It’s hard enough working up the management chain. Once you get the promotion to that next level, you probably feel like patting yourself on the back rather than asking, “Do I have the management skills I need?”
Managers should do both, according to Andrew Schwartz, president of management training and professional-development firm A.E. Schwartz & Associates of Boston.
“I tell every manager that they’re perfect,” said Schwartz, who facilitates more than 150 management and professional-development courses annually. “The problem is that too often they have the right intentions but the wrong approach.”
Many managers reach their positions with scant management training, according to Schwartz. Managers who don’t take the time to analyze and enhance their management skills often are operating by blind luck, or a “ready, fire, then aim,” approach, Schwartz said.
“What we teach them they’ve never been told,” Schwartz said. “Employees are taught the technical skills but they’re not taught the people skills. They may have an MBA in accounting or marketing, but do they have supervisory skills?”
Schwartz facilitated the A.E. Schwartz “School of Managers” program at the TACO Learning Center in Cranston last month. Sponsored by the Smaller Business Association of New England, the School for Managers sessions also are offered several times a year at the SBANE Education Center in Waltham, Mass.
The four half-day sessions delve into an array of managerial topics, including motivating employees, goal setting, leadership styles, time management and problem solving. Schwartz says the program is “How to”-based and forces participants to reexamine their own leadership and management styles.
“A lot of middle managers feel like they’re on an island,” said Don Saracen, SBANE’s Rhode Island membership representative. “This gives them the opportunity to interact with peers, not necessarily from the same business or even from the same industry. But the underlying problems and issues are often the same.”
Hashing over real-world issues with other managers energizes participants, Saracen said. While the scenarios are hypothetical, managers often are confronted by similar situations on a regular basis, Saracen said.
“Say your best employee comes in and says he wants a raise by Friday or he’s leaving,” Saracen said. “What do you do? This is real-life stuff.”
Professional development has become more crucial in recent years as less-experienced employees in so-called “New Economy” companies have become overnight business leaders. Companies increasingly are focused on the professional development of their employees not only to hone leadership skills but as a way to retain employees, according to SBANE.
And there is another, more tangible reason for companies to offer professional-development opportunities to employees: increased profits. According to a study by the American Society for Training and Development, companies that invested substantially in employee-development programs had 24 percent higher gross profit margins than companies that didn’t invest in training programs.
A partial list of organizations offering management training and professional-development services to Rhode Island individuals and companies:
- Smaller Business Association of New England: (781) 890-9070; www.sbane.org
- A.E. Schwartz and Associates: (617) 926-9111; www.aeschwartz.com
- Executive Development Institute (offered jointly by the University of Rhode Island College of Business Administration and the New England Human Resources Group): (401) 874-2337; www.nehrg.com/executive_development_institute.htm
- The Arthur D. Little School of Management: (617) 552-1965; www.adlsom.edu
