How Can I Encourage Management Potential Employees?

When people think about promotions, there are two damaging clichés that automatically jump to mind. Unfortunately, some of the time, both of them are true.

The first cliché is that the “person in authority will always hire and promote in his own image.” Sadly, in all too many organizations, this is the reality. It runs completely counter to almost every scientific study about the power of diversity, and it’s a frightening reminder of the hurdles that minority groups still face today. Indeed, it’s a significant influence on the fact that only three percent of Fortune-500 CEOs are women.

The second cliché is “monkey see, monkey do.” When a bad manager is in place, his team has a tendency to adopt a number of his ineffective tendencies. Yet when that manager leaves, he will likely play a role in naming his successor. Even if he doesn’t, the protoypical employee for his position is essentially himself. The problems just keep on repeating themselves.

monkey see monkey do management potential

Monkey see, monkey do: Don’t let this be your management training process. Flickr/Dyanna Hyde

When considering preparations for training management potential employees, always remember the monkey as a warning. Mentorship is only effective when the mentor is a positive influence. Sometimes a monkey can look an awful lot like a manager.

In a very real way, mentors, managers, and supervisors carry the future of their employees in their hands. Management potential employees who are nurtured and allowed to mature effectively will rise to become leaders in their organization and in others. Those who are exploited, manipulated, or lead astray are very likely to see that potential fade away as time passes.

The first way to encourage a management potential employee is to teach. The teaching role of a manager starts at the very first interaction between the potential employee and the business. It doesn’t end until potential has been realized, or a resignation has been received.

As any good teacher will tell you, teaching on-a-whim loses its efficacy very quickly. Highly productive teaching requires a solid plan. Development plans should be created jointly, and consider future ambitions, timelines, ideal situations, opportunities, and fall-back plans.

Learning can come from three sources: The formal education system, learning within the organization, and learning outside of the organization. To encourage your management potential employee, it won’t be enough to know all the details of the specialty; they will need to have generalist knowledge of every relevant specialty.

Generalist learning is teachable, but it takes time. Don’t forget to consider learning that will naturally take place through day-to-day knowledge absorption: looking, listening, and asking.

The second part of management potential learning comes through relationships. It’s memberships, associations, social networks, relationships with clients, service providers, and competitors. Anywhere you can “talk shop“ with people who are associated with your industry is an important source of learning and of future success.

Most importantly, ensure that your management potential employees know of their importance to the business. Recognizing and rewarding value are crucial if you want your investment of time and money to pay off for your own organization, and not someone else’s.

 

Identify, recognize, and reward your top performers: Use your HR software from TribeHR to its full potential.

 


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