The Management System Nobody Gave Your Managers

Part 1: Your Best Employee Just Became Your Least-Trained Manager

Over the last five blog posts, we've been talking about The Five Rules Nobody Tells You About SOP Implementation.

But there's another side to implementing processes that doesn't get nearly enough attention.

Someone has to manage them.

And in most growing businesses, that responsibility eventually falls to your managers.

And for some of you reading this post, that responsibility falls to you, the owner.

So, over the next five blog articles, we're going to focus on one of the most overlooked systems in a growing business:

Your Management System.

Here's how the problem usually starts.

Your company grows. You need someone to manage a department.

So who do you promote?

• Your best technician becomes the Service Manager.
• Your best CSR becomes the Customer Service Manager.
• Your best salesperson becomes the Sales Manager.
• Your bookkeeper becomes the Office Manager.

It makes perfect sense.

They're dependable. They know the work. They know the company. Other employees respect them.

So you give them a new title, a little more money, and several employees to manage.

There's just one problem.

Nobody ever taught them how to manage.

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Knowing the Work Isn't the Same as Managing the Work

Being great at doing the work and being great at managing the people doing the work are two very different skill sets.

And most new managers aren't trained to manage.

And even more importantly, they’re not given any management processes or tools, because you probably don't have any.

So they do what any smart, hardworking person would do.

They wing it.

They answer questions. Solve problems. Put out fires. Jump in when someone falls behind. Correct mistakes. Deal with customer problems. Have uncomfortable conversations when somebody isn't performing.

And when things get really busy?

They often go right back to doing the tactical work themselves and avoid managing altogether.

From the owner's perspective, everything may look fine. Until it isn’t.

The department is functioning. Customers are being served. The manager is certainly busy.

Then, something happens, and the S!@t hits the fan:

• Profits tank
• A good employee leaves
• More customers complain
• The manager takes a two-week vacation.
• Or the manager burns out and quits.

Suddenly, you discover something you didn't know before:

You had a manager. But you didn't necessarily have a management system.

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Management Is Work Too

Think about this.

You wouldn't tell a new employee: "Here's your desk. There are your customers. Figure out how we do things."

At least, hopefully you wouldn't.

• You train them.
• You give them processes.
• You explain the standards they're expected to meet.
• You give them tools to do the job.

So why do we so often treat management differently?

Managing is work.

And just like every other important kind of work in your business...

Management needs processes.

• How do we train an employee?
• How do we get the team to follow their processes?
• How do we run a department meeting?
• How do we conduct a one-on-one?
• How do we measure performance?
• How do we make sure an employee in a position is doing everything they are supposed to be doing?
• How do we coach someone who's struggling?
• How do we handle repeated lateness?
• How do we conduct a performance review?
• How do we identify and improve a process that isn't working?

These aren't things every manager should have to invent on their own.

They are management processes.

And that's what we're going to work on over the next five newsletters.

Because ultimately, a manager's job isn't simply to supervise people.

Their job is to manage the processes by which their employees produce results. That's a core principle we teach managers in TouchStone.

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Action Item

This week, think about one of your managers (if you’re bold enough, sit with them), and ask these questions:

1. What management training have we actually given you?
2. What tools and processes have we given you to manage your employees?
3. Which parts of managing your department have you basically had to figure out on your own?
4. What management techniques are working and what’s not working?

Then listen.

You may discover that the problem isn't your manager.

The problem is that you never gave them a management system.

And that's what we're going to build over the next five newsletters.

Next: Part 2 — A Simple System for Knowing What to Systemize First

P.S. You don't have to build every management process from scratch. We've developed a library of prewritten management processes that cover many of the recurring responsibilities managers handle every day. I'll be sharing more about those throughout this series.