The £1,000 or £50,000 Management Education

At a recent networking event I sat next to an employment lawyer.  This particular employment lawyer was in their second career having worked in consulting roles in major organisations and as a result was very pragmatic.

Our discussion got on to the fact that that problems often arise in organisations due to poor management skills of many managers.  We both agreed that people tended to get promoted for a whole host of reasons:

  • They did well at the previous level.
  • They threatened to leave and maybe go to a competitor.
  • They had been in the organisation for a few years and the organisation felt they needed to recognise their commitment.
  • They asked for a promotion and the employer came up with something.

The trouble is just because someone thinks they can manage does not always mean that they can.  Managing others, motivating and bringing out the best in others is a whole lot different to being the person who gets things done personally.

The smart people and smart organisations recognise this and make sure that managers are properly trained and developed to be highly successful managers.  They make the up front investment

The alternative is to pay retrospectively.  So what do I mean by that?

You might need to allocate a £1,000 a year to keep developing a manager so that he or she consistently performs well.  On the other hand if a manager is not trained or development you could find that:

You start spending a fortune on recruiting people to replace those who cannot put up with incompetent managers and leave.

You have a huge dip in motivation and morale which impacts on customer and client service and loss of business.

You end up spending excessive amounts of time in meetings dealing with employee grievances.

In the worst case scenario you end up in an employment tribunal, lose a case, have to pay damages and even have huge reputational damage in the process.

The Bottom Line:  Successful organisations need highly effective managers.  At the same time highly effective managers don’t often appear by chance, they have to be developed.  You can decide to invest in the positive development of people or risk paying retrospectively when it all goes wrong.

Duncan Brodie helps professional people in large organisations to beocome highly effective managers.  Check out his management mastery e-course here

About the Author Duncan Brodie

Since 2006 I’ve worked with in excess of 8,000 accountants and professionals in workshops, seminars and one to one helping them land their next jobs and become better leaders, presenters and business partners. Before that I spent 25 years in accountancy climbing the career ladder from Payments Clerk to FD. I’m a CIMA Fellow, Certified Professional Coach and Team Coach Facilitator.

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