Managers Are Key to Your Business Success

Over at Fistful Of Talent (arguably one of the most popular HR blogs) I posit the idea that Managers should have their own true “manager” certification program and have Managers re-certify regularly.

Unfortunately at most companies Managers don’t need to be certified nor is "management certification" something companies look for or expect.

What I've seen instead is that companies pick the functionally proficient employee and make them the manager.  The classic application of this principle is in sales where the top sales person is promoted to Sales Manager and fails miserably.  And you get a double whammy – not only does the company lose the sales from the top sales person – they also lose all the sales from all the other sales people due to the new Manager doing their job poorly.

Managers are critical to a company’s success.  And I mean Managers at all levels – not just those with BMWs and assigned parking spots.  Management isn't a function of being functionally literate in your area of work – it's about how you translate company goals and objectives into day-to-day work and how you grow people in an organization.

A long while back (January of 2007 – yeah, almost 4 years ago) I wrote this about Managers…

"What hit me is that middle managers act as the transmission in an organization.  They are tasked with bridging the gap between strategy (engine) and tactics (wheels.) 

I think that as our economy relies more on creativity, relationships, managing tacit knowledge and managing less measurable things, then the need for quality transmissions should be growing not shrinking and the value of  good middle managers should be increasing.  Even with a powerful engine a car can't go anywhere without the transmission.  Transmissions also sense the load on an engine and adapt accordingly.  Managers do the same – keeping people from burning out under increasing loads."

If in fact Managers are a critical component in your company’s drive train – shouldn't they be inspected, certified and repaired as needed to make sure they’re doing the job?  

What say you – should managers be held to the same level of certification as say – Accountants?  Or your HR personnel?  Hit me in the comments after reading both my old post and my new one at Fistful of Talent.