This article was authored by Dick Friedman, a Senior Process Design Consultant who provided support to our leadership team through my previous employer. Dick now provides support to my customers through the Parone Group. I respect his views, so, when he shared this article with me, I decided to share with you. Thanks, Dick, for your never ending knowledge, and ongoing support!
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Your people drive your business. Most have the best of intentions when it comes to making a solid contribution to the overall success of the enterprise. They do good work so you give them more work to do. They were your best account rep, your best payables clerk, best welder or project engineer so you made them leaders of people. The problem is that these outstanding individuals have neither the experience nor the training to be outstanding leaders, leaving them ill-prepared for the job that they didn’t sign on for in the first place.
Take Martin for example. Martin recently became the team leader of 14 people who are responsible for $2,000,000 in production. Doing their very best Martin’s team delivers 90% of the production budget. Managing by instinct, Martin tends to avoid conflict, uses the relationships with his former co-workers to emotionally bribe them into doing additional work, and measures success in the number of days passed where Martin manages to fly below his boss’s radar. Martin deserves better. He needs to be given the tools needed to do his job well. A small investment in his leadership skills will have a two-fold return: A gift to Martin that will last a lifetime and the opportunity for you to close your $200,000 budget shortfall.
Who’s holding you back? Who not what, is standing in the way of your initiatives to increase sales, yields, cut operating expenses and increase profit margins across the board? Is there someone like Martin in your organization? They deserve a chance to succeed and continue to grow their contribution to the organization. An investment in Martin is not just an investment in Martin; he has 14 people reporting to him and they will also reap the benefits of his development. As they become better leaders you create the culture that will meet the demands of your business tomorrow and build ownership and commitment in the next group of potential leaders.
In the alternative you can churn the management and supervisory workforce looking for what doesn’t exist in the candidate pool, or worse you can settle out of fear of the effect of churn on your business and retain those that have reached the potential they can realize on their own.
Do you think it’s too hard to find the time? Too hard to find the money? Stop for a moment and do the math. Can you really afford not to develop your current management team? Everywhere we look we see winners in disguise. Have you created a culture in which the winners in your workforce will flourish?
PARONE GROUP is a Management Consulting Firm that focuses on the People, Process, and Purpose of organizations. We help companies improve their culture, performance, and resolve obstacles.
We are always interested in hearing from companies that continually strive to create a culture of high-value service and make that culture live for both employees and customers. We also endeavor to learn regularly and love sharing your great stories.
Have a story to tell or need help in creating or improving your culture? Please consider Parone Group. You will find our website at http://ParoneGroup.com
