Why Should My Organization Invest in Middle Management?
Investing in your leaders translates to investing in the future of your organization. If your organization is growing at 20% per year, your span of control over your operations will decrease every year unless you're hiring new, effective managers. Without leaders who can effectively manage staff and day-to-day customer problems, your organization will struggle to maintain growth.
The danger of hiring the wrong person for the job has consequences beyond your bottom line. Ineffective managers who don't understand the “people” aspect of their job quickly cause employees to become disengaged. This infection spreads like wildfire through your team and causes morale to plummet. Research shows that 66% of employees will simply leave their job if they feel unappreciated. Investing in your leaders helps your organization retain high performing employees and create an environment where everyone feels empowered to succeed.
As businesses continue to grow, the demographics that make up your employees will also continue to evolve. Modern teams have Millennials, Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, and more all working together towards the same goal. People in leadership positions need skills to pull each generation together and embrace the nuances that come with communicating with each age group. Leaders who can bring people from different age groups, ethnicities, and cultures together will create happy and productive teams full of employees excited to come to work.
How Do We Grow Leaders?
Growth can be a double-edged sword if your team isn't ready to handle the influx of new business. The same level of service that causes your company to grow is quickly lost when you don't have enough leaders with the right skills to maintain a high level of quality service. At Evolve YT, we help you develop two types of leaders:
Existing Leaders
Your existing leaders are already well entrenched in your day-to-day operations. They excel at the technical aspects of their job but need help bringing the people they supervise along with them. Many supervisors and managers lack formal training and are instead expected to learn by emulating the leaders before them. The lack of specific training hinders these leaders from creating a truly connected team.
Building a productive and engaged workforce starts with investing in your supervisors. When your leaders see that you're willing to invest in them, it creates a sense of commitment and gratitude that translates into a productive and engaged leadership structure. Investing in your existing supervisors helps them make better decisions and use leadership techniques to build stronger connections with the team they manage.
Emerging Leaders
Identifying emerging leaders in your workforce is a powerful ability to help your company build for the future. As previously mentioned, hiring the wrong person for the job is a costly venture. Despite being high performers, some employees may not have the desire or skills to lead others in the same area. Identifying the individuals on your team that have the desire and aptitude for leadership is a cost-effective way you can build for the future.
Spotting these emerging leaders gives you the chance to nurture talent early on and build influential leaders for the future. Investing in these emerging leaders is how your organization can build a reserve of capable employees ready to step into leadership positions. When someone retires, quits, or gets fired, you can feel confident you have the talent to fill the gap in your team.
Sports and business have a lot of overlap. All successful teams have a "next-man-up" mentality that allows them to overcome adversity. Taking the time to invest in your existing and emerging leaders is how your organization can build a bench of reserves ready to help your company sustain growth. Throughout the rest of this eBook, we'll look at why your organization needs to take action and how Evolve YT does leadership training differently.