You may think that new supervisor couldn’t lead a dog on a leash. Here’s a little secret: That supervisor thinks so too.
That’s if she is one of the 26% of new managers who feel they weren’t ready to become a leader when they started supervising others. So reveals a recent survey from the folks at CareerBuilder.com.
And granted, everybody does some learning on the job.
But you certainly don’t want that person feeling their way through as your boss, or when they’re heading a department you need info from … or someone you promoted!
Not only that, but bad managers make for unhappy employees, which could saddle your company with some very expensive turnover.
Economy strikes again
You can probably blame the economy for this one, too. After all, as companies have had to do more with less for several years now, many have had to promote people to fill a need before that individual was quite ready to step up.
And when they were put there, they probably didn’t receive too much guidance either. More than half of managers say they received zero formal management training. That’s certainly something few companies could afford to devote the time or dollars to of late.
So that’s why there’s a crop of unprepared managers running about. Now what can be done about it?
Take a look at what new supervisors told CareerBuilder their biggest weak spots are:
- Dealing with issues between co-workers on my team (25%)
- Motivating team members (22%)
- Performance reviews (15%)
- Finding the resources needed to support the team (15%), and
- Creating career paths for my team (12%).
Here’s how to make the most of this intel:
If you’re the individual responsible for tapping new managers, consider this a great core competency list to make sure any candidates you’re thinking of promoting have received guidance on, even if it’s informally and in-house.
If you’re a manager alongside these newbies, try reaching out as a mentor of sorts. Nothing overt or official. But you might think about sharing any successful strategies you have in any of these areas.
If you’re being led by an ill-prepared new manager, try offering a helping hand. No need to keep what motivates you – or other members of your team – to yourself, for example. Assuming the manager is interested in getting better at his or her job, any insight would be most welcome and can help things get better faster.
