Sunday, November 3, 2013

Executive Leadership Coaching Speeds Management Transition Increasing Productivity

By Allyson Burke


For managers, climbing the corporate ladder is not only what every one expects, it is essential to keeping a position in most corporations. Growing and accepting greater responsibility is the only acceptable career path for the company and the individual. Success, however, can bring some startling realizations about the skills one has, and executive leadership coaching can ease the transition.

Those who are promoted to the higher rungs in the corporate ladder may believe they have what is needed to do the job, but those making the decision know what they have is the potential to learn what is needed. A new senior manager is largely defined by the narrower experience they have within the company. Learning to see the entire company as equally important takes time.

Typically, personnel issues like moral, training, individual productivity and accountability are issues middle and lower level managers do not have to tackle. Senior leaders have to be involved, guiding the standards the corporation desires and approving or disapproving actions to reward or punish workers as required. For an operations or logistics specialist, he learning curve on this endeavor is steep and stressful.

Even skilled workers and consummate professionals tend to believe that there are safety and security staff who are tasked with keeping everybody free of injury. As they transition to senior management, they see the true nature of workplace safety and security, the management of risk. It now becomes their task to decide which risks are too great, and which are acceptable.

The pace of the daily schedule is now dizzying, with someone else managing the appointment list which seems to have no end. Workers, other managers and supervisors come in with problems of every variety for advice and assistance, much of which is outside the experience of the novice leader. Learning which things to focus on and which can be let go takes time.

Setting a standard and motivating the entire workforce means shifting the focus of their perspective to include facets in the business with which they have little experience. This is a real challenge to the skills they have and must hone for success. Decisions which would once be easy will seem much more difficult when the impact on every work section must be considered.

As middle managers, it is common to look at goals and strategies propagated from above with cynicism and even disdain, but as a higher manager, one is now charged with developing and disseminating them. Lower level managers now bring multiple options and expect a decision on which they should pursue. Even without specific experience, one must make a selection.

When opportunities arise, it will be the chance for the new leader t o act, but building a team from the many parts of the company and getting them to work together takes a special knack. All the conflicts between divisions that once seemed so important now appear trivial, getting workers to accept it is hard. Executive leadership coaching can help the new senior manager transition to the new role with minimal stress.




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