I heard a fascinating statistic today. In our workplaces, the average age of a first time manager is 30. The average age of first course in leadership is 42. That means, on average, the first dozen years of being a manager, most people are given inadequate guidance. Clearly, we need to do a better job helping our leaders succeed.
One of the biggest challenges I have seen in my time in industry is that we mistake superior performance in one aspect of a job and presume that level of performance can be applied to other aspects of the job. In no place is this more relevant than in promotion to leadership. The skill sets that drive us to superior performance in a line role have little overlap with the skills that lead to high performance in leadership.
Leaders are Different
Michael Gerber in E-Myth provides one of the best discussions on how these roles are different. Gerber writes that everyone has three business personalities in them: the Technician who performs the work, the Manager who measures and controls the work, and the Entrepreneur who conceptualizes and creates the workplace environment in the first place.
Using Gerber’s vernacular, when it comes to selecting new leaders, we sometimes promote great Technicians, but forget that often great Technicians are poor Managers and Entrepreneurs. Successful Managers and Entrepreneurs have wildly different roles and responsibilities which require very different behaviors and competencies.
A New Set of Skills
As Lesa Deeker told the Omaha ODN meeting so eloquently earlier today, leaders must take initiative, listen, apply critical and strategic thinking among other things.
Moving individuals into leadership roles must be done with care and forethought to make the transition as comfortable as possible. In addition, many leaders haven’t been given the best guidance in their role, which leads to subpar performance over time.
Our leaders need training, coaching, consistent feedback, and time for reflection. Let’s dedicate ourselves to helping our leaders thrive in their roles so we all may benefit.
