had left jobs because of negative work cultures and half of those who see their boss as ineffective were planning to quit within the next year.
At the root of these problems lies what the CMI calls “accidental managers,” untrained managers promoted because they “are popular, good at their job, or happen to be available to take charge.” Once the initial glow of being promoted wears off, these managers quickly find that this is often not a comfortable place to be, juggling their day job with the stark reality of the whole gamut of tasks that come with being a manager.
For the CMI, the key word here is “untrained.” A whopping 82% of managers in their survey arrived in their jobs with no management training. And 33% of their more experienced colleagues never received any management or leadership training at all.
And that, it seems, really does matter.
That’s because the study found an unequivocal link between strong, highly trained managers and more effective organisations. Compared with their “accidental” colleagues, better skilled managers were more likely to feel confident about their management practice, more likely to trust team members and more likely to feel comfortable managing change or calling out inappropriate behaviour.
They are more inclined to give – and ask for – feedback and are at ease with emerging technology. They spread positivity; engender loyalty and engagement; meet their goals and drive productivity; foster cultures of innovation and improvement; support and develop their people.
While we’ve never entirely believed in the old adage that “people leave managers rather than organisations”, it makes sense that the close relationships between managers and their people are critical to how people perform and behave at work.
Managers play a crucial role in organisations: making strategy happen; setting standards and modelling the right behaviours; living an organisation’s values and culture on the ground. And, at a time when people have increasingly high expectations about meaning and respect at work, being a good manager matters more than ever.
Little wonder that those “accidental managers” are struggling. Even with the right training and support, management is tough. Throwing managers in the deep end with little or no support is bound to have consequences, both for the individuals themselves and, as the CMI report so eloquently confirms, for organisations too.
If we want to set people up for success rather than failure, the answer is clear: promoting people because they’re a good editor or publicist or rights executive and then leaving them to it is no longer (and has never been) enough.
The challenges we’re all facing today need the right people with the right skills doing the right things. Having managers trained in management who understand what management is and can act accordingly is not just a nice to have. It’s an essential for building happy and productive organisations where everyone is able to contribute and thrive.