A New Boss who Shouldn't Be One
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When Susan left graduate school, clutching her MBA, she set her sights on one big company to work for. She got there on her second job. That's the way Susan is.
Susan is very bright, very focused, and very hard working. Her bonuses and promotions among the individual contributor ranks reflected that. When her boss asked if should wanted to be team leader, Susan jumped at the opportunity.
That evening she called and emailed just about everyone who'd ever shown interest in her career. She was ecstatic. She was moving up into management, just as she'd planned. The euphoria lasted for less than a day.
By the next evening, the bloom was off the rose. "Why do those people keep coming into my office and whining?" she asked.
The good news first. Susan's boss understood that she faced a choice with Susan between having a highly productive individual contributor or a bad, struggling, and unhappy team leader. The boss let Susan slide back into her former job.
Now the bad news. Susan's experience isn't that unusual. According to a CareerBuilder survey cited in an HR Morning article, a quarter of new managers said they weren't ready for the job when they were promoted. Susan sure wasn't.
Why are there so many new managers, like Susan, who discover too late that the job of being a boss is not for them? The answer is actually pretty simple: they've never had the opportunity to find out what it feels like to be a boss.
The solution to the problem is just as simple. If you want people to understand what it's like to be responsible for the performance and welfare of a group, let them try it. All it takes is a temporary assignment to lead a small group.
Those assignments give people like Susan a way to determine if being a boss is for them. They also give you the opportunity to evaluate their readiness for promotion based on actual performance.
Boss's Bottom Line
You don't have to wait for HR to act on this. It's the part of your job that comes under "helping team members
succeed." Give your team members temporary developmental assignments to try
on the job of being a boss, then coach them to help them make the best decision
for themselves and the organization.
Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.
Wally,
This post is great. I totally agree with you when you say the individual should "try it out" first before they jump into any managerial role. I've been wanting to get into management, but I was always afraid that I was not made out for a management position. However, after getting a chance to experience the management role, I think it made me feel a lot more confident in my abilities and will definitely propel me to go for a management role in the near future. Thanks for the post.
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Good point, Mike. It can work both ways. Susan would have learned that being a boss was not for her, but you learned that it could be a good fit for you. Thanks for sharing that insight.
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I think it is a great idea to give people the opportunity to test the waters of leadership/management without diving in all the way. At least the company was understanding enough to let her slide back into her old job instead of just cutting her loose because she couldn't handle the new job.
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You're right. Susan had an understanding boss and a company that would allow her to return to her old job. That's not possible everywhere.
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You're right. Susan had an understanding boss and a company that would allow her to return to her old job. That's not possible everywhere.
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Wally,
Great minds and all that. Your article is on track and closely aligned with my own thoughts. I wrote an article a while back which I re-wrote and republished earlier this week that speaks to what organizations might do to reduce the failure of internal promotions, "Internal Promotions – Organizational Responsibility," http://bit.ly/hlrvAv.
As always, another great job, Wally.
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Thanks for sharing that, Gordon.
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Thanks for sharing that, Gordon.
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Thank you for the post. This is such a great idea! Having employees aspiring to be a leave have an experience of what the job entails will help them decide if they are capable enough. If the employees are still interested, mentoring them and helping them in their tasks might help with the transition instead of just giving them a leadership position. This can be a part of the career development process for an employee.
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The company I previously worked for promoted people from within to upper management positions. It was a well known "must say yes" culture when offered a job by a senior manager ... even when you knew you weren't ready and/or currently capable of fulfilling the necessities of the position. Unfortunately, the rest of us were affected by this. I think having a trial run would be perfect!
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Thanks for adding to the conversation, Wendy. I'm convinced that everybody wins with trial runs, but usually there needs to be other support, too.
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This situation happens again and again in companies. They take the star individual performer and thrust them in a management/leadership role and they stumble. the idea of giving them small, short-term work group leader roles for a test drive is good. A better solution is a process to evaluate future management talent and put those suited into a management development process.
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Thanks, Mike. I think what you suggest makes good sense, but I'm suggesting developmental assignments as a part of the evaluation process. If a man or woman his interest and ability in moving into management, we can design training and development opportunities for that. Otherwise, we can design them for increased effectiveness in an individual contributor role.
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Thanks Wally. I sure like giving employees the opportunity to try on a management role. I also applaud Susan and anyone else who can admit that they might not be ready for the responsibility of managing people and take a step back until they are. So many organizations have cultures that wouldn't allow it. Thanks for the post.
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Thanks, Jenn. Without the company and Susan's boss being willing to step back, her own willingness would not have amounted to much.
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Wally-
Up until recently, I have always looked at my manager and thought, how hard could it be to do his job?? But having him out this past week and filling his shoes was a great trial run. Not that the work was all that difficult, but reporting to his bosses and seeing the behind the scenes workings was a real eye opener. I thought that I could do what he does, but quickly learned that I am not quite ready for it. A little more experience and some more trial runs will be a perfect way to transition into a more challenging roll!
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Thanks for sharing that, Brett. You mentioned that you learned you're not quite ready for that job yet, and I hope also learned what you need to do so you can be ready when your time comes.
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Thanks for this post. So often this happens and the person gets fired because they are no longer doing a good job.
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Thanks for coming by and adding to the conversation, Dana. You identify one awful outcome. I'd like to add another. The person doesn't get fired and doesn't get better, either. He or she hangs on for years, ineffective and unhappy and destroying team productivity and the morale of team players.
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