Many companies have a policy to promote from within, and they usually establish a goal for how many leadership positions will be filled by internal candidates. That is great for employee engagement and retention—until the new leader stumbles and does not perform at the expected level.
Consider this fact: 40% of new managers fail within the first 18 months of their promotions. In other words, they get promoted because they were good at their job—not because they can actually manage people. Why? Because they don’t get the training and support they need to deal with difficult situations, conflict, negotiations, HR issues, hiring and firing, and many other new situations they’ll have to face for the first time. According to a 2014 Harvard Business Review titled “Frontline Managers: Are They Given the Leadership Tools to Succeed?,” only 12% of organizations say they invest sufficiently in the development of frontline managers.
According to Kevin Eikenberry, the author of the best-selling book, From Bud to Boss: Secrets to a Successful Transition to Remarkable Leadership, “When a person is promoted into leadership, they need to build new skills and habits—just like anyone doing something new. Organizations need to help their new leaders develop the rights skills early which become the right habits that will last them their whole career. We all know it is much easier to develop the right habits than to change them later. For the complex skills involved in leading others, this is doubly true.”
The good news is there’s a place where first-time managers and supervisors can learn the kinds of things it usually takes managers years to learn.
Vado partnered with Kevin Eikenberry to create elearning courses from his best-selling book, From Bud to Boss: Secrets to a Successful Transition to Remarkable Leadership. We combined his materials with Vado’s instructional course design, which provides a short instructional video followed by step-by-step instructions on how to apply on the job. The Toolkit contains 20 courses covering topics such as:
- Making the transition
- Communication
- Coaching
- Change
- Collaboration and teamwork
- Commitment to goals and success
The Bud to Boss Toolkit is designed specifically to give first-time managers a comprehensive foundation for their new management career. New managers only have a short period of time to establish themselves and make their new position a success. Don’t let your new leaders waste it making rookie mistakes.
Check out the Bud to Boss Toolkit here!
Cindy Pascale is the CEO and co-founder of Vado and has 16+ years of HR, Training & Development and OD leadership experience and 12 years running talent management, development and assessment companies. Vado is the elearning courseware provider ‘changing the face of learning.’