[ WEBINAR ALERT : 12 July 2021] Is HR preparing for what life will be like after Covid-19?
View More Details
+

Why Leadership Training For Managers Must Not Be Ignored

5 min read
Last Updated on 07 July, 2021
Why Leadership Training For Managers Must Not Be Ignored

Leadership training for managers has now become more crucial than ever. Today's workforce needs managers who show leadership behavior and act as a glue to keep the team stick together and drive engagement. Managers need to develop soft skills to build relationships with the employees and understand the bits and pieces of the puzzle to form a positive work culture.

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. ~John F. Kennedy

What is Leadership Training?

Leadership training is a training program designed to help you learn new skills and techniques to put your best foot forward. This leadership training includes coachings, interactive sessions, assertive communication, and other crucial leadership techniques for upskilling.

Leadership training is suitable for any supervisory role, managerial role, or one who runs a team.

Why is Leadership Training Important?

60% of the new managers fail or underperform in the first two years of their job role. It is what the statistics say.

Also, Interact's survey found that, 69% of managers are often uncomfortable communicating with employees.

Moreover, in the same survey, 37% said they're uncomfortable having to give direct feedback about their employees' performance if they think the employee might respond negatively to the feedback.

And this is not the end; according to research from Gallup, 50% of employees leave their companies because of their boss.

All the above statistics show that there is something that managers are not doing right.

What are the causes of this level of ineffectiveness when it comes to managing employees? Generally, though, people in managerial positions have the work experience but lack leadership skills that come with a conscious understanding of their job role that demands the know-how of people management. Hiring managers and not providing them leadership training to improve their work efficiency is not an effective way to manage an organization. When the employees are not happy with their managers, it will impact their work performance and overall organizational growth.

A few of the major issues that employees have from their managers:

  • Managers not communicating actively with their employees.
  • Managers not giving any feedback to their employees.
  • Micromanaging every aspect of employees' work and not guiding them
  • Not maintaining transparency while communicating with the employees.
  • Not encouraging team-building activities.
  • Lacking leadership qualities.

Now we must also understand that people at managerial positions or those who report to higher authorities are not necessarily bad managers but ignorant people. It is just that often they are not well equipped to deal with the employees since they lack the required skills and trainings. People who run a team must be hired based on their skills and experience with some understanding of human psychology. After all, people run businesses. Therefore, the more synergy among the individuals of an organization, the better it will grow.

The easiest way to upskill the managerial skills of a manager is by providing the right leadership training.

Here Are The Crucial Leadership Training Every Manager Must Have

1. Self Regulation and Motivation

Managers must be trained to understand the importance of self-regulation. They need to understand that how their actions can impact the overall organization's health.

Managers must be aware of the sentiments of the employees in a workplace. They must be self-regulated and motivated to keep the team's spirit high. A manager who is lazy or does not emphasize the employees' behavior and how their actions can impact the employees' overall motivation is not an effective leader.

Employees drive motivation from many different aspects. A simple thank you message or giving the right feedback do it for them. For this, self-regulation is so important. If a manager does not know when and how to respond effectively, they might unknowingly be diminishing the employees' morale.

2. Communication

How to communicate effectively is a basic criterion for any manager. But sadly, many managers do not indulge themselves beyond email communication or connecting with employees only on work-related issues. As a manager, one must communicate not only to delegate but also to advocate any issues that could impact employee productivity. Also, internal communication and transparency are so crucial for employee satisfaction. Therefore, the managers must be open to all and promote a culture of open communication.

Training the managers to move beyond technical communication and indulging with their peers to build relationships and promote open two-way communication must not be encouraged.

3. Managing Conflicts

A team has a diverse set of people. And each one of them would have different opinions and disagreements at times. Conflicts in the workplace are very prominent, and it needs people from the supervisory role to make the right calls. Suppose you manage a team of five people. The overall productivity of the team would be directly proportional to the synergy between them. It is on the management to keep the team happy and together. If any conflict between the team members is not addressed, it can impact the overall productivity and create a toxic environment.

They say in a conflict, truth is the biggest casualty. Therefore, it is important to find common ground where everyone can agree and move on. It requires interpersonal skills, and managers must be trained to develop these soft skills through interactive sessions with the experts.

4. Employee Rewards and Recognition

Sometimes, it is essential to draw upon co-workers' and teammates' talents while respecting and recognizing them. Acknowledgment is hard only if the people are inexperienced. That is why a leadership course to find other people's talents to consider, and successfully award is a positive step. Once again, the emphasis is on understanding your fellow men and women rather than giving a lecture. Not knowing when and how to recognize employees can negatively affect organizational growth. Therefore, any guidance regarding employee recognition is critical to keep the team spirit high, and managers must take it seriously.

Recommended: Vantage Rewards and Recognition

5. Conducting a Meeting

It is a beneficial skill to know how to handle yourself in a meeting. A great leadership training method here is participant-driven sessions that replicate a different or similar world.

This would allow managers to understand how to conduct a business meeting and what to avoid. It can help managers to streamline their time with the availability of the participants. The critical thing to note here is that people generally are not very fond of meetings. Many even dread meetings. Therefore, meetings must have a definite purpose and plan. It would not be wrong to state that many managers are yet to master the art of conducting effective meetings.

Finally!

Today's diverse workforce needs managers who have good leadership skills. And before hiring any managers, the higher authorities must look beyond the conventional managerial skill sets and encourage leadership training. Do let us know your views on leadership training for managers. We would like to have your insights on the same.

This article is written by Braja Deepon Roy. He works as a Content Creator and Digital Marketer at Vantage Circle. He actively participates in the growth of corporate culture and keeps himself updated in this space. For any related queries, contact editor@vantagecircle.com

Vantage Circle logo

Vantage Circle is a simple AI-powered Rewards & Recognition Platform for upgrading your employee experience and engagement for better productivity.