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What's the big idea?
Just like everything else in the dynamic world of business, training and development needs to move on. Here we talk to Metros Director of Talent and Culture Lara Ashworth and reveal her top ten tips on where to take your training in 2007
I am MD of a medium-sized PR company.Almost a year ago I promoted one of my most talented consultants into a team management role but it has become increasingly obvious to me and her immediate line manager that she is struggling. The performance of the team is falling and, at the same time quite a few staff have left the business. I find this problem quite perplexing as she and her team are clearly talented and she herself has always been very popular with her colleagues; that¡¦s one of the main reasons that I offered her a more responsible role. Can you help?
JS, London
You do not say whether this first-time manager has received training and coaching to prepare her for her now role and, if not, this could be the core of the problem. It is really not uncommon for our most talented and popular staff to be given management responsibility but then to struggle with the complexitites of the new role.
These complexities are more often than not to do with people management and, as you are experiencing higher than normal staff turnover, I suspect that this may well be the case here. It is a common trap of untrained people managers to try to manage the staff by 'being their friend' and bearing in mind how popular you say this manager has been with her colleagues I wonder if this is what she is trying to do? If so, I would say she is bound to fail and you are already seeing the evidence of that.
First-time managers often believe that respect comes naturally to them as a result of their job title and promotion. It does not. Respect has to be earned and demands that managers create an environment that is motivational to its staff members. This means, amongst many other things, that clear boundaries must be drawn between private and professional lives. Managers should be friendly to their staff, and not try to be their friends; otherwise it will be too difficult to provide direction, supervision and the occasional shot of discipline.
I can see in many ways you have a very talented employee here who now needs your help to assist her through this critical period of her career. Helping her now should pay huge dividends in the future. Talk to her openly about where she thinks she is struggling, consider buying her some management training or coaching and finally, if you can identify a suitably experienced and supporting person in your organisation, it may be a sensible idea to provide a mentor ¡V someone who has been there, done that and can offer some practical hands on experience and insight, in a removed and objective way.
I'm a senior manager in a not-for-profit organisation which prides itself on offering careers for those who 'want to make a difference' and recruits around 20 graduate-calibre staff each year. Whilst we have no problem recruiting the staff, our retention rate is poor with up to 40% leaving within their first two years of joining us. How can we solve this?
ML, Manchester
What you describe is very costly and now that the prevailing attitude from both employers and employees is ¡¥no jobs for life¡¦, quite a common one too. The level of turnover you mention is high and I do think that you should be able to improve your average tenure. However, you may be trying to find the solution before fully understanding the issues.
So, before making any plans, you need to find out why your staff are leaving. Is it a series of unrelated reasons or are there common themes that you can address? Offer your current staff the opportunity to tell you confidentially what they like about working for you and where their areas of dissatisfaction lie ¡V you can do this either through facilitated focus groups, confidential private interviews or a written staff survey.
At the same time, analyse the information that has come back from appraisals and implement an effective exit interview procedure. These three actions will give you real insight into why your staff are leaving ¡V only then should you start thinking about action plans.
We are thinking of introducing job descriptions based on key performance indicators. Is this a good idea? Are there any disadvantages?
BW, London
This certainly is a good idea. A good performance management system starts with well-written job descriptions and using KPIs is a tremendous way of improving effectiveness in job interviews, day-to-day direction and management of staff, measuring performance in appraisal interviews and identifying areas for development.
They are also invaluable should you have to engage in disciplinary action. As with anything in life and business there are potential disadvantages. Poorly written, inappropriate KPIs which cannot be measured simply pay lip service to the idea and will deliver you no improvement at all. Neither will it be good enough to make your project a one-off exercise. Aim to use a KPI project manager who has previous experience of analysing job roles ¡V and make sure that your line managers are closely involved in the development.
