摘要: |
The quality of your managers directly impacts retention. But the skill gap between technical professionals and managers is considerable. We explored this gap in the past article, Bridging the Gap Between the Skills You Have and the Skills You Need, in the July 2021ITE Journal. When a technical professional becomes a manager, the entire game changes. Analytical problem-solving works well for technical problems. Humans, however, are not an analytical problem to be solved. Motivating, relating to, and inspiring humans requires different skills. While we tend to view a management position as a promotion, the reality is that management is a career change. Through interviews with senior leaders, managers, and work with LeadershipITE participants, three management skills are consistently identified as difficult for new managers (and many experienced managers): delegation, complex decision making (without overthinking it), and having difficult discussions. Of these top three, having difficult discussions is consistently the most dreaded and troublesome to master. Let's explore the steps to having a difficult discussion and, while we're at it, we can appreciate the necessity of the foundational skills. |