Developing Technical Managers into inspiring People Managers
Criterion Partnership Limited worked with a large public sector agency with over 10,000 employees and with sites and offices throughout England and Wales to develop their middle managers.
Middle managers in the organisation work across a broad range of functions. Some are operational managers who have team leaders reporting to them and teams ranging from 40-60 staff. Other middle managers are technical and scientific experts who manage stakeholder and government relationships and are responsible for as few as five team members. Also characteristic of the organisation is that because it has sites and offices across all of England and Wales, managers are often in charge of dispersed teams spread throughout the country. Managers in the organisation are predominantly highly qualified scientists, and in the past have often been promoted to management positions because of their technical excellence.
The challenge:
The organisation implemented development centres for middle managers to identify potential senior managers. This work identified some concerns for the organisation. They found that not only were existing middle managers not ready for promotion, but they lacked key interpersonal skills considered necessary to be effective at their current level. Whilst managers’ analytical and technical skills were excellent they seemed unable to adapt their approach in order to motivate, inspire and influence others. This raised a larger question for the organisation: what development do middle managers need to be effective in their current roles? The organisation already provided development programmes for team leaders and strategic workshops were being run with senior managers. There was little or no specific development being offered to support middle managers.
Our approach:
Criterion Partnership Ltd conducted research to clarify what the organisation needed its middle managers to be capable of. Job analysis techniques were used with managers and senior managers to identify what middle managers needed to do to be effective, both now and in the future. A full training needs analysis study was also conducted with middle managers at all levels and across all functions of the organisation and also with senior managers. In addition a more rigorous review of the original development centre data was conducted in order to clarify and describe in more detail the development needs that were identified.
The solution:
From the research Criterion Partnership designed a clear framework of management capabilities common to all middle managers across the organisation. These capabilities formed the basis of a modular ‘Managers Development Programme’ with a development module recommended for each of the management capabilities. Given that the organisation had not had a formal management development programme for staff at this level, Criterion recommended that the programme be implemented flexibly. Existing middle managers and their line managers should conduct a development review to ascertain which of the development modules were appropriate. New middle managers would be required to attend all of the development modules.
Given the large number of middle managers (approximately 500) and that they are wide spread throughout England and Wales, a communication strategy was recommended for the programme, which could be implemented using existing communication channels.
Criterion Partnership developed communications and briefing materials to be delivered to middle managers and their line managers by regional training staff. A practical and informative training day was organised for regional training staff to enable them to inform and enthuse the middle managers in their regions about the programme and how it could help.
The training needs analysis research also indicated that key behaviours were very important for effective performance as a middle manager but were on average not currently being demonstrated competently by middle managers. These behaviours concerned understanding one’s own work style, strengths and development needs in order to be effective in the current role; interpersonal flexibility to adapt one’s style to meet the needs of others and to create a positive impact to engage and inspire others. Criterion recommended a core development module which they developed to address these issues, and also that all managers embarking on any of the modules on the programme should attend this module first.
Criterion Partnership designed and delivered this core module for all managers embarking on the Managers Development Programme. Delegates participated in a variety of reflective and participative exercises to increase their self awareness of their work style, its impact on others and their interpersonal flexibility. They also reflected on their own management responsibilities and committed to actions to help them achieve what is expected of them. The workshop included the use of the CAL personality questionnaire, 360 degree feedback tools, practical exercises and structured input on models of understanding others.
From the training needs analysis research and the definition of management capabilities development objectives for the other modules in the programme were also recommended.
Benefit
Middle managers in this organisation now have a clear and structured means for discussing with their line managers their own strengths and development needs in relation to the capabilities expected of them in their roles. There exists a development programme to enable middle managers to develop the skills, knowledge and attributes required to be effective. All managers embarking on the development programme receive structured feedback from their subordinates, line managers and colleagues on their work style and its impact on those they work with. They are given tools and techniques to adapt their interpersonal style to suit the needs of others and to be more effective. The organisation considered this a key aim of the core module. It has been vital to help their predominantly technical and scientific managers understand and adapt to the needs of the people they manage and influence to help the organisation achieve its published long-term strategy.
Since its introduction, over 300 middle managers have embarked on the development programme. Its format was so successful that when the organisation reviewed its existing team leader development programme, the same format was adopted for this programme.