Why Aren't We Teaching This?
As an avid blog reader, writer, and teacher I see comments and questions about employee engagement, reducing turnover, keeping critical staff and reams about leadership. Whether leadership is born or taught, trying to define it, etc.
When you look at the syllabus of the typical MBA program that is very little in it about how to build and lead teams. There is plenty about finance, accounting, marketing, and even a little economics for texture, but very little about people.
Do we think the transition from doer to leader occurs by osmosis? Do we believe that it is "embedded" in the right candidates and it will emerge?
I read an article a while back that indicated that 40% of new managers fail within the first 18 months and the biggest reason they fail is that they don't know how to build and maintain effective relationships.
When I work with entrepreneurs one of the biggest obstacles they experience is moving from doer to leader and building successful transition and succession strategies.
Executive and personal coaching as businesses are booming. It has become the therapy of the new millennium. Why are companies and educational institutions not addressing this earlier on in peoples careers?
I know that there are books out there like Good to Great and the One Minute Manager, but as a recent B school grad asked- "So what is this bus that Jim Collins keeps talking about?"
At the end of the day everything boils down to effective relationships. Isn't about time we recognize and embrace that?
When you look at the syllabus of the typical MBA program that is very little in it about how to build and lead teams. There is plenty about finance, accounting, marketing, and even a little economics for texture, but very little about people.
Do we think the transition from doer to leader occurs by osmosis? Do we believe that it is "embedded" in the right candidates and it will emerge?
I read an article a while back that indicated that 40% of new managers fail within the first 18 months and the biggest reason they fail is that they don't know how to build and maintain effective relationships.
When I work with entrepreneurs one of the biggest obstacles they experience is moving from doer to leader and building successful transition and succession strategies.
Executive and personal coaching as businesses are booming. It has become the therapy of the new millennium. Why are companies and educational institutions not addressing this earlier on in peoples careers?
I know that there are books out there like Good to Great and the One Minute Manager, but as a recent B school grad asked- "So what is this bus that Jim Collins keeps talking about?"
At the end of the day everything boils down to effective relationships. Isn't about time we recognize and embrace that?
Labels: development, Leadership, measurement, relationships
posted by Mark at New Paradigms LLC at
7:42 PM
4 Comments:
Dear Mark,
I am writing a book about this specific issue. I think in January will be available.
I agree with you.
We are not teaching this because B schools are preoccupied with something else ($$$). Ok, there are a lot of teachers that are preoccupied with management education, however they are not integrating knowledge management oriented to business field or problem solving in their plans...
Best regards.
Ricardo
You make a great point. Having spent well over a decade in college (and yes I graduated a few times), I can say that as an undergrad you get very little interaction with industry. Graduate school was different, especially in engineering. Grad school in business had a little less interaction than engineering but provided some avenues for developing such skills.
I'm not sure academics would be the best people to teach such skills anyhow. You really have to go out to industry to get the expertise. Even there it's a struggle to find people good at it. So who's the teacher?
You Todd, you are the teacher, you are the student.
If we want to excel we need to be teachers and students at the same time in many situations, if not all.
Regards,
Ricardo
Dear Mark,
I feel you make a very good point, that being able to effectively work as a team in any business environment can make the world of difference. The ability for management to work with employees for common goals, are the building blocks, and a necessity of a successful company.
I do believe, however, that being an effective team leader is a skill that cannot always be taught in the classroom. As I do value courses in business that works as stepladders for future management to become skillful and knowledgeable in the area of teamwork, in my mind, a major contributor to a successful management system is solely being born with the ability to lead.
The ability to offer care and support to a consumer is labeled customer service. A manager of a technology company working through a fixed budget with their engineers, I feel, requires the same kind of vigilance and punctuality, as if you were working with customers at a restaurant. Being in the business you are in, I’m sure you’ve noticed in many everyday jobs, some are better at providing proper care to customers than others. Different factors can lead to this, albeit how one was raised by their parents or possible life experiences as a contributor. Does this mean that there is no way to grow into a person of such traits? Of course not, but I do think that you can only teach so much, that in the end if a person in a management position is to thrive, it will be based on their ability to truly connect with other employees as a whole. As I’ve read in your other blogs that trust, in your mind, is a very important factor of teamwork. Without trust, and a complete mutual trust between associates, there is no way a team will thrive. I agree with you on this one-hundred percent, but the only way to establish a true trust, is to truly understand what everyone in the team is bringing to the table, so to speak. Having an outgoing personality, and a personality that is conducive to others being able to share their feelings and values, is the key recipe for success
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