Building a strategic management team within an organization requires innovation, planning, and implementation. Because leadership styles can vary, there is no one specific training method to be used. Instead, leaders can learn the necessary skills for motivating and directing others in a workplace setting. The following strategies can help to build and shape a management team’s effectiveness to benefit the entire organization.
Training
New managers should receive strategic leadership training to help them acclimate to their job duties through orientation and in-house training. Since managerial styles can vary, rather than train all managers the same, a better approach may be to provide the tools and guidance needed to support each manager’s leadership style. This can involve personality tests, character assessments, team building training, and problem-solving case studies to allow each trainee to address issues using individual strengths and strategies. Smaller companies or those that want to build a strong, professional management team may consult with professional development specialists. Workshops can be tailored to a company’s particular needs using features like self-assessment activities, case studies, focus groups, and skill-building seminars. Group and individual exercises help each participant to acquire the necessary leadership skills.
Motivation
Workplace morale plays an essential role in helping each employee to meet and set department goals. Motivational tools like monetary incentives, company-wide recognition, and community perks such as a gym membership often encourage managers to meet quotas and support team initiatives to enhance company productivity and a sense of personal accomplishment. Annual bonuses or extra paid vacation days also help to keep managers working to improve their job performance. Even simple measures, like a handwritten personal card of acknowledgement from the CEO, helps managers to feel like valued team members.
Mentoring
In today’s busy organizations, the quest for success includes the role of mentorship in supporting managers and their adjustments to their new roles in the company. These often include trouble shooting, interpersonal relationships, enforcing anti-discrimination policies, and employee evaluation, along with corrective action as needed. This full range of duties takes time to master, even for highly educated or experienced managers. A mentor can help by answering questions and offering advice without the added pressure of performance evaluation. Mentors may be a higher-level employee who has been with the organization for several years. Conversely, mentors may be recruited from a professional training organization or other business that is similar in mission and scope in order to provide a fresh perspective on relevant issues. A mentoring relationship is often informal and includes casual lunches or after-work meetings to discuss whatever the management employee has in mind.
Development
Another way to promote strong leadership is by providing development opportunities to those who are ready to progress in the organization and enhance their personal career development. Special projects and extended range initiatives enable management team members to strengthen existing skills and to build new skills that will allow them to branch out within the organization or apply for a promotion when a suitable position becomes available. This upward trajectory lets the employee continue to develop professionally while channeling his or her acquired expertise into company openings and needs. Advanced training and added leadership responsibilities prepare managers to assume more complex duties and prepare them to facilitate company growth and success along with their own.
Building leadership within an organization is one of the best ways to capitalize on HR investments and retain qualified managers for more advanced responsibilities. Competent managers are critical for a company to continue to be successful. Strategies like those described above can facilitate professional management development to keep the company operating efficiently under the direction of a satisfied and motivated leadership team.
