So, you made it to the top but your organisation doesn’t operate as good as it could if you cloned yourself. Staff don’t take accountability. Ideas all seem to come from you. Nothing changes despite hiring a few new people. Many organisations operate on a platform of ‘accidental managers’ and low paid staff. Given that 61% of employees work in SMEs (according to BEIS), it should come as no surprise. However, the same holds true in many larger organisations. There is a reluctance to give management skills training to staff who could demand more money. When you consider that private sector pay increases are currently hovering at around 7%, some savings need to balance the books. One casualty could be staff training and the consequences are far-reaching. Read on as we ask why management skills training is often overlooked by senior leaders.
Management skills
Management is the art and science of managing the resources of a business, which includes money, materials, technology, assets and people. In the general sense, managing people is the largest element for most in middle-management. Some are also responsible for budgets, procuring materials and equipment and others for systems. The skillset required for the proper administration of the resources of a business differs greatly from ‘doing’. For example, conducting performance reviews, dealing with sick leave, motivating a team, hiring and firing.
Additionally, for those responsible for systems or who get involved in projects and programmes to transform them, skills in project and programme management are an asset. This is perhaps in addition to the commercial and soft skills required to get the investment approved. Where materials, products or services are procured, there is an additional complex web of processes. From negotiation skills to stakeholder management, financial modelling to commercial contracts, it is far from simple.
Management skills training
The more we delve into the topic, the more it seems blindingly obvious that training is required. Take an apprentice or school leaver that becomes an expert at their job. One day, either because someone likes them, their experience, their performance or a combination of all three, they get promoted. Now, rather than simply doing the job, they need to manage a team of 10 people. They need to hire new people, justify every pound of their budget and manage a system implementation. Without the proper training, mentoring or a supportive manager who is generous with their time and knowledge, this could be risky. Furthermore, this individual may have some time before people realise that they are out of their depth. By then, the consequences could be dire.
It isn’t uncommon for recent promotions to be demoted again or forced out. There is also a significant increase in exposure, expectations and pressure, often for a marginal increase in pay. As a result, there isn’t always a rush of hands to go for the manager’s job. Similarly, if the team has a pretty good idea of the stresses and situation of the manager, they will keep their heads down. The only options for senior leaders becomes pushing the responsibilities onto another manager or hiring externally. The former could destabilise performance elsewhere in the business and the latter is costly and slow to get up to speed.
Investing in management training
We have written at length about the slow work movement, the great resignation and the expectations of Gen-Z. More generally, workers want some flexibility after the pandemic and more meaning from work. They have experienced a better work-life balance and employers that either looked after them or leaned on them heavily, burning them out. The key for many employers today is striking the right balance between employee experience and expectations. We want flexibility, meaningful work, a home life and to feel like we matter. One of the ways that organisations can do this is by investing in training their staff.
There are formal qualifications and certifications in management as well as specific courses in key areas where skills need to be boosted. Some is face-to-face, some is hybrid, some is remote learning. Qualifications can take years; courses can take days or hours to upskill your team. There are many pros and cons to rolling out management skills training which we will look at in more detail.
The pros and cons of management skills training
Like anything in business, there are factors to consider before investing time and money into training. Some of the pros and cons of management skills training, from the perspective of an employer, are as follows:
Pros
- Learn how to lead people
- Performance managing people
- Enhanced soft skills
- Better time management and prioritisation
- Increased performance of others
- Candidates want to join you
- Staff want to stay with you
- Continuous improvement
- More successful projects
- Appropriate resource allocation
Cons
- Cost of paying for training
- Time away from the desk
- Increased job market attractiveness
- Hastened desire to progress
- Training not put into practice
- Lack of knowledge transfer
- Expected in future
- Resentment when not receiving training
- Implied criticism of personal performance
- Learning may not align to organisational goals
Training overlooked by senior leaders
When staff are queuing up for pay rises and many are looking to see if the experience, pay and conditions are better elsewhere, senior leaders should consider training. Whereas some leaders fear that training and upskilling staff will cause them to leave (after they invested in them), others recognise the retention and talent attraction benefits. If you know who your talent are, it makes sense to invest in them. Whether it be training, visible assignments or helping them on a career path, you want them to stay. In terms of talent attraction, consider that 85% of employees view a good manager as key to their happiness at work. That means that poorly trained or accidental managers can have a hugely detrimental impact on performance .
Additionally, before the pandemic, CIPD found that 47% of UK staff believed that their role gave them good opportunities to learn and use their skills. That means that many organisations struggle to provide an adequate L&D strategy and environment.
Conclusion on management training
Just 1 in 3 SMEs (under 250 staff) has a L&D budget, according to CIPD, versus more than 4 in 5 larger organisations. The upshot is that many SMEs are reluctant to invest in training for fear that those precious pounds benefit others. However, those staff may already be eyeing the door and they simply benefitted from the training before leaving. If the discussion purely centres on whether people will leave after they receive training, it misses the point. Today’s organisational issues will remain tomorrow’s organisational issues without proper training and oversight. We all develop bad habits and skills sometimes fail to keep up with business needs.
Since many SMEs pursue a high labour intensity to make money, unfortunately, it also hinders your capability to innovate and change. However, it is worth noting that investment in management skills not only helps to improve organisational performance, it could also reduce recruitment costs. In these trying times with cost pressures all around us, it sounds like an investment that is destined to pay off.
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Finally, why not check a related article supporting DEI workshops.