Issue 20 February 17, 2004

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In this Issue:

Where do leaders learn leadership

Workers and Managers (or leaders) rely on two basic types of knowledge to successfully execute their job functions; technical, or job related knowledge, and people or leadership related knowledge. On the individual contributor level, about 90% of the required knowledge is going to come from an individuals job or technical knowledge and only 10% from their people or management knowledge? In other words, they need to get along with the people that they interface with, but for the most part they really rely on job knowledge . What happens if somebody becomes a supervisor? Now, about half of their job comes from getting work through other people. Obviously, they still need their job or technical knowledge, but they're really getting paid for getting results through other people. And as they move up the management ladder we find more and more of their job is happening through people and leadership knowledge and less and less job and technical knowledge.

How do people become managers or supervisors? Most frequently, this happens as a reward for good job performance. The upper level management identifies an exceptionally good worker and makes them a manager or supervisor. In many organizations, the transition between individual contributor and supervisor consists of being called into the boss�s office on a Thursday afternoon and finding out that next week you're going to take over as Supervisor. Where are you going get all the training and development they need in order to succeed in your new role? In other words, where do you pick up the additional people skills you need to succeed?

It is estimated that fewer than 20% of managers and supervisors receive any formal training in management and supervision. A recent management study found that 75% of senior managers lack the necessary people skills to be effective in their jobs. In most cases managers and supervisors approach leadership by trial and error, While learning from mistakes can be an effective way to learn it can also be very costly especially if the mistakes can be avoided by properly developing leadership and management ability

What is the cost in real dollars of grievances and employee complaints and dissatisfaction because we haven't taken the time to really give managers the kind of training and development they need to succeed in their roles? . Consider the costs to an organization due to attrition. Management studies have found that the single highest cause for employee attrition is not compensation, or the lack of challenging job assignments; it is dissatisfaction due to poor management and leadership. Consider also the costs associated with poor communication (delays, customer returns, missed deadlines etc.) which is a primary function of management and leadership.

Fortunately, leadership skills and abilities can be learned and developed. Leadership and management development processes can be applied at any or all levels of an organization to develop and enhance leadership abilities. Such processes are usually found to be extremely cost effective in that they significantly reduce many of the costs related to poor leadership and management practices, and produce management structures aligned with the company�s vision and mission.

This Article was first published May 1^,2003

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ProCompass Management Services

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