Having spent 25 years in the “employed” HR world, when I set up my HR consultancy in 2021, I had that new business owner action to identify what it was that I did. I did what most new business owners do and did everything; I offered the full suite of HR services. I still do as I want to show businesses that working with an independent consultant is just as effective, if not better, as working with big corporates. But now, I know where my real superpower is, where my biggest passion in HR work comes from.
Supporting new managers.
Why? Because, I have spent a lot of time, coaching managers over the years to support them find their way, their style, their identity as a manager. But an area that has always alluded this area in my experience in the “employed” world was supporting new managers in that transition from being an employee to being a manager. The support was generally done retrospectively or when an issue arose with the new managers approach to something. The issue though now is that the new manager is not a new manager, they are some months, if not years down the line and they have done the best they can, with what they have had available to them. The new manager was technically very good in their role so went for the manager position, and there was some induction of sorts and then the new manager set off in their new capacity.
But are they properly equipped?
A 2-week induction won’t cover everything, it will barely scratch the surface. So, I have turned the dial on this, I support employees before they even go for the manager interview. I love the concept, lets start with the end in mind. So, let’s start there – why are you going for the management role, why now, what have you got to offer. Being technically competent as an employee is not enough anymore, employees expect more, we live in a different era, businesses need to be far more competitive to stay competitive and having a high performing team is an area that helps to achieve this. Who is leading the high performing team, the Manager! So this initial preparation for promotion work flushes out for the promotee:
- you are ready now and confident to go for the interview with a very high chance of success.
- you are not ready now but we create a clear action plan on what needs to be done to be ready.
- on reflection going for the promotion is not the right thing as you are going for it for all the wrong reasons and there is a release to allow you to reassess and refocus on what it is that you really want and how to achieve that.
How amazing is that? This is setting the promotee up for success. This is phase one.
Once the promotion is achieved, then phase two it is.
Phase two has two parts. This is support to become technically good as a leader -so knowing what the right thing to do is when someone is off sick, or how to conduct a recruitment interview. This is also complimented with the essential support for developing and enhancing the “softer” skills, the behaviours, the mindset of a high performing leader. Take care of your managers, the people you appoint to lead your teams, now that is where the magic happens! I get excited about every new promote and newly promoted manager and this is why I know this is my superpower. Having excitement, having passion, feeling motivated, feeling enthused, knowing I can help, knowing I can make a difference.
How amazing is that? If you are a small business owner or HR Manager needing help with your management development programme, I would love to talk further about your aims and how I might be able to help you fuse the powerful world of people management with that of peak performance mindset coaching. You can find me on LinkedIn or head on over to my website – www.pmbusinesssupportservices.com