Invest in Management Leadership Training

p>There is an old business saying that goes somethingsatisfactory result.   It is the ability to get results
like this: "You manage things and you lead people." through people that often are gravely lacking.
When you think about it this statement really makesWhen managers lack the ability to get results thorough
sense and it's sound business.  The statement ispeople, they usually end up doing the work
telling us that people are not to be managed, but led. themselves.  After all, the reason they got the job as
In order for management to lead effectively they havemanager was because they were a great worker.
to have management leadership training.  When this happens a cycle is started of subsidizing
This is how management usually evolves in athe work of someone else.  You can easily see the
company.   A person has some type of expertise. domino effect this can have on the organization.  The
The expertise could be to make something or providemanager starts to subsidize for the worker.  Now
some type of service.  The person then takes thatsomeone has to subsidize for the manager because
expertise and starts a business.  They hire a fewthey are doing the worker's work.  Then someone is
people to work and the business starts to grow.  Asdoing the work of the someone who is subsidizing the
the business grows they need to hire more peoplemanager.  Pretty soon everyone is just subsidizing
because the owner cannot manage everything that isand being subsidized.
going on.   So the owner takes Ralph, one of theThe way to break the cycle is to have managers lead
best workers, and makes him a manager.  Ralph hasand achieve organizational results in the right way. 
never been a manager before so Ralph has no ideaTherefore managers need to learn the skills of
what to do.  He makes it up as he goes.motivation, communication, goal setting, delegation,
As the business gets larger more people areproblem solving, and decision making.  When
promoted to managers.   And on and on it goes. managers have these skills they can lead with
What happens is the organization reaches a level thatconfidence.
it can't break through because the ability of theThe only way for managers to develop these skills is
management to lead is limited.through management leadership training.   There are
Without management leadership training newa number of things to look for in getting training for
managers will often imitate people who have beenleadership.  First and foremost you want to evaluate
their managers.  Let's face it, that's not the formulathe actual process they use for the participants to
for success.  Managers need proper training tolearn the material.  Material that is presented all in one
execute both the managerial and leadership functions.sitting is not the best way to learn leadership skills. 
The leadership abilities usually need the moreMaterial that is presented over a period of time has
development than the managerial functions.  Theproven to be more effective.
reason that is the case is because most businessesAt the end of the day, you want to invest in your
have processes in place already.  Those processesleaders so that the organization can achieve results
at least work well enough to produce some type ofbeyond what currently is being produced.