Quick – tell me about your most significant developmental experience.
Chances are, it wasn’t a training class. Most likely, you thought of a person you worked with or for — through them, you learned a lot about what you wanted (or DIDN’T) want to do yourself. You also may have remembered a project or job that was bit of a stretch for you — whatever the outcomes, the experience left you with new insights and tactics.
Here’s the thing: whether you have two employees or 200, you have a need for leadership skills. Most who move into manager and leader spots did so because they were successful at their individual jobs. As soon as one person needs to accomplish things through the efforts of another, it becomes important to know how to accomplish a new set of outcomes: setting clear expectations, delegating, motivating, coaching, or influencing others.
These skills don’t come naturally to everyone who was strong as an individual performer. They become even more challenging when those conversations are about uncomfortable subjects like missed deliverables, employee relations issues, and/or involve others who don’t respond well to feedback. They may also involve staff based in other geographic locations — perhaps even different time zones, cultures, and languages.
Managers and leaders have to think at a more strategic level, develop and manage short- and long-term plans, or understand how to read profit & loss statements and develop budgets, regardless of their functional area.
The good news is, these skills can always be developed and improved. Training is part of that, but it’s also important to consider a more comprehensive approach that includes the kind of exposure to people and work experiences that expand a manager’s way of thinking and gives them the kind of support and reinforcement that helps new skills grow — and stick.
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