subject: Management Training For Better Long Term Results [print this page] Management Training For Better Long Term Results
Business in UK like all business around the world comes with its share of work related issues. Often that means no real time to devote to anything except the job at hand. What happens, then, when a new management employee joins the team? Who spares some time to give them some management training, to help them find their feet and start running their portion of the team effectively?
The answer will make all CEOs and company directors cringe where they sit. The answer is: no one. Or, at best: someone that doesn't really have time and so does not actually deliver any training of any real use.
Here's the problem: asking a manager to give training to a new manager is like asking a front line soldier to train a new recruit who has just come into the trenches. The soldier is too busy trying to dodge bullets to pass on all his local knowledge and experience to the new troop. If the old soldier gives too much attention to the new soldier, they will both die: because the old soldier hasn't got time to train the new one and stay alert, and because the new one doesn't know enough to stay alert in the first place. Management training, done in house, is exactly the same. A manager has a stressful enough life as it is, trying to co ordinate projects and people and makes some kind of a dent in the huge pile of work that never seems to leave his or her tray. Add an inexperienced managerial candidate to that mix and nothing gets done, which means that the existing manager gets into an inescapable backlog of old work and the company's overall performance suffers.
If an existing manager was able to train new recruits, then company performance would go up: in the same way that, if all the old hands in the trenches had time to train the new ones, the army would win the war. Management training is a vital set of knowledge and skills that needs passing on, but for which there is no time. Unless, of course, you do it outsourced.
Outsourcing managerial training is a very good move indeed. Companies that can take management newbies and turn their theoretical knowledge into useful habits do exist. By using these companies, instead of putting more strain on your existing managers, you can get new candidates up to speed without taking the experienced ones away from their duties.
Because this kind of outsourced management training is done with no distractions, it is done quickly and well and it sinks in properly. You can send your new managers away for one or two days and have them come back ready to take over the whole office; or you can have the training company come in to your premises on a weekly basis and slowly draw out the inner leader in your management staff. Whichever way you do it, it's a lot more effective than trying to do it yourself.
