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As anyone who has every held a job can attest, at some point in your career you will work for someone who clearly has less talent or ability than you do.
On a regular basis you’ll ask yourself, “how is THAT guy my boss?” The answer has less to do with the poor sod who was promoted above you and more to do with how we reward performance and view talent in an organization. The biggest problem is that companies often promote someone to being manager because  they are good at their job. But doing the job well and managing others to do it well are not the same thing. In fact, they are completely different skill sets. A great salesman is just that, a great salesman. But a great salesman does not necessarily make a great sales manager. But very often, the top-performing salesman is promoted to sales manager not because he’s necessarily qualified, but because he did well at his other job. And it gets worse. Not only are we promoting people into the wrong jobs, we aren't even training them once they get there. I can guarantee that top-performing salesman was given tons of training to be a salesman. He probably even shadowed more seasoned veterans to learn the ropes. After he became sales manager, however, his training likely stopped. And he almost certainly never shadowed more seasoned sales managers to learn the ropes. When people are in middle management and below, we train the heck out of them. That’s because they are doers so, logically, companies train them so they can be good at their jobs. With all that training, they prove themselves and earn promotions. After which, the amount of training plummets. As people get more senior, they move from being doers to being thinkers and managers, but most companies don’t train people how to manage or think. If you make widgets – there is a training on how to make the best widget. Get promoted, and you’re left to figure things out by yourself. There are painfully few companies that train their managers how to manage or think strategically. Now is the time to train your managers and up and coming leaders on critical people skills such as listening to different perspectives to innovate, managing your team through change and hiring the right people for the team. The Wisdom of Teams, is a video training in a box featuring team building strategies from great team leaders such as Ben & Jerry, founders of the great ice-cream we've come to love, Bill Bradley, NBA star and former presidential candidate/ NJ Senator and other great leaders and entrepreneurs. This video training backs up the points you're making and adds credibility to your training with real-life world class successful leaders.  Five video segments teach the following key concepts:
• Commitment to the Team (Dennis Conner)
• Energizing the Team (Jack Welch) • Competition (Bill Bradley)
• Consistency & Change (Steve Case) • Joy of Invention (Ben & Jerry)
For more on The Wisdom of Teams>> Being good at your job does not equip you to manage others, nor does being smart. Two men in recent history widely regarded to be some of smartest to become US Presidents were Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter. Nixon’s intellect, in fact, was said to be astounding. However, neither of their presidencies were particularly remarkable. Smarts do not necessarily equate to leadership. Leadership is a skill set that does not always mean you’re good at the job itself. Tommy Lasorda, the famed LA Dodgers manager was hailed as one of the great all time baseball managers. His own baseball career, however, was short and not so sweet. In contrast, Isiah Thomas was one of the great basketball players in the ‘80s. He eventually joined the management of the New York Knicks and he was an abysmal failure. When someone gets promoted because they were very good at doing a job, they feel they can do it better than those who now work for them (and maybe the can). The temptation to micromanage or to tell people to do it their way can be overwhelming. Sometimes their intentions may be good, they may be trying to teach, but other times they simply miss being in the trenches and yearn to get back in. Either way, it manifests as poor management. Great managers, in contrast, are able to coach others to maximize their own potential and work to their own strengths. They give out responsibility instead of tasks and allow people to make mistakes. Great managers may even have an advantage if they are not good at the tasks themselves because it forces them to step back and rely on those around them. And most importantly, great managers are always aware of the big picture and the long-term strategy. That, afterall, is their job. Two things organizations need to do if our management is to become as skilled as our workforce. 1: Become better at assessing people’s skills before simply rewarding good performance or big brains with promotions. 2: Teach leaders how to lead in the same way that we teach technicians what to do. Management and leadership, like any skill, require learning and practice.
So the next time you get a promotion for a job well-done, ask for some training as you enter your new job before you find yourself as the idiot that people can’t believe they are working for. ---------------- Only registered users can write comments.
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