One of the most critical turning points in a management career in pharmaceuticals occurs when making the transition from staff to manager. This role is a particularly challenging one—often appropriate support staff is unavailable so the charge is to continue managing the details of the old position while beginning to assume a more strategic role.
To succeed, a manager must learn how to develop the people around them, regardless of whether there is a direct reporting relationship. There are multiple benefits in this – you are identified by management as a leader, you become a more productive manager and the people who are working with you are more satisfied with their jobs and invested in your future.
When managing junior team members, there are a few key factors to keep in mind.
Understand your Audience
Try to remember what it was like when you were inexperienced in the healthcare industry. You may have not been as forthcoming as you are now. Until you are totally comfortable you might want to check in regularly with your staff to ensure that they understand your direction and are acting on it appropriately--as opposed to making incorrect assumptions about your direction.
Spending time building rapport is important and has two key benefits. You learn to appreciate your staff as people and understand what really motivates them. Until you understand their motivations your communication is likely to be ineffective. People do what is best for them and what they care about. Your goal as a manager is to align what is best for them with the deliverables of the business.
Delegate Appropriately
While most understand the benefits of delegating, few do it well. Either they are so directive that the employee can’t do a thing without the involvement of the manager or they give minimal and/or confusing information which makes it virtually impossible for the assignment to be completed accurately.
Understand upfront that delegating is going to take time in the beginning but if you do it right you end up saving time and energy if you’ve trained your staff appropriately. When assigning specific tasks you want to provide context, identify the assignment and provide the rationale (C-A-R).
You’ll want to check comprehension by having the person repeat back your direction. Your goal is not to dictate the steps, but to identify the final result and provide guidance if necessary regarding how to get there. Your goal is to provide the right balance of information to get the job done in order to present a developmental opportunity for your staff.
You may want to include staff in meetings/conference calls in order for them to see the relevance of the projects they’re working on but it is a judgment call. Conceivably you could inadvertently confuse or overwhelm a more junior staffer by exposing them to too much information.
Give it Time
It takes time for someone to learn how to train and develop others and it takes time for staffers to learn how to do their job. Short cuts generally don’t work when people are learning their jobs. You need to manage your own expectations about progress as well as those of your peers and staffers. Doing so takes the pressure off your direct report and keeps you in control of the perceptions about your staff.
While what appears to be lack of progress can be frustrating, remember that as long as your employee is trying to learn and has the right attitude generally everything can be worked out to your satisfaction.
Want to learn more about how to develop junior team members? Contact Amanda Mitchell, an executive coach who specializes in the healthcare industry amitchell@theokeefegroupusa.com.
