How to create better junior managers

Time was 5 am and I almost jumped out of bed to pick up the call. “This can not be good news.” While murmuring a prayer and trying to recognise the international number, I picked up the call. The voice on the other side was rather apologetic. “This must be an unearthly hour to wake you up. I just read your article on Agile HR. Can you create better junior managers for us? We have very good managers though.” The timing of the call was not as confusing as the statement was. I asked a call back in half an hour and then we got talking. The dilemma of the chief human resource officer was very concerning to him at least.

According to the CHRO, the company has very hardworking and dedicated managers. But the juniors are absolutely not up to the mark. They are neither trying to grow up nor getting motivated for a big picture of the organisation. Why the managers are not able to build a better team? Why every misfired decision is wrapped under the carpet of “organisational culture needs to change.”? CHRO was not sure. That's the reason for 5 am call, I was told. 

Many CEOs and CHROs list “culture change” as the first thing, first priority. They know their organisations need to become more agile. They also want to create and develop adaptable organisations with swift and quick transformations. They want to be leading a team, which is not only able to make good decisions but also execute them quickly. 

Moreover, they largely want to attract and retain high performers. Building and maintaining a good corporate culture is the key to all these aspirations. Yet, many CEOs and CHROs ignore the most important factor in building the culture they want: Managers.

Most of the time, the very managers upon whom organisations depend to create better cultures are themselves unhappy and unmotivated at work. 

“Management really isn't a great experience for most people; managers' report more stress and burnout, worse work-life balance, and worse physical well-being than the individual contributors on the teams they lead. Approximately two-thirds of managers are either not engaged or actively disengaged in their work and workplace. Less than 30% of managers strongly agree that someone at work encourages their development. According to the people receiving manager development training, the programs in place don't work.” says James Harter, chief scientist of Gallup and Best Seller author. 

Even if we take half of it to be true, just think of the kind of managers are actually grooming the next line of talent and why there is a strong need of developing collaboration and appreciative work culture than everyone playing a blame game and creating silo. 

Performance management and yearly appraisals become threatening to employees who do not have clear goals or what is expected of them at work. Sometimes, the goal post shifts every now and then, and that creates more confusion. They may feel conflicted about their duties and disconnected from the bigger picture and it is impossible for them to think about next years goal when they are not even sure what tomorrow will throw at them. For this upcoming assignment, I have worked up only one single point agenda for training the managers. They need to focus on each of their juniors' strengths.

The best way and in many experts' opinions, the only way for people to grow and develop is to identify how they most naturally think, feel, and behave. What are their core talents? The action plan is to build on those talents to carve out exactly defined strengths. 

For example, if you really like to talk to people and help them always then that's a talent. To create strength out of it, you need exact goal based roadmap to become a client service executive and in a few years' time, a manager. A junior employees' attitude of strength building has a major effect on engagement. Managers play a decisive role in maximising employees' strengths and empower them to discover and develop their strengths creating engaged high performers.

The writer is strategic advisor and premium educator with Harvard Business Publishing