Developing management competence
May 2, 2008
Not long after I had written my comments yesterday about learning from qualifications and experience, I was browsing the latest HR stories and found one about ‘skills guru’ Lord Leitch’s comments on the lack of management skills in the UK. He thinks that the lack of these skills will mean UK will fall behind on competitiveness in the global economy, losing out to newer international players such as China and India. One of his key points was that academic qualifications do not necessarily equal skills, which mirrors my concerns about my qualification.
This is a critical consideration for organisations. As I reported a few days ago with relation to football managers, there isn’t a lot of time afforded to senior management in today’s organisations to get up to scratch and perform to the high standards required in a competitive environment, yet many new (and some old) managers will not have the necessary skills to carry out the role effectively, even if they come with a degree or management qualification – as this only teaches the theory. Many new managers do not even have a qualification but are given the opportunity due to their proven abilities within the role they now have to manage. The problem here is competence in an operational capacity does not necessarily mean competence in management.
So what’s the answer? Well, as I’ve talked about in the past, formal training methods such as lecture-style sessions are not the most effective way for people to learn skills. To master a skill you need to carry out your learning as close to the activity as possible. This can mean simply experiencing the role, i.e. the ‘practice makes perfect’ method, but what will improve the learning experience is adding reflection into the routine; so that each time you practice something, you can review your performance and discuss what can be done differently. Coaching and action learning are good examples of learning methods that would be very effective for management development, as they both involve carrying an activity out and then reviewing what was done. Another benefit of these methods is that the learning is directly relevant to what is happening at work rather than on theoretical models or case studies.
Many large companies have management training programmes, most of which I imagine will offer a blended learning approach, using a combination of theoretical and practical methods to help the learner develop in their role. Most smaller companies will not normally be able to afford this level of development for their managers, but nonetheless need to ensure this vital group of people are well prepared and competent in their roles. Management teams can develop informal versions of development methods to support each other, work through issues together and give advice where appropriate. This way the variety of experience can be used to its full potential, as all the managers will have different approaches, different past experiences to draw on, and different ideas for the future.
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