It all starts with first-time managers.
Our newly minted managers are high performers, full of energy, and ready to make a mark on their organization. They have been promoted because they are high-achieving individual contributors, and now, in addition to managing the work, they are also supposed to lead people.
But research done by the Creative Center for Leadership (CCL) shows that unfortunately,
60% of new managers fail within 24 months of their new position.
The main culprit: most of the first-time managers never receive any leadership skills training. Organizations simply assume that just because they are good at managing themselves, they will also be good at leading others.
These first-time managers are among the most critical workforce group for any company as they shape the experience of front-line employees and recent hires. They are role models, be good or bad, for the next generation of talent. They are also key in ensuring the quality of work of front-line (often customer-facing) teams, productivity, and employee morale.
First-time management experience also irrevocably shapes employees’ leadership philosophies and values as they grow into executive roles. According to HBR,
organizations suffer considerable human and financial costs when a person who has been promoted because of strong individual performance and qualifications fails to adjust successfully to management responsibilities and implement adverse practices that may be influenced by their past experiences.
Now that the case for new manager training has been made, here are the top five new manager skills that will help your young managers become better leaders.
Interested to learn how you can quickly equip your new managers with essential leadership skills?
PIVOT - our platform for virtual, instructor-led training gives your employees unlimited access to live professional development classes on new manager essentials like delegation, constructive feedback, effective 1:1 meetings and negotiations.
Give your employees the tools they need to succeed at the workplace, when they need it!
Active listening is an essential new manager skill. Active listening means really hearing the other side without simultaneously processing the response. As organizations increasingly adopt permanent/hybrid remote work and the advantage of body language and visual cues are diminished, we must ensure that our new managers have the skills to tune into their team's emotional state, so they can provide the support needed for everyone to do their best.
Feedback, when given properly, leads to huge increases in employee engagement. Data says it all: employees want more feedback, but they are not getting enough nor getting it right!
- 92% respondents agree that negative (redirecting) feedback, when delivered appropriately, is effective at improving performance
- 65% employees want more feedback at work
- Only 26% employees feel they receive feedback that helps improve their performance
To have a high-performing, engaged workforce, organizations must train their new managers on how to have difficult conversations and deliver feedback that lands.
Among the many reasons why new managers struggle with delegation is a false belief that to be considered high-performing, they need to continue doing all the work themselves. But when new managers continue to under-delegate, they take time away from more strategic tasks that can improve the delivery of the overall work.
To develop an efficient and robust talent pool, organizations must teach their young managers this important new manager skill so they can shift the mindset from “doing the work themselves” to “getting quality work done.”
A manager constantly needs to negotiates. She negotiates with their team to get work done, with their peers for shared resources, and with her boss for greater budgets. Unfortunately, far too many managers see negotiations as a win-lose situation, which fuels stress for themselves and their teams.
Negotiations is a must-have communications skill that must be taught so that new managers can combine facts with alliance building to reach win-win outcomes for themselves, their teams and their organizations.
A critical element to one’s success at the workplace is the relationship they have with their manager. New managers cannot ignore building this skill as they must continuously juggle the needs of their team with the wants of their own boss. Among many things, they must learn to adapt to the working style of their boss, anticipate their needs and support their initiatives. In turn, they can built the trust and relationship that’s necessary to help them successfully deliver on their own objectives.
Interested to learn how you can quickly equip your new managers with essential leadership skills?
PIVOT - our platform for virtual, instructor-led training gives your employees unlimited access to live professional development classes on new manager essentials like delegation, constructive feedback, effective 1:1 meetings and negotiations.
Give your employees the tools they need to succeed at the workplace, when they need it!
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