Gateways to managerial development in rapidly changing organizations

Citation

Longenecker, C.O. (2011), "Gateways to managerial development in rapidly changing organizations", Development and Learning in Organizations, Vol. 25 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/dlo.2011.08125caa.002

Gateways to managerial development in rapidly changing organizations

Article Type: Viewpoint From: Development and Learning in Organizations, Volume 25, Issue 3

There are a lot of things organizations can do to help their leaders better adapt to change if they are willing to go back and address the issue of helping, encouraging and even forcing managers to do the right things from the top down. Basics are key in managerial learning (a General Manager’s observations).

Organizations around the world are currently experiencing significant competitive pressure which has created a need for business leaders to improve their current skill-sets and develop new talents to meet the demands of the changing competitive landscape (Blanchard, 2007). Our previous research has made it clear that there are significant barriers to managerial development in organizations when major changes are taking place (Longenecker, 2010). These barriers can include increased time pressure, leaders not knowing what they don’t know, inadequate feedback/coaching, lack of self-reflection, minimal accountability for skill development and having an ineffective boss, among others. These barriers can create a “skills-gap” between organizational needs and actual managerial talent. If rapidly changing organizations do not close these managerial skills-gaps, a host of problematic organizational issues can surface such as ineffective decision making, inability to lead change, delegation breakdowns, the loss of teamwork, morale problems, customer dissatisfaction, and ultimately slipping profit margins.

For the past decade, we have been conducting an ongoing stream of research to identify the factors that have the greatest impact in helping leaders (at all levels) improve their performance (Longenecker and Fink, 2008). To that end, we can draw several conclusions about management development with certainty:

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  in rapidly changing organizations, leaders’ developmental needs are significant;

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  these needs typically require rapid learning; and

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  managers often need assistance to improve their performance.

From this research emerges an interesting question: what can and should organizations do to help their leaders cope more effectively with the skills-gap brought on by rapidly changing business conditions? The purpose of this paper is to share key research findings that highlight effective practices that can accelerate managerial learning and performance improvement.

A study on management performance improvement

With this back drop, we surveyed a sample of 803 business leaders, averaging 45.4 years old with 15.2 years of managerial experience and from a cross-section of rapidly changing US manufacturing and service organizations. Participants in this study completed a structured questionnaire which asked them to select what they considered to be the most important factors in their performance improvement from a list of the top 20 most frequently cited managerial development practices that evolved from our previous work (Longenecker and Neubert, 2003). Frequencies were tabulated and a ranking of the top factors emerged, with the percentages reflecting the number of managers out of 803 who identified each particular practice as being most important for their performance improvement. We will now discuss the key findings with gateways for practitioners.

Key research findings

Gateway no. 1: organizations must realign leaders’ roles, goals and performance expectations with changing organizational needs (87 percent).

The single most important factor that organizations must do to improve managerial performance in periods of rapid change is to take the time to realign what is needed from each and every manager in the organization from top to bottom. It is a grave organizational blunder to assume that managers are automatically realigning their behavior and priorities during periods of change without the guidance of their superiors. Formal discussions are needed to solidify and help managers focus on what they need to do to most effectively lead and provide value to their part of the enterprise.

Consequences of ignoring Gateway no. 1

Failing to properly align roles, goals and performance expectations wastes managerial time, treasure and talent.

Gateway no. 2: managers need increased levels of ongoing performance measurement, feedback and coaching (77 percent).

Once expectations have been clarified, participants made it clear that they want to know how well they are actually performing in the changing environment. This requires that their performance be measured on an ongoing basis and that they receive feedback/coaching; providing managers with a sense of knowing how well they are performing and reducing uncertainty. This information can allow managers to make adjustments and also reinforces appropriate behavior, both of which are critical to managerial learning.

Consequences of ignoring Gateway no. 2

A lack of performance measurement and feedback allows managers to carry on with “business as usual” while failing to create a real learning environment.

Gateway no. 3: senior leaders must mentor subordinate managers (68 percent)

Mentoring provides an invaluable learning opportunity for managers. Superiors in the organization should supplement coaching with both formal and informal guidance, counsel, know-how and confidence to navigate within the organization’s evolving modus operandi. Managers made it clear that mentoring is something they need, want and thrive on in periods of rapid change. Effective mentoring relationships that are fostered by senior business leaders can have a powerful effect on not only a manager’s competency, but also a manager’s confidence at a time when confidence is critical for effective leadership to transpire.

Consequences of ignoring Gateway no. 3

A manager without a mentor in a rapidly changing organization loses access to a wealth of organizational knowledge, which can debilitate a leader’s effectiveness.

Gateway no. 4: effective performance appraisals/reviews (62 percent)

Although often criticized as an organizational practice, managers in this study made it clear that effective performance appraisals/reviews can provide a formalized “compact” that clarifies individual’s roles, goals, and responsibilities. During times of rapid change, the appraisal process can send a powerful message to managers about what their job really entails and can increase the likelihood that they will receive formal feedback and documentation on their performance because of this formalized process. When done properly, this provides effective performance planning, a basis for feedback and coaching, formal career planning, and a valuable tool to link performance to compensation.

Consequences of ignoring Gateway no. 4

Lack of a formalized review process can allow misalignment of a manager’s activities and have a detrimental effect on a number of key performance variables.

Gateway no. 5: increased contact with external/internal customers (54 percent)

It is interesting to note that in periods of rapid change, manager’s view having access to their customers, whether internal or external, as a primary vehicle to enhance their development. Survey respondents made it clear that they view customers as a critical source of information that can and should be used in formulating any improvement plan whether operational or personal. Managers who are serious about developing their talents to meet the demands brought on by a dynamic workplace are well-served to spend more face time with their customers, build better working relationships, and systematically remove performance barriers that damage customer satisfaction. All of these activities allow managers to make adjustments in their approach to leading their operations by using customer input as a tremendous source of information to hone their talents.

Consequences of ignoring Gateway no. 5

Managers that fail to listen to and learn from their customers are in a limited position to make appropriate adjustments in their approach to leading others and doing business.

A call to action

The purpose of this discussion was to identify key practices that organizations and individual managers can use to accelerate managerial learning in periods of rapid organizational transformation. To this end, we would like to offer some specific advice to those leading organizations as well as to individual managers who find a real need to improve their performance in a new organizational reality.

Organizational action

Organizations need to be reminded that the developmental needs of managers are quite large during periods of change. It is imperative that senior managers, HR leaders and organizational development professionals take proactive steps to ensure that managers in their organizations are properly aligned with the current demands of the enterprise and receive ongoing performance measurement, feedback and coaching. Organizations need to use mentoring and formal performance appraisals as key vehicles to facilitate managerial learning and promote increased contact between business leaders and their internal and external customers. All of these practices can accelerate managerial learning.

Individual action

These days, managers can easily find themselves lacking the requisite skills to perform at the highest possible level. The managers in this study made it clear that several key practices can greatly benefit an individual’s growth as a leader, but this requires them to take responsibility for their own development. Having said this, managers must start by making sure that they are properly aligned with their superiors in terms or roles, goals and responsibilities. Second, they need discuss and come to an agreement with their superior how often and what types of performance feedback and coaching they need to improve. Third, managers need to seek out and develop effective mentoring relationships with those senior to them in the organization who have both an interest and willingness to invest time and effort into their personal growth. Fourth, managers are well served to encourage their superiors to make good use of a formalized appraisal process to open up performance planning and discussions surrounding development. Finally, individual managers need to look to their customers as an invaluable source of information that can be used to develop their talents as a leader. When taken together, these specific activities can go a long way to help managers not only cope with, but excel in rapidly changing enterprises.

In conclusion, these five practices were considered by a large sample of business leaders as being keys to effectively develop their talents in rapidly changing organizations. To ignore these gateways is to throw away potential sources of competitive advantage at a time when both organizations and individuals are in desperate need of improvement.

Clinton O. LongeneckerStranahan Professor of Leadership and Organizational Excellence, College of Business Administration, The University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio, USA. Clinton O. Longenecker can be contacted at: clinton.longenecker@utoledo.edu

Daniel P. GatinsFinancial Analyst for Tenneco, Inc., Monroe, Michigan, USA and a former Research Assistant at the University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio, USA.