While university curriculums have become more interdisciplinary in recent years, management training is still a rarity outside U.S. business schools. To fill this void, corporate managers today are often tasked with identifying, training, mentoring and coaching future leaders in their companies.
But creating tomorrow’s leaders is often easier said than done, especially with aggressive cost cutting measures now in place in virtually every U.S. industry. And with formal management training programs no longer the norm for most companies, decision makers are often left without a playbook for grooming great talent.
Here are four steps to starting the process:
1.    Assess
The first step is to identify any gaps among the company’s current managers. Are managers stretched thin overseeing too many employees? Are fewer, but more effective, managers needed? Asking these questions will help the executive team analyze whether a refinement or wholesale change is necessary to reach the desired business goal.
2.    Identify
Potential leadership skills can be difficult to quantify. Generally, confident, decisive and responsible employees tend to make the best managers. But only if they’re well trained. The executive team should identify possible leaders, assess their potential to lead and develop a plan for success. Once identified, candidates should be interviewed to determine their interest in taking on these additional responsibilities; if it’s lacking, it’s unlikely that they would succeed down the road.
3.    Train
Managers are made, not born. Interested, qualified management recruits should be provided comprehensive training opportunities, including in-house apprenticeship programs or tuition reimbursement for MBAs or other relevant continuing education programs. Often times, the appropriate training can bridge the gap for untested individuals who might one day become star managers.
4.    Mentor
Mentorship is a key component to successfully training future managers. These individuals should not only be talented managers themselves, but they also should know the company’s culture well. In addition, the company should maximize the interchange between mentors and future managers through group settings and individual conferences.
When assessing potential managers, intangibles like personality, emotional IQ, motivation and disposition also can make a big difference between success and failure. Most importantly, a prerequisite for all management recruits is an innate ability to make confident decisions — a skill that is virtually impossible to teach.
For more information on management training programs, please contact info@medhq.com.