Tom Peters (a/k/a TomPeters!) has a terrific post today about building great first-line managers. I won’t repeat all 20 points here, but I want to call out a few specifically because they are so often overlooked in lists of this sort:
5. New 1LMs should “shadow” senior 1LMs for a significant period of time. (“1LM” is his shorthand for first-line manager.)
12. “Business” training should also be a central part of 1LM training.
13. 1LMs should be treated as the company’s principal “culture carriers” and principal “change agents”—and be treated and trained and “used” accordingly. [emphasis in original]
18. …[T]he quality of the 1LM portfolio should, in turn, be a central element in the evaluation of the department head and division head.
My only issue with this list hearkens back to Peter Drucker: Too many objectives is no objectives. Shorten the list, Tom!
Here’s my short version:
- Spend as much time selecting – and evaluating and culling — managers as you do on any other core aspect of your business. 1LMs make or break your business.
- Use mentoring, shadowing, and coaching to develop managers at all levels.
- Develop great training – and insist that execs put skin in the game by (a) taking the training themselves and (b) speaking regularly to the training classes.
- Make understanding how the business works a major and ongoing component of managerial training. Every manager should be able to explain how both the business and the specific division make money or otherwise contribute to the bottom line.
- The most important skills are “people” skills (leadership) and cross-functional abilities. They’re harder to build or select for than functional skills. (And don’t confuse cross-functional with politics; they’re opposite sides of one coin.)
- Never forget that managers carry your culture.
