Making the Transition to First-Level Leader
Current trends in management are moving from supervision to leadership. The author provides a point-by-point contrast of old and new attitudes (e.g. supervisors retain authority, leaders delegate it). Fundamentally, it points to a vision in which the "leader" is a coach, who develops his team but stays on the sidelines.
Five key competencies are discussed:
- Motivating workers: Attract, develop, and retail talented employees by creating a climate that keeps them motivated and engaged.
- Using Influence: The ability to exercise influence has largely replaced formal authority. This applies to subordinates, peers, and superiors in the organization.
- Managing Teams: This has to do with putting people where their talents are most applicable and ensuing harmony and cooperation among diverse workers.
- Understanding the competitive environment: This is vague, but it has to do with reacting quickly to changes in an industry and using effective performance measures to detect the need for change.
- Planning and managing change: More so now than before, there is much change in the business environment, and the manager must lead change and help subordinates adapt.
A few examples are given of practical implementation of these theories in a few F500 companies.
The author then looks at how job descriptions have been revised to reflect that the role of managers has changed from heads-down planning and supervisory duties to developing and coordinating staff.
She looks into characteristics that "followers" seek in their leader: honesty, vision, inspiring, and competent" came out on to, whereas independence, hard-working, and persistence came out at the bottom. The same study, years earlier, had different results, and she expects that, if it had been done further into the past, there would be even more of a shift.
The author then suggests four areas of skill for leaders:
- Technical Skills: A first-level leader should be competent in the work done by his employees. This includes an understanding of the task at hand as well as a broader knowledge of the company and industry.
- Interpersonal Skills: This focuses on interpersonal skills to manage subordinates well as well as developing relationships outside the department to help facilitate cooperation among business units
- Conceptual Skills: These include the ability to think analytically and creatively and to make sound decisions based on logic. These are key skills when making decisions that affect the team.
- System Skills: These skills are related to working within the organization to be an advocate of and facilitator for the work team.
The author then provides a five-step plan for performance improvement:
- Identify an aspect of performance that could stand improvement
- Describe the goal to be achieved
- List actions toward the achievement of that goal
- Identify people who can provide coaching or feedback
- Define a time frame and measurements for success