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Can you teach a manager to be a good employee developer or does it have to be in their DNA?
Let's face it, not everyone is any good at giving meaningful feedback, helping employees plan for their own development, and guiding them along their careers. In fact, I'd argue that most people pretty much stink at it. Can this very challenging set of skills (really) be learned or is it innate?
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7 Answers
It can be learned. But there needs to be some interest, due either to pain or incentive. I agree that there are plenty of managers who aren't good at this. I think they are also not interested. THey are able to get by on SME and don't have to do the hard work of learning to manage others. Their organizations allow them to avoid the work so they do. It is also cultural: in many orgs., the road to power, advancement, and reward is faster without getting "bogged down" in the manager's craft. Even for those of us who are given to it it isn't easy...
My advice to clients is that it doesn't have to be highly nuanced or stylized. Blunt talk works great. Still, even if we reduce it to grunts and hand signals, this is a learned skill that takes the right environment, instruction, and incentives to develop a productive habit. That can be a tall order.
Being an effective manager is a learned skill not inheirited. There are basic "blocking and tackling skills" that are embedded into being a good manager. Learning them and practicing them makes you more and more effective.
Everyone isn't cut out to be a manager and forcing someone into a management role is a bad idea. If you don't really desire to be a good manager and "do the work" it will be a self fulfilling prophecy.
Being a good manager isn't about being boss....
Yes you can teach him to be a good manager if she has the interest, desire and motivation. It will be difficult for this person to be a great manager.
Just as it takes natural talent to be a great golfer it takes natural talent to be a great manager.
Yes, I believe you can teach just about any skill, but the real issue is if the person wants to learn. In my opinion, learning is an inside-out process and the desire to learn will help anyone learn almost anything. There is some basic ability that comes into play, having the right foundations etc.
Part of being a good employee developer is understanding adult learning, your own style, and the style of the person being taught. Without this fundamental understanding it will be very difficult to get through the learning cycle.
I think helpful skills a manager can use/learn is how to give feedback and create a safe environment for learning. If the manager can't guide the employee through the process and/or the employee doesn't trust the manager, I don't think much will be accomplished.
Yes, because employee development is a matter of substance rather than style. Even those without any natural aptitude or personal interest can become expert with sincere application and effort. It is the output result that counts, not the input potential.
agree with all except that if there is no natural interest/ inclination it will be difficult for the person to develop the skill and keep "exercising/ training" at the science of being a good people developper. To be a good people developper it requires to have a genuine interest in others and being enthousiast for seeing others evolve and succeed, now this type of behaviour is generally more or less natural (even if unstructured or subconscious or not formalised) and admittedly can be learnt/ created/ developed.
I believe it's both - inherent and learned. Some managers by virtue of their personality type may intrinsically enjoy helping, coaching, guiding others in their development and success. For others it may not be a natural preference or aptitude - it may be a chore and not a positive one at that. Others may require external motivation such as their own performance appraisal to develop others.
There is the "learned" aspect of the process - the "how to's" of ED that even those who truly enjoy developing others may need to fine-tune their skills. Learning to connect with an employee to build trust and authentic conversations focusing on development can be much harder for some and as Mel suggests, some may be good but not great.
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