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The article Are Poor Managers the Weak Link? looked at impact of poor manager performance on organisational productivity and questioned the effect on the public sector’s capability to deliver the transformation required over the next few years.

Recent research by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) has added some interesting facts which give new context to the concerns raised earlier. Commentators have suggested the research show managers are guilty of self delusion.

Undertaking research covering more than 2000 managers in the UK, the CMI research revealed that 63% of managers had no management training before taking up a senior post and only 20%  of managers hold any type of formal management qualification.

As well as the lack of training and qualifications, CMI believes the problem reflects the fact that people have become managers “by accident”, having had no desire to become a manager when they embarked on their careers.

Promotion to higher level of authority and responsibility without training or qualifications was leading to real difficulties.

The CMI doesn’t actually say managers are deluded though it does suggest there may be a “strength-perception gap”, with distinct differences between what they think they are good at their real strengths.

When UK managers were asked about their strengths-

• 44% said they excelled at managing people
• 21% said they were target-busters
• 19%  said they were strongest at managing themselves
• 14% said they were borm to lead

Testing those assumptions with questions to UK workers, the results showed -

• 41% were best at getting results
• 37% were best at strong leadership
• 14% excelled at people management
• 8% were best at managing themselves

Ruth Spellman, Chief Executive of CMI, said -

“Management and leadership skill development has been neglected by employers, government and managers themselves for far too long. We need a renewed focus on investment in training and development in this field, both for the current generation and future generations of managers.”

The issue of “accidental managers” is most obvious in the NHS. Understandably, and with good reason, this is an environment where the majority of employees are focused on the care of patients and perhaps fewer than average have ambitions to be managers. Steeped in the ethos of care and clinical excellence, people are somewhat less excited by managing performance and attendance.

Selecting the right people for jobs and promotion can unearth real gems, and there are plenty of good examples of people excelling at operational management and team leadership. But these are perhaps not the norm.

The tendency to promote people to management roles with little in the way of structured training or development can lead to cadres of front-line managers who are not competent and confident managing their people. In turn this creates extra demand for detailed, hands-on support from corporate teams in HR.

When financial pressures are having an impact on services how can maangers’ skills be strengthened?

How can organisations support weak or ineffective managers while looking to reduce dependence and slim HR teams?