Focus-Learn-Engage

Building Leadership Skills

Management and Leadership

Three primary managerial functions and their leadership counterpart

Note that leading denotes activities and, as in management, actions get results!  For this reason, we believe leadership activities for frontline managers are particularly valuable in complimenting and providing continuation for your current managerial activities.

Our experiences agree with the following quote especially when addressing the operational needs of frontline managers.

Building Skills of Leadership:  

Communication

Vision

Teamwork

Strategy

Motivation

Relationships

Many of these skills are soft and also hard skills in that they are currently managed by programs and systems.  The frustration for frontline managers however is that if execution for any of these managed programs is reduced by a need to concentrate efforts in another area then, as a result, the effectiveness of the skill is reduced.  Execution of programs, by itself, usually fails to gain the long-term involvement, self-motivation, and commitments of all associates  This is where many of the terms "flavor of the month" or "fighting fires" come from in daily operations as managers initiate new programs or re-emphasize current ones to get desired results.  Another frustration for those managers who are responsible for retaining customers is that achieving desired results does not guarantee and in fact may even distract associates from maintaining an operational focus on the customers.

They only long-term solution to this dilemmas is to precede the existing managed actions with a base of beliefs or conditions for awareness, understanding, and ownership.  These beliefs can only continue to grow from a foundation of experiences.  It is in these two operational areas of experiences and beliefs where managers and team leaders need to lead the soft or people skills to create alignment, provide follow-through, and continuation for the hard skills they already manage in daily operations.

There is no magic or quick fix here.  When your factors are human nature and culture what works is simplicity, back-to-basics, time, attention, intentions, recognition, accountability and learning.  An enterprise must get the proverbial "flywheel" moving and maintain momentum in soft people skills such as pride, inspiration, passion, involvement, self-motivation, and enjoyment.   This must happen as much, maybe more so, on the frontlines of daily operations as from senior management.  Leading working relationships are key to the soft or "people" skills which managers need. 

Organizations manage, through programs and systems,  three principle relationship areas in daily operations.  Those are 1) Customer Service, 2) Teamwork, and 3) Collaboration/Partners.   With our practice "Propel Frontline Leaders", we provide frontline managers and team leaders with actions to lead these three relationship areas simultaneously to provide follow-through and continuity.  How is this done?  A big idea--the missing link for maintaining these three relationships--is a secondary asking process (set of actions) for managers to create the above experiences and beliefs to move the flywheel.  

The example in Customer Service below will illustrate how this works.

Enterprises create the structure for how services and products are delivered to customers through a Customer Service Program.  This also outlines the discipline for what needs to be done in the relationship between those providing the service/product in daily operations and the customer.  What needs to be done is determined at least in part by senior management "asking" customers, through a system or program, "How are we doing?"  This feedback is usually shared, at least in part, with the frontlines.  Senior management will also have support programs and systems for Teamwork and Collaboration (i.e. Human Resources and Marketing) to execute in daily operations and create focus, learning and commitments for those providing services and products to customers.  Our practice gives frontline managers and team leaders a tool to maintain these activities for customer loyalty and retention.  Building follow-through and continuity by asking support teams what the dozen or so critical activities are they need to execute to succeed for the next year.  Using these as questions they then thank customers for their patronage and invite them to let them know "How are we doing?" in the future.  They then share these activities and feedback with those providing services and products and maintain a bulletin/score board.    These actions or process are repeated to turn the flywheel faster with practice and maintain attention    Through continual assessment they involve everyone in an ongoing customer dialogue.  Intentions are demonstrated and experiences shared daily to build participation from everyone.  People share beliefs that form a foundation for actions which continue focus, learning, and commitments.  Results include self-motivation, involvement, participation, recognition, appreciation, and attention.  These support and continue the results from the programs and systems which managers execute.