The Role and Responsibility of a New Manager

New Managers are Struggling — The Role and Responsibility of a New Manager

Do you know the role and responsibility of a new manager at your company? Senior executives and non-executive managers are unhappy with the performance of their companies’ frontline managers.

According to CEB research, a whopping 60% of new managers under perform during their first two years, and not surprisingly, 85% of new managers still receive no formal training prior to switching into the role of manager.

The Role and Responsibility of a New Manager in 5 Stages
In order to be effective in today’s complex organization, new managers must be able to take a situational approach to leadership through leading, planning, organizing, and controlling so that they meet the needs of their many, and often misaligned, stakeholders.  Think of a manager’s role as comprised of the 5 stages highlighted in our new manager training:

1. Planning
   Defining a clear strategic direction and a common course of action. Our organizational alignment research found that strategic clarity accounts for 31% of the difference between high and low performing teams.

   Management planning includes manager skills related to forecasting, developing objectives and strategies, tasking, scheduling, budgeting, and developing policies, procedures, and processes.

   Without clear and agreed-upon team goals and accountabilities, it is difficult to set your team up for success.

2. Organizing
   Once your goals are clear, it is time to define clear roles, responsibilities, scope, and interdependencies for everyone on your team.

   Management organizing includes manager skills related to effectively defining, grouping, assigning, and integrating work so that people can perform it in a way that makes sense for the team’s current skills and desires.

3. Staffing
   Once goals and roles are clear, effective new managers can attract, develop, engage, and retain the top talent required to best execute their plans in a way that makes sense for their unique strategy and culture.

   In high growth companies, managers often spend more than 50 percent of their time recruiting, interviewing, and onboarding new team members.

4. Directing
   Effective new managers are decisive. They know how to influence people to take effective action through the new manager skills of influencing, motivating, decision-making, problem-solving, communicating, and politicking.
5. Controlling
   Effective new supervisors hold their teams accountable. They know how to assess and regulate work-in-progress, develop common standards, define team norms, and measure performance.

The Challenge for New Managers Today
The challenge for new managers is not only to master the five stages of their role but to expand their thinking so they are agile and flexible enough to meet the inevitably changing demands of the future.

To succeed in their new role with today’s workforce, new managers have a responsibility to approach their role more as a facilitator than a traditional boss, one who empowers rather than demands.

We know from our people manager assessment center that means that successful new managers must also be able to:

• Foster and provide opportunities for learning rather than simply the accumulation of knowledge
• Encourage employees to think for themselves rather than to rely on the way it’s always been done
• Create an environment where new ideas and approaches are welcomed and carefully considered
• Open their minds to what is possible rather than what is predictable
• Find better ways to learn and grow
• Keep their eyes on customer needs, competitor challenges, and marketplace trends

The Bottom Line
The job of a manager is evolving from an employer boss to an entrepreneur – someone who seeks to grow the team and is open to continuous improvement ideas.  Are your new managers up to the challenge?

To learn more about the role and responsibility of a new manager, download 7 Immediate Management Actions to Create Alignment with Goals