Sure soft skills are important but don’t overdo it
In most cases when someone moves into management from a shop floor or line position, you have to start with the basics, says Louis Tasse, director of HR for Montreal-based Velan Valve.
The manufacturing world has increasingly embraced modern management and organizational practices, but the fact of the matter is that many people from the shop floor won’t have been educated about these concepts and just by the nature of the work they’ve done and the environment in which they did it, they may not be quite as progressive in their thinking, he says.
“What is needed today requires different things that they were not asked to have in the past,” he says. Good communication skills, the ability to give feedback and involve employees in decision-making, these are the essential skills of a successful manager in today’s industrial settings. “The soft skills are more important now.”
So if a thorough grasp of modern people management concepts isn’t a prerequisite for promotion, what is?
“I think if they are motivated and have potential, everything else you can teach,” says Tasse, who has worked in manufacturing for 16 years with six different organizations. “I’ve had in my career some great success with people who are willing to learn.
“So if you have some plant employee or foreman who aspires to do more or is willing to do more, even if they are a bit rough, if they have these values, you can build with that.”
When people are considered for promotion from the front line at General Paint in Vancouver, there are a couple of key things the company looks for, says Allison Benson, manager of HR services.
First of all there’s expertise on the line — “Because they can’t manage the people if they don’t know the job,” she says.
One employee, who was the union head, was recently promoted into management after spending 13 years on the company’s production floor.
“In the case of this particular fellow, he was always in our face telling us you need to change this, you need to do this. We look for people who show initiative, take an interest in the business and look for ways for improving the business.”
It’s true, managers need to have good soft skills but a lot of companies are getting caught up in the popularity of soft skills training and neglecting some of the fundamental skills managers need to succeed, says Garry Rowell of Vancouver-based Canscott Management.
It is absolutely essential that managers demonstrate empathy and treat employees with courtesy, says Rowell, adding, “A lack of courtesy is one of the single biggest problems they (supervisors) cause for themselves.”
But HR should be looking for these traits before promoting a person into management in the first place. “If you have people who are decent you ought not need to train them how to be decent,” he says.
“I think there is a lot of soft skills training, but there is not a lot rubber-hits-the-road type training,” says Rowell. How do you deal with a problem employee? When and how do you establish just cause? If there is a complaint are there mitigating factors? These are some of the basic challenges new managers will face and too often aren’t properly equipped to meet.
With problem employees, for example, managers need to understand when to call for a formal investigation of a situation and when it may be better for an informal chat with the employee.
And in many manufacturing settings, new managers face the extra challenge of “switching teams”— making the move from union to management.
This does present an extra hurdle for the new manager, but the upside of promoting someone internally outweighs the downside, says Benson, of General Paint. The company only promotes people from the shop floor into supervisory positions, she says.
“We have tried going externally and our experience has been they don’t get the respect from employees.”
Because union members may resent the new manager, the company makes sure he receives support in the early going to deal with delicate situations. “We would not throw him into that right at the beginning. He will face a bit of disgruntledness, he will be viewed as changing teams, but our experience is they make the best supervisors.”
The key is to gradually build up a new manager’s responsibilities, ensuring not to give him too much too fast. He will sit on things like attendance meetings, and learn how to approach issues from the employer side of the table.
“Probably in his first year, depending on how comfortable he feels, we wouldn’t leave him on his own to discipline people,” says Benson.
Once a person is selected, the training begins. General Paint uses the management development program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, specifically designed for managers in the manufacturing setting, and pays for any other short-term, one-day programs that help managers improve their performance. And every December when the plant shuts down for a couple of weeks, a consultant is brought in for a couple of days to work with managers on whatever issues arose over the course of the year — attendance management, the discipline process, culpable absenteeism versus non-culpable, dealing with employee attitudes.
While the success of new managers depends on training and the right sort of personality, one of the greatest problems new supervisors face is that they don’t have the necessary guidelines to help them do their jobs. Often times, employers have unclear policies or they may not be accessible to employees or in some cases even the supervisor.
Organizations need to have good, clear policies in place. The manager has to know those policies inside and out and be trained in how to follow them consistently in every situation, says Rowell. “If the manager is a decent person, is well trained and applies the rules consistently, they will be a successful manager,” he says.
Safety, attendance management, progressive discipline and human rights, these are the big four and managers will be handicapped if they are not clear .
For example, with attendance management, people will be sick from time to time, “but I often see employers make it too easy for individuals to play games.” If someone is calling in sick they should not be able to simply leave a message at reception, they should have to make contact with the supervisor.
There is a big difference between “must” and “should.”
“I run into a lot of policies that say if an employee is unable to attend they ‘should’ make contact an hour before,” says Rowell. “It needs to be mandatory… It needs to say the employee must or is required to call.”
The manufacturing world has increasingly embraced modern management and organizational practices, but the fact of the matter is that many people from the shop floor won’t have been educated about these concepts and just by the nature of the work they’ve done and the environment in which they did it, they may not be quite as progressive in their thinking, he says.
“What is needed today requires different things that they were not asked to have in the past,” he says. Good communication skills, the ability to give feedback and involve employees in decision-making, these are the essential skills of a successful manager in today’s industrial settings. “The soft skills are more important now.”
So if a thorough grasp of modern people management concepts isn’t a prerequisite for promotion, what is?
“I think if they are motivated and have potential, everything else you can teach,” says Tasse, who has worked in manufacturing for 16 years with six different organizations. “I’ve had in my career some great success with people who are willing to learn.
“So if you have some plant employee or foreman who aspires to do more or is willing to do more, even if they are a bit rough, if they have these values, you can build with that.”
When people are considered for promotion from the front line at General Paint in Vancouver, there are a couple of key things the company looks for, says Allison Benson, manager of HR services.
First of all there’s expertise on the line — “Because they can’t manage the people if they don’t know the job,” she says.
One employee, who was the union head, was recently promoted into management after spending 13 years on the company’s production floor.
“In the case of this particular fellow, he was always in our face telling us you need to change this, you need to do this. We look for people who show initiative, take an interest in the business and look for ways for improving the business.”
It’s true, managers need to have good soft skills but a lot of companies are getting caught up in the popularity of soft skills training and neglecting some of the fundamental skills managers need to succeed, says Garry Rowell of Vancouver-based Canscott Management.
It is absolutely essential that managers demonstrate empathy and treat employees with courtesy, says Rowell, adding, “A lack of courtesy is one of the single biggest problems they (supervisors) cause for themselves.”
But HR should be looking for these traits before promoting a person into management in the first place. “If you have people who are decent you ought not need to train them how to be decent,” he says.
“I think there is a lot of soft skills training, but there is not a lot rubber-hits-the-road type training,” says Rowell. How do you deal with a problem employee? When and how do you establish just cause? If there is a complaint are there mitigating factors? These are some of the basic challenges new managers will face and too often aren’t properly equipped to meet.
With problem employees, for example, managers need to understand when to call for a formal investigation of a situation and when it may be better for an informal chat with the employee.
And in many manufacturing settings, new managers face the extra challenge of “switching teams”— making the move from union to management.
This does present an extra hurdle for the new manager, but the upside of promoting someone internally outweighs the downside, says Benson, of General Paint. The company only promotes people from the shop floor into supervisory positions, she says.
“We have tried going externally and our experience has been they don’t get the respect from employees.”
Because union members may resent the new manager, the company makes sure he receives support in the early going to deal with delicate situations. “We would not throw him into that right at the beginning. He will face a bit of disgruntledness, he will be viewed as changing teams, but our experience is they make the best supervisors.”
The key is to gradually build up a new manager’s responsibilities, ensuring not to give him too much too fast. He will sit on things like attendance meetings, and learn how to approach issues from the employer side of the table.
“Probably in his first year, depending on how comfortable he feels, we wouldn’t leave him on his own to discipline people,” says Benson.
Once a person is selected, the training begins. General Paint uses the management development program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, specifically designed for managers in the manufacturing setting, and pays for any other short-term, one-day programs that help managers improve their performance. And every December when the plant shuts down for a couple of weeks, a consultant is brought in for a couple of days to work with managers on whatever issues arose over the course of the year — attendance management, the discipline process, culpable absenteeism versus non-culpable, dealing with employee attitudes.
While the success of new managers depends on training and the right sort of personality, one of the greatest problems new supervisors face is that they don’t have the necessary guidelines to help them do their jobs. Often times, employers have unclear policies or they may not be accessible to employees or in some cases even the supervisor.
Organizations need to have good, clear policies in place. The manager has to know those policies inside and out and be trained in how to follow them consistently in every situation, says Rowell. “If the manager is a decent person, is well trained and applies the rules consistently, they will be a successful manager,” he says.
Safety, attendance management, progressive discipline and human rights, these are the big four and managers will be handicapped if they are not clear .
For example, with attendance management, people will be sick from time to time, “but I often see employers make it too easy for individuals to play games.” If someone is calling in sick they should not be able to simply leave a message at reception, they should have to make contact with the supervisor.
There is a big difference between “must” and “should.”
“I run into a lot of policies that say if an employee is unable to attend they ‘should’ make contact an hour before,” says Rowell. “It needs to be mandatory… It needs to say the employee must or is required to call.”
