What to do with a new manager? March is the time to find out

This post was written by Jacob McNulty

LCB is at it again this month with another great big question - or is it a great, big question?  And…has it been a month already???

The question for March is:

 What would you do to support new managers?

Ray Sims was the first to post and proposed utilizing audio self-paced learning, coaching and a community of practice.  Ray is targeting two areas that have been proven to speed someone’s integration into a new role:

1. Quickly becoming part of a network
2. Relevant knowledge is distributed through-out a long period time

There is too much stuff for people to remember; especially when starting a new role.  Learning to me is about providing easy access to information at the time people need it.  Audio learning, coaching and a thriving community will certainly go a long way in providing muliple access points to the information a new manager will need.

I feel there is also room for another piece here as well.  If learning is about access to information, how do you ensure new managers will experience lasting change in skills, mindset or behavior?  Just as they develop at anything else…practice.

An integration period is a prime time for new managers to participate in an action learning project.  In an ideal world their groups would consist of other managers at various stages of their management career.  The initial sessions would immerse the new manager in activities to heighten self-awareness (i.e. a 360 degree assessment conducted in their former position, a Myers-Briggs or DISC report, a natural abilities test, etc.) after which participants list which areas in which they would like to develop.  Next, the managers are exposed to some foundational content (my favorites are Appreciative Inquiry and systems thinking) that will be the concepts to which they’ll be held accountable throughout the program.

A relevant, timely business challenge is presented to the participants and they are responsible for all data collection, solution design and execution.  All the while a learning coach acts as an embedded reminder to participants of their individual development goals as well as referring them back to concepts from the initial workshops.  Over the course of a few months participants present a solution to the business challenge.  Throughout the time they have been forced to reflect on their own behavior and new concepts via the action learning coach.

It is only through being made to apply the concepts that participants will be quicker to adopt any new behaviors, mindsets and skills needed to be a manager.  Along the way a cross-functional network of managers of varying tenure will be formed and provide a solid foundation for knowledge transfer and knowledge management.  This will also serve to support the overall company-wide community that Ray suggested.  As the grayer managers move on, relationships have formed and developed the infrastructure for the insights, experience and stories to be passed on to the newer managers.

This combination of learning and development create a killer combo for the rapid on-boarding of managers.  It’s not successful because the new-comers are going in to management roles, though.  It’s successful because the new-comers are human and that’s the way we learn and develop.

The beauty is that this is a foundation that can be tweaked for positions all throughout the organization - not just managers.

Tags: Action learning, appreciative inquiry, business training, Communities of Practice, CoP, corporate training, development, Knowledge Management, Knowledge Transfer, learning, learning strategies, new employee orientation, new employee orientation program, new hire integration, new hire orientation, on boarding, onboarding, organizational learning, professional development, rapid on-boarding, social networking, systems thinking, workforce development