STEP 4: Define and Communicate the Critical Role of the Manager
We have placed responsibility for development squarely on the shoulders of the participant. This does not, however, diminish the critical role of the participant’s manager, who is a critical link in the development process. Those who would design and implement a successful development-planning program must take responsibility for helping managers understand what roles they must play and how to play them.
Managers must make development real, provide developmental experiences, provide support and feedback, and provide access to organizational resources.
Make development real. The manager has a critical role in making development count for the executive and the organization. When development makes a difference in the performance of the executive and the organization, it suddenly becomes very real for the executive. Our development model depends on the manager to make that link. Managers know what work needs to be done and how the participant’s development can contribute. They comprise the critical element that can take development in a vacuum and link it to business results.
We believe that managers fail in this task because development has so often been thought of as “training,” that they despair that it will have any effect on business results or the participant. By demanding that the development plan offered by the participant show a clear relation to the work of the organization, the manager makes development real as well as communicates to the participant that development is important.
Provide developmental experiences. The participant’s development depends on experiences, and the manager has the most direct impact on what experiences he or she gets. As the experience gatekeeper, the manager can open the door to new tasks, opportunities for interacting with new people, new business ventures, or he or she can wittingly or not prevent the participant from getting the experiences that develop.
Although the manager usually has a role in what new job assignments a participant will get, much of development will be development in place without a change in jobs. Unless managers think of development in place as a critical source of learning experiences and see their roles as helping participants use these, a major source of development is lost. Managers must be shown how to see the developmental challenge in every assignment and how to coach for task and process outcomes. An executive who must turn around sales can also use that opportunity to learn how to delegate more effectively. An executive assigned to troubleshoot a problem in currency exchange in Europe can also learn how to develop appreciation for people who see the world differently.
The whole process of development is really about teaching others how to learn. If the manager and the participant start to understand how to identify and benefit from the challenges imbedded in every opportunity, the half-life of developmental interventions will be of many years duration. Orienting the manager about how development works will spill over beyond the immediate participant and his or her development plan.
HR’s responsibility is to help the manager break set, assume a new frame, to think of day-to-day work experiences as learning opportunities that can be coordinated with development plans.
Provide support and feedback. Learning new skills is seldom easy, and feedback is not a one-shot process. The manager often is in the best position to provide the needed support and the day-to-day feedback to the participant. Stories of individuals who benefited from programs of development feature managers who cared, who took the time and had the skills to provide support and ongoing feedback.
Provide access to organizational resources. Developmental opportunities abound in most organizations. Managers with the reputation of being “people developers” know where the opportunities are and how to access them. They know other managers willing and capable of teaching or coaching; they know what HR support is available; and they know how to influence assignment decisions so that both the participant and the organization will profit.
Getting a development-planning program underway requires bringing on board the managers who will serve these primary roles in development. Unless they understand the importance and duties of their roles and unless they buy into the program, results are likely to be sketchy at best.
How do we make it happen? How do we get them on board? First, we have an education task. Many managers have never thought of their development roles quite so specifically. They haven’t thought about how critical their task is, the dynamics of how development takes place, or how to access organizational resources. They may not have the planning, support, and feedback skills required to be comfortable in their roles.
In addition to development education in general, we have a program-specific education task. Managers must know what the program is, what is expected of them, what results the program is expected to produce, and why they should participate.
How to accomplish the on-boarding task? It usually starts with a memo of support from senior management, followed by one-on-one sessions with managers who will participate. The outline for those meetings typically includes the roles listed here. This up-front time spent with managers is well worth the effort, but it is just the beginning. They will need continuing support if they are to carry out their roles in developing the participants.