In our last post, we discussed the critical role managers play in any organization. In this post we look at the process through which managers are assessed for their skill level, interest in their role, interpersonal skills and leadership capabilities. With this information, the executives will have a clear picture of their managerial team’s skills, and in which areas they may require improvement and development.
Where to Start
Have a Plan – Clearly Define the Position. Before you go any farther assessing the skill levels of your leaders, you need to know what your standards are. We usually find these spelled out in a job description. It gives us a point from which we can measure. What are your expectations from your supervisors and managers. What do you hold them accountable for? What skills are a necessity and what skills are a bonus? What is your definition of competent, how do you measure that? Be fair, specific and be realistic in your expectations.
Evaluate their Interest Level. Let’s also look at the interest level of your leaders. Do they actually WANT to be a supervisor or manager? There a specific qualities that exist in potential leaders. Simply taking on additional responsibilities for additional pay is never going to be a strong enough motivator. You need a person in a supervisory or managerial position who actually LIKES people, is patient and willing to take on the daily challenges that leading people brings to the table.
Match Skill Levels to the Plan. Then, match the skill level of the individual with your expectations. We are defining two areas: are the skills in place at a level you want? Are there skills that need to be added?
How To Assess
There are many ways to assess skill levels. Often it takes an incident to trigger the assessment process. It forces us to pay attention to areas we may have been aware of, but chose to overlook for various reasons. Usually we recognize a gap between how we expected a supervisor to handle a situation or conduct themselves and the reality of what actually occurred. This identifies an initial area that needs our attention, but we should be careful to not approach this with a “Band-Aid” mentality.
An example: you have a supervisor who routinely fails to document employee performance issues, is this really a skills development need or simply a lack of awareness about a documentation policy? Is the lack of documentation because they didn’t know they should or because they decided to not be bothered. These are two very different issues. On the one hand, we would have a training to demonstrate how to document, why it is important and so forth. On the other hand, if you have a supervisor who is ignoring policy, the assessment would point us in the direction of a need to change their behavior and understanding of what it means to be a leader representing the company. This might involve a one-on-one coaching or counseling.
Once you have identified the area that requires attention and we are as clear as possible about the underlying cause, and not just the surface issue that has brought it to our attention, we can then proceed with how we wish to implement the training and development process. This is routinely the process that all training and development general assessments go through. First we define the area of need, focus on the underlying cause and then provide the proper training tool to address the issue.
Other Business Indicators
You don’t have to wait for an incident or problem to surface. There are many other ways to assess the skill levels of your managers and supervisors. A few of these can include:
• Have sales figures dropped?
• Has turnover increased?
• What is the general attendance like?
• What is the departmental error ratio?
• Has performance of staff improved, stayed the same or declined?
• Are customer complaints up, the same or down?
Aside from pulling reports, we can also gather information by being aware of our surroundings and observing our workplace. How are employees behaving? Are their spirits up? Is HR receiving a disproportionate number of complaints about certain areas or individuals? Are employees courteous and cordial with each other or nervous and short-tempered? Stress can also be a flag that we have a potential for harassment or inappropriate behavior, overbearing management or a general breakdown in the leadership.
When it comes to your observations it is extremely important to know the “pulse” of your workplace. Surveys are also a great tool for taking the pulse of the work environment. If individuals are assured of confidentiality, they will be frank.
In our third and final post in this series, we will examine the five methods to train and develop your managerial team.