The Idea in Brief
Hell-bent on sabotaging your company? Then promote your brightest young professionals into your most demanding roles--especially when they threaten to leave unless you fast-track them. Nonsense, you say? Hardly.
Promoting talented young managers too quickly prevents them from developing key emotional competencies--such as negotiating with peers, regulating negative emotions during crises, and building support for change--skills that come only with time and experience.
Worse, many "young and clueless" managers lack patience, openness, and empathy--qualities more vital than raw intellect at top leadership levels, where business issues grow more complex and stakes are notoriously high.
Aggressive and insensitive, fast-tracked managers may pooh-pooh relationships with peers and subordinates--not realizing they need those connections to conquer problems. Issues become crises, defeating managers. Your company, customers, and employees all pay the price.
The solution? Delay promotions so managers can mature emotionally. This isn't easy. You must balance confrontation and support, patience and urgency--and risk losing your finest. But premature promoting carries far greater risks.
The Idea in Practice
1. Deepen 360-degree feedback. Provide broad and deep feedback to help managers see themselves as others do--a must for building self-awareness. Give them verbatim written responses to open-ended questions from a wide variety of peers and subordinates, not just you. Managers may discount your views as biased or uninformed. Allow time for reflection and follow-up conversations.
Though his business acumen was unmatched in his company, a brilliant 42-year-old VP neglected peer relationships, earning a reputation as detached. Corporate wondered if he could inspire staff to support important new strategies. After an in-depth 360-degree review, he began strengthening interpersonal connections.
2. Interrupt the ascent. To help managers learn to move others' hearts and minds, give them special assignments outside their typical career path. They'll have to master negotiation and influence skills, rather than relying on rank for authority.
A quick-tempered regional sales director wasn't ready for promotion to VP. His boss persuaded him to lead a year-long team investigating cross-selling opportunities. He learned to use persuasion to win other division managers' support, building solid relationships. Now a VP, he's perceived as a well-connected manager who can negotiate on his team's behalf.
3. Act on your commitment. If you've warned managers that promotion depends on emotional competencies, follow through. These competencies are not optional.
A conflict-averse senior VP managed his own group well but avoided collaborative situations, where the potential for conflict increased. Exploring external alliances, the firm considered collaboration vital. The CEO demoted him, temporarily pulling him from the succession plan. Assigned to a cross-functional team project, he learned to handle disputes and build consensus. He's back on track.
4. Institutionalize personal development. Make it clear that success at your company hinges on emotional competence.
One CEO articulated corporate values emphasizing continual learning, including asking for help. He created incentives encouraging such behaviors and built emotional-skills requirements into the firm's succession planning. Known for learning and growing, the firm attracts and retains talented young executives.
5. Cultivate informal networks. Encourage managers to forge mentoring relationships outside the usual hierarchy. They'll encounter diverse leadership styles and viewpoints, gain opportunities for reflection--and mature emotionally.
by VIRAL THAKER @ URL http://viral-hpower.blogspot.com/
Data Collection & Source Harvard, CNBC
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