What do first-level managers do at high-performing organizations that set them apart from those at low-performing organizations? In a recent AMA report, “Business Skills That Set High-Performing Organizations Apart,” the skills and competencies that distinguish the best from the rest were thoroughly examined.
First-Level Managers in High-Performing Organizations Score Significantly Higher in Basic Management Skills than Managers at Low-Performing Organizations
Motivating, setting objectives and coaching are all basic management skills. First-level managers at high-performing organizations show disproportionately higher scores for these skills. In addition, basic knowledge of HR concerns and the ability to hire well are clearly differentiating factors even for first-level managers.
This underscores the need for new-manager training. In the article “New Managers: Alone and Out of Their Depths,” recent research conducted by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) found that “only about a quarter (23.5 percent) of respondents judged their organizations to be good when it comes to how well workers make the transition once they’ve been promoted from individual contributor status to manager. Another 16 percent say their companies are actually poor at these transitions, while most (60.5 percent) rank their firms as fair.”
Focusing and improving upon the competencies mentioned above as employees transition to management will help to better prepare managers for the tasks ahead.
First-Level Managers in High-Performing Organizations Have Sophisticated Interpersonal Skills
One key difference between high-performing and low-performing organizations at the first-level manager level is in how well managers are able to influence and persuade others. First-level managers often find themselves in the role of trying to execute without having full authority over key members of their team. Having political savvy and strong influence skills is important to a manager’s ability to get things done, and it’s clear from the data that low-performing organizations score very low on this skill.
As employees start to move up in an organization, more nuanced communication skills are needed that focus on building relationships and influencing others. Employees of all levels at high-performance organizations score 7.3 percent higher on influence, persuasion and political savvy.
In addition, high-performing organizations are better at building culture, which requires a sophisticated set of relationship-building and interpersonal skills including both political savvy and leadership skills.
Managers who are adept at such skills also score high in external-facing relationship skills such as customer service and sales. This indicates that interpersonal skills are a crucial differentiating factor.
In addition, first-level managers at high-performing organizations still outrank low-performing ones on teamwork and collaboration by 3.7 percent, indicating the so-called “soft skills” around collaboration are still an important component of what makes a high-performing team. First-level managers, like individual contributors, are focused on customer service. They have critical thinking skills and a high level of learning agility. High-performing managers at this level have excellent influencing and relationship-building abilities, as well as strong management and leadership skills, such as motivating others and setting objectives.
