Over ten years ago Jim Collins, author of ‘Good to Great: Why some companies make the leap… and others don’t’ outlined his take on the traits of a great company and provided guidance on how to become one. The equation outlined by Mr Collins rested on an assumption of good management capability to support the new leadership development bandwagon he created.

From personal experience, encompassing more than 20 years’ observation of people capabilities in the workplace, I feel that we have sold our managers short by concentrating significantly on developing leadership capabilities before getting our ‘house in order.’ This should concern Board members as they take responsibility for ensuring that investments made in growing a sustainable, future-proofed organisation provide the right kind of return.

I often hear people say that it’s difficult to find good managers these days: people who can allocate resources effectively, translate strategy into day to day goals, know when to confront poor performance, and work with team members on clearly defining expectations for good performance. This isn’t entirely the fault of those who swell the managerial ranks.

The Fatal Flaw

The flaw is that these pivotal players in our businesses haven’t been provided with an opportunity to develop good management skills. Some are naturally blessed with these skills - and some aren’t.  Employees are often attracted to a manager’s role by the pay increase rather than an honest assessment as to whether they are capable or motivated to develop the necessary skills to succeed in a management role.

And, without putting too fine a point on it, the problem does not remain with the tier three and below. I have worked with many organisations where the problem exists at the top. The leadership bandwagon has created aspiration above its station. Leaders of our organisations today may not have learnt the basics, and yet are expected to coach and lead the managers below them. While leaders can be leaders without being good managers - without good management capability, organisations won’t achieve a great deal!

Performance on the shop floor

How can we expect ‘shop floor’ staff to perform while many organisations are still promoting the most technically competent people into senior roles for which they have had no grooming and shown no potential. This approach has plagued business for many years without demonstrating much success; and yet we still see it happen. Unless they possess a natural talent for management, people rarely develop these skills by osmosis alone. And for those on the shop floor, their leader and role model is their manager.

In my view, one good manager can have more impact on getting things done than a group of leaders who are able to think and plan strategically. While a plan is important to provide vision and goals for managers to follow; it is critical that the people on the ground understand how to make things happen and motivate the ‘troops.’ Those closest to the action in retail, manufacturing, service or government, are the ones who make or break an organisation’s reputation, satisfy their customers, deliver on time in full and see the immediate consequences of their actions. So why is the development dollar concentrated so tightly on those at the top of the ladder?

A pivotal function

As a manager, being the meat in the sandwich can be difficult. You are expected to deliver results both upwards and down. You need to interpret leaders’ expectations into day-to-day activities and responsibilities, keep your team motivated, engaged and passionate about your product/service, and deliver a return for all stakeholders. Often the development activities offered to managers include topics such as time management, employment legislation obligations, delegation, managing poor performance and report writing. Yet the manager would really benefit from a more holistic approach to the overall management of resources. Does your leadership team see this? Are they mentoring and coaching, developing and supporting a greater awareness of the way the business operates?

The role of great leaders

While it may come across that I don’t believe in the value of the leadership role – that’s far from the truth. In recent times plenty has been done to understand what is required of good/great leaders and how their competencies - more commonly behavioural competencies - can be developed. Structures, programmes and interventions have been put in place for both existing and future leaders in most organisations, which is great because it provides direction that is essential. We absolutely need to understand what shape we want the business to be in in the future. The leaders of any organisation must be well versed in how to identify and influence the implementation of the vision. We need people in organisations that can see beyond the week, month, or quarter in terms of growth, contingencies, opportunities, market movement and so on.

We also require senior members of the team who have the skill set and time to develop the future talent and mentor up-and-coming stars. Experienced and capable leaders should be spending significant amounts of time in this space to provide a return on the investment they have made in employee personal development. And of course, in order to role model good development practices, the senior leaders should make time for their own development including technical capabilities; but we’ll move onto that subject another time.

Getting from good to great

In short, the role of manager must become more highly regarded. An increasing amount of time and focus should be spent on developing the capabilities essential for driving sustainable growth and performance from staff. I see many managers who are ill-equipped to deal with the complexities of the here-and-now - they have not been given the care and attention that leaders/potential leaders have had in the last ten years. I believe that their time has come!

In their research, Jim Collins and his team found that a leader cannot achieve significant success in less than seven years regardless of how it may appear from the outside. A leader needs good teams of capable people behind him/her in order to succeed. If we accept that, doesn’t it make sense to start developing our managers and actively look for learning opportunities on their behalf?  This is the way your company could make the leap from good to great.