When leading and managing a team, a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t cut it. Many people rise through the ranks of an organisation because of their natural ability to achieve results, but this doesn’t mean they know how to effectively lead and manage people.
Too often we see managers treating every team member the same way – in the way the manager likes to be treated. If the manager is results-driven, they expect each team member to be the same. If they communicate in a short and sharp style, they speak to every employee in orders and bullet points, and expect each team member to communicate the same way.
Managers need management skills in order to effectively manage a team:
- They need self-awareness to understand their own communication style, and learn how to recognise the communication style of others.
- They need to learn how to find out what motivates different individuals on their team, and how to tap into that to increase performance.
- They need to learn how to encourage desired behaviour and address poor behaviour.
Managers need a toolbox of skills so they can get the best from each team member, so the organisation can achieve its goals. To use a building analogy, when the only tool a manager has is a hammer, he’ll treat everyone as if they’re a nail.
Not training your managers may save your organisation money in the short term, but it’s short-sighted. When left to their own devices, supervisors with poor people skills become managers without the trust and respect of their team, who then become leaders no-one wants to follow.
It’s the responsibility of every organisation to give their managers skills and tools to be effective.
Management training is essential for supervisors as they make their way through the ranks of the organisation. Here are three reasons that using a business or executive coach to train your managers makes perfect sense:
1 It saves money
Poor management is the number one reason staff leave an organisation. Ineffective management results in poor performance from the team, a lack of trust, and employees feeling like they are not valued. The result can be high staff turnover, which means constant recruitment, training and people issues which take time, money and energy, which affects a business’s bottom line. Unhappy staff give poor customer service, which results in loss of customers. Using an executive coach is an investment in your managers which will lead to greater business stability and profit.
2 It saves time
For mid-level managers to be effective and to grow, they need support. They often need advice on how to deal with particular team members, or need help as they face challenges they haven’t encountered before. Having support from an executive coach ensures they get an outsider’s perspective, unbiased advice, and can speak openly and honestly about their challenges. It also ensures that issues are addressed early, before they grow into major problems.
3 It frees upper management to get on with driving the business forward
If a mid-level manager needs to seek advice and support from further up the organisational ladder, it can slow the business down. Directors and General Managers need to focus on driving the business forward, not get distracted by inevitable ‘people issues’ that can easily be solved with outside assistance. Using an executive coach can ensure the leadership team can focus on leading the business towards its goals.
Yellow Coaching provides leadership and management training to supervisors, managers and exeucutives within large organisations. Our clients have included the Royal Australian Air Force, Office of State Revenue, National Australia Bank, KCE, and dozens of other businesses.
Call us on (02) 4933 6622 to find out how we can train your managers to perform to the best of their ability.