Promoted to Line Manager?
People are often promoted to line managers without being given adequate support and training. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Becoming a Line Manager
A Line Manager is someone responsible for the management of employees who are directly involved in the production and delivery of products, goods, or services.
These are generally customer-facing people who have daily contact with clients.
A Line Manager is the point of contact between any organisation and its front-line workforce.
Line management is the lowest level of management in any organisation.
Yet people are often promoted to line managers without being given adequate support and line management training.
What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
At some point, there will be problems, and there will be some sort of intervention to address the situation but by then some damage will have been done.
This usually includes divisiveness within a team, low morale, a drop in the line manager’s confidence, and poor performance all around.
These problems could be easily pre-empted.
Just because someone is a great team player, really good at their specific skills-based job and they aspire to management, doesn’t automatically mean they have the capacity to do so.
If this sounds like you, you might like to check out our popular line management course.
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Promoted to Line Manager
When someone’s been promoted to this role, there’s a great deal of expectation that they will bring all those wonderful abilities they were applauded for along with them.
No one stops to think that being a terrific member of a team won’t necessarily make you a terrific team manager without adequate training.
No wonder so many new Line Managers just want to go back to being ‘one of the gang’ within six months of promotion!
How to Excell as a New Line Manager
Listen to Jo Ellen Grzyb and senior training consultant Sarah Dawrant discuss the challenges a new line manager may have. They offer practical solutions to accomplish work tasks and increase performance.
You can also read more here about the role of line manager.
One Line Manager Story
I speak from personal experience.
One of the first ‘proper’ jobs I had was as a member of a small team with an appalling Line Manager.
He got angry at the drop of a hat and would storm out of the office we all shared when he was stressed (which was often).
He was utterly chaotic, so deadlines were missed, and he withheld crucial information from all of us until the last minute.
I covered for him a lot; actually, we all did because we had pride in the organisation and what our team needed to achieve.
Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore and reluctantly told Management that much as I loved the job, the stress wasn’t worth it.
Turns out they knew his deficiencies all along and had hoped things would get better…. all by themselves!
He was eased into a less arduous job (so typical!!) and I was promoted to his job without an ounce of training: one day I was working for him, and the next I was managing the team with these shining faces all looking at me for guidance.
Into the Deep End
The Line Management deep end is a very scary place to be, especially without a life preserver.
I knew how to do my own job really well; overnight I felt vulnerable, unsure, wobbly, and terribly excited all at the same time.
Training would have mitigated the first three feelings and enhanced the last one.
Instead, like so many others, I found my way but certainly at a cost.
Line Manager Role
The Line Manager Role is so pivotal to any organisation that they should truly be looked on as the oil that keeps the wheels in motion.
They are the bridge between the workforce and upper management.
They need to inspire their teams, set achievable goals, handle conflict, address communication issues, make sure work gets done; performance manage others, so they feel taken care of; develop people’s strengths and do their own job well to boot.
Is it any wonder that we suggest every line manager should have proper line management training?
Good News
The good news is that the benefits of line manager training are clear. Line Management skills are really straightforward and easy to learn.
It’s like being given a roadmap when you’re driving in a place you’ve never been before.
Forget satnav. It’s not really helpful to be told what to do. Far better to figure it out yourself with some good signposts!
Take a look at some of our Line Management Hints and Tips – our own mini roadmap for you.
Becoming a Line Manager
Jo Ellen Grzyb, Director and Founder of Impact Factory
