In a survey of nearly 1000 chief executives of major British companies the researcher Charles Margerison revealed that early significant responsibility was considered the second most important factor which led to the chief executive's success. The top five factors the CEOs perceived as influencing their development as managers were:
1. Ability to work with a wide variety of articles.
2. Early responsibility for important tasks.
3. A need to achieve results.
4. Leadership experience early in career.
5. Wide experience in many functions prior to age 35.
The significance of these results for you in developing your subordinates is that while the first and third factors might be considered innate qualities ( although still susceptible to encouragement or repression), the other three are entirely within your power to grant.
Most managers are familiar with the Peter Principle, that in a hierarchy article tend to be promoted to their level of incompetence - and stay there. You probably chuckle as you think of some notable examples in your own organization. But it is the bosses who bear the major responsibility for this phenomenon.
The process which enables this to happen is that of promoting article because they perform well in the jobs they do now, instead of assessing potential for the job they are being considered for. If that job happens to be their first managerial post, or one of far greater leadership responsibility, then the skills they exercise now may not be those required in the future. Unless there is a system of preparing article for promotion and assessing their suitability 'in action', making more senior appointments is a very expensive shot in the dark.
To prepare for promotion you staff need to be trained in any particular skills associated with the post, and given the opportunity to use them, to have their confidence developed by greater responsibility and regular feedback, and to be put into situations where they can exercise leadership skills. This applies equally to junior and senior posts.
All of these can be developed by delegation but it must be well planned and executed with this specific purpose in mind. Whole tasks should be delegated in such a way that the subordinate can be held accountable for the outcome. Even this is never quite the same as having their own command, because there may be principles which they would wish to change if they could, but it gives them the feel of a major responsibility and enables you to assess how they handle it. In most instances this sort of delegation will involve some degree of risk. The size of risk that you can accept will depend on your line of business. It is a question of judgment, but the subordinate should be fully aware of and share the implications of the risk, that is part of the experience of responsibility.
The freedom to make mistakes is the freedom to learn, and in many cases the amount of learning is in direct proportion to the size of the error. Remember the story of the promising young manager who screwed up a deal which cost his company a sum amounting to six figure. When he was summoned to the chief executive's office he wanted to get the inevitable ordeal over as quickly as possible and said to him, 'Well, I suppose you are going to fire me now, sir'. To which the CEO replied, 'Fire you? After what I've just spent on your education!'
1. Ability to work with a wide variety of articles.
2. Early responsibility for important tasks.
3. A need to achieve results.
4. Leadership experience early in career.
5. Wide experience in many functions prior to age 35.
The significance of these results for you in developing your subordinates is that while the first and third factors might be considered innate qualities ( although still susceptible to encouragement or repression), the other three are entirely within your power to grant.
Most managers are familiar with the Peter Principle, that in a hierarchy article tend to be promoted to their level of incompetence - and stay there. You probably chuckle as you think of some notable examples in your own organization. But it is the bosses who bear the major responsibility for this phenomenon.
The process which enables this to happen is that of promoting article because they perform well in the jobs they do now, instead of assessing potential for the job they are being considered for. If that job happens to be their first managerial post, or one of far greater leadership responsibility, then the skills they exercise now may not be those required in the future. Unless there is a system of preparing article for promotion and assessing their suitability 'in action', making more senior appointments is a very expensive shot in the dark.
To prepare for promotion you staff need to be trained in any particular skills associated with the post, and given the opportunity to use them, to have their confidence developed by greater responsibility and regular feedback, and to be put into situations where they can exercise leadership skills. This applies equally to junior and senior posts.
All of these can be developed by delegation but it must be well planned and executed with this specific purpose in mind. Whole tasks should be delegated in such a way that the subordinate can be held accountable for the outcome. Even this is never quite the same as having their own command, because there may be principles which they would wish to change if they could, but it gives them the feel of a major responsibility and enables you to assess how they handle it. In most instances this sort of delegation will involve some degree of risk. The size of risk that you can accept will depend on your line of business. It is a question of judgment, but the subordinate should be fully aware of and share the implications of the risk, that is part of the experience of responsibility.
The freedom to make mistakes is the freedom to learn, and in many cases the amount of learning is in direct proportion to the size of the error. Remember the story of the promising young manager who screwed up a deal which cost his company a sum amounting to six figure. When he was summoned to the chief executive's office he wanted to get the inevitable ordeal over as quickly as possible and said to him, 'Well, I suppose you are going to fire me now, sir'. To which the CEO replied, 'Fire you? After what I've just spent on your education!'
