Erika Mangrum was a year into her business and was feeling
pressured to promote a star employee to general manager. "She
wanted more responsibility and more pay," says Mangrum,
co-founder and president of Iatria Day Spa and Health Center, a 40-employee
company in Raleigh, North Carolina. Mangrum felt a deep sense of
loyalty to this employee, who had been with the company from the
start, so she went ahead with the promotion. However, it wasn't
long before Mangrum realized she was promoting doom and gloom.
The new manager's rudeness under stress and her inability to
manage conflict created big problems as the company grew. Mangrum,
36, started getting complaints from customers and sensed growing
tension in employees. "You could just feel it," Mangrum
says. She offered training, but it was too late. The manager left
14 months after being promoted. And that wasn't the end of it.
Mangrum, who co-founded the company with her husband, Dave, 47,
also lost key employees in the turmoil. "We didn't know
what a major impact [a promotion] could have," she says.
"It's one of the biggest mistakes we've
made."
She's not alone. Many entrepreneurs feel pressured to
promote a star employee into management, even if this person was
"behind the door" when soft skills--the ability to
negotiate, influence, listen and mediate--were handed out. The
problem is, these are precisely the skills needed to be successful
in management. New managers "can get into a place where their
raw talent can't compensate for their inability to work the
relationships," says Kerry A. Bunker of the Center for Creative
Leadership (CCL) in Greensboro, North Carolina. In fact,
CCL's research estimates that one-third of those who reach the
upper levels of companies fail within two years because they
can't build teams, communicate effectively, or keep their cool
in tough situations.
Content Continues Below
Entrepreneurs who haven't developed a recruiting process are
prone to promoting too quickly. "They don't want to lose
somebody who's valuable," says James Wright, president of
Radican Staffing
Inc. in Providence, Rhode Island
Entrepreneurs may also see themselves in a star employee, so
much so they're willing to overlook a lack of maturity and
people skills. "You reassure yourself that the things
they're missing don't matter that much, or they'll
learn it in time," Bunker says. But managers get things done
by directing and motivating other people, and you'll have a big
problem if your new manager can't do this from day one.
You'll need to find a strategy for assessing and developing
people skills before you promote.
A good place to start is by using one-on-one conversations or a
survey to gather in-depth feedback from everyone in the company,
before a co-worker is promoted into management. Do other employees
see this person as a good communicator, mediator and listener? Can
he lead, inspire, hold his temper and admit mistakes? Is he mature
enough to be a manager? Next, have employees demonstrate their
people skills. Require management hopefuls to cultivate a few
client relationships outside the company, a critical skill in any
manager. Look for temporary projects to improve influence and
negotiation skills, and find a mentor outside the company who is
strong where that person is weak. Your goal is to take management
candidates out of their comfort zones to see how they react in
unfamiliar situations. "You need to be able to challenge them
to learn," Bunker says. Some employees will balk. This is a
good time to tell them you're implementing management
responsibilities slowly to make sure they'll succeed as
managers.
Meet with management candidates to discuss their goals and
strengths. "Talk about how much you appreciate their talent
and how they want to grow," says Allan R. Cohen, a management
professor at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. "A
conversation deepens the relationship." It may also make
employees more likely to stay if they aren't promoted, adds
Cohen. Finally, offer resources--regular one-on-ones, outside
training, books and mentoring--so a new manager knows there's a
place to turn.
Mangrum learned from her experience. Today, she assigns
employees a big project to see how they work with others on a
management level before she promotes them. "It's going
through their thought process and finding out what they're
paying attention to," she says. She also evaluates how a
potential manager will fit into the business five years from now.
Mangrum's strategy must be working: Sales were $2 million last
year.
Cris Penttila is a freelance journalist in the Chapel Hill,
North Carolina, area. She can be contacted at chris@sitting-duck.com or
through her Web site, www.sitting-duck.com.