MYTH #1: Just because a person performs well at their current job,
they are likely to be an effective manager.
What is the Manager Myths blog series?
Think back to the best manager you’ve worked with. Do you have any doubt that you were at your most productive while working for that person? Our data shows that the relationship between a manager and their direct reports is the strongest driver of engagement. Simply put, managers make a difference. Having a manager who can develop these constructive relationships, is key to not only having a successful sales team but also a successful sales force.
Then why do so many companies struggle to find good managers? We know from our research that not all front-line managers are created equal. In fact, only one in every four managers is highly effective in their role. Hiring managers who will perform poorly in the role is problematic for many reasons and can eventually wreak havoc not only on your company’s bottom line but on your organization as a whole.
In this blog series, we are going to help dispel some age-old manager myths, so that you can avoid these traps as you move forward in your career.
I’m sure you have heard this before:
“If you sell more than anyone else, you can be the next sales manager.”
Too often we find that companies use the carrot of a promotion to drive higher performance.
A person performing well in their current role is not a guarantee of success in a management role.
Yet this is a routine standard practice for career ascension even today, and it’s not just limited to sales. Look to the world of sports for instance.
Ted Williams was one of the greatest baseball hitters of all time. He was the last player to hit over .400, a 19-time all-star, and even wrote a book called “The Science of Hitting”. If anyone knew how to excel in the game of baseball it was Ted Williams. This was probably the line of thinking the Boston Red Sox took when they hired him to run the team without any prior management experience.
Ted Williams career record as a manager: 273–364. Ted may have known how to play baseball better than most anyone but he didn’t’ know how to get others to do the same.
Not everyone excels at managing others. This can be disheartening for them and for the people they oversee. Once poor managers are in place, companies have difficulty transitioning them into positions more appropriate to their talents. It’s hard to move someone back or to terminate them.
So how do you avoid this problem to begin with?
At SRG, our well-designed predictive interviews assess how candidates will perform in the relationship part of management. These interviews have shown to be highly effective at helping identify exceptional managers who will help your company increase productivity, profitability, increased employee engagement, lower turnover rates, and generate more customer advocates. The very things that positively affect the bottom line of any company.
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