According to a study by West Monroe, "59% of managers who supervise one to two people and 41% who supervised three to five people "receive no managerial training at all".
This leads to turnover because new managers tend to mimic the behaviors of managers who have come before them and those examples may not be the best.
A majority of workers surveyed have found that "poorly trained managers create a lot of unnecessary work and stress." This can lead to good employees leaving for other jobs.
By constantly reviewing and revamping their training programs, organizations can keep employees engaged and prevent turnover of good employees. Melissa Miller, "Manager Training Is Broken—Here's How To Get Actual Results", www.forbes.com (Oct. 05, 2023).
Commentary
Managers - their qualifications, and skills - have long been the subject of discussions about management.
Decades ago, The Peter Principle, by Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull, was published and became the source of many discussions over the years.
The concept – the Peter Principle – in general, is that a "person who is competent at their job will earn a promotion to a position that requires different skills. If the promoted person lacks the skills required for the new role, they will be incompetent at the new level, and will not be promoted again". That manager will thus reach the "Peter Plateau" – meaning they will be stuck occupying a job they are incompetent to perform – and the rest of the organization will be negatively affected.
Both the study in the article above, and the "Peter Principle", rest on the consequences of a lack of adequate training for new managers.
Here are some areas of training that would be beneficial for new managers:
- Communication, including giving feedback and communication styles
- Time management – personal and for the team being managed
- Project management
- Prioritization – includes what comes first and what to delegate
- Conflict resolution – ways to identify and resolve
- Identifying gaps - in subordinate's training and skills
