Firms Step Up Training For Front-Line Managers
To Boost Crucial Skills, Dell and Home Depot Strengthen Programs
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118816990075309266.html
By ERIN WHITE
In January, Dell Inc. sent factory supervisor Julie Figlar for her first bout of specialized management training. For five days at a Nashville hotel, she and 17 other front-line supervisors practiced how to give feedback to workers, resolve conflicts and other skills.
It is more than many companies do for the managers who are at the front lines supervising workers. Traditionally, these supervisors learn how to manage on the job, mostly by trial and error, with little formal instruction in people skills. Big companies offer more training in information technology than in management skills, according to the American Society for Training and Development. As a result, many new managers struggle with asserting authority, communicating with workers and delegating responsibility.
Now, some companies, including Dell and Home Depot Inc., are stepping up formal manager training. The moves come as many firms seek to better motivate and engage workers in an increasingly global and fast-paced environment.
Pat Galagan, an executive at the training and development society, sees many companies gradually increasing training for front-line supervisors. She says those leadership skills are gaining importance as companies try to boost worker productivity. Front-line supervisors are "the ones who are in the best position to get more discretionary effort out of people," Ms. Galagan says. "That makes them much more critical than they've ever been."
Home Depot noticed earlier this decade that its traditional informal coaching and mentoring for first-line supervisors had become less effective as the company expanded and higher-level managers grew busier, says Leslie Joyce, chief learning officer at the retailer. "That works well when the numbers are small," she says. "As we got bigger, that methodology didn't work as well." Home Depot now has about 30,000 department supervisors, the first rung of management in its stores.
The company introduced its training program for first-line managers about five years ago; in March, it launched a revamped version, designed to be more practical. New managers now spend less time off-site and more time on in-store training, such as doing exercises from a workbook. One exercise asks supervisors to analyze a sales report, then ask their boss to evaluate the analysis. Ms. Joyce says more supervisors are completing the training because it doesn't require as much time away from the stores.
Dell started an intensive front-line management training program for its North and South American manufacturing and order-fulfillment operations in 2006. Front-line managers gather at an off-site location for five days of role-playing exercises, lectures, question-and-answer sessions, and hearing workers talk about experiences with supervisors. The managers get feedback from coaches as well as their peers.
Dell sought to bolster supervisor training to improve its operations. The five-day off-site program was the most expensive of three options presented to executives. But they thought it the best way to develop "leaders who can build that strong relationship with their front-line employees," says Dale Young, a director of learning and development.
Ms. Figlar, who was hired in 2005 to supervise a quality-assurance team in Winston-Salem, N.C., found videotaped role-playing sessions particularly valuable. Coaches taped managers as they talked to "workers" about an issue; one scenario involved a worker who was rude to others on the factory floor. Ms. Figlar noticed, and others pointed out, that she sent bad signals with her body language. She tapped her pen and didn't make solid eye contact, which could indicate she wasn't paying close attention. She also leaned toward the other person too much. Back on the job, she has tried to change those behaviors.
Dell Inc. supervisors say they learned these lessons at training sessions:
- Communicate the big picture, not just specific job duties
- Watch their body language when addressing employees
- Maintain eye contact to indicate they are listening
- Refrain from jumping to conclusions when discussing a problem with a worker
She also benefited from listening to a group of workers -- not her own -- discuss what they like in a manager. They said, among other things, they wanted to hear more about what is happening at the plant, beyond their specific duties. So Ms. Figlar now tries to give her workers more information at their meetings.
Dell says that in surveys, staffers report that supervisors who have had the training are better at giving feedback and identifying skills employees need to improve.
Kristin Garau, another first-line supervisor in Winston-Salem, attended training in December. In an exercise to reinforce the importance of clear communication, Mr. Garau and other managers had to move a bucket about 20 feet while blindfolded, relying on instructions from peers who could see.
Mr. Garau says he realized he is often the only source of information for his workers. In order for them to understand their jobs and how their tasks fit into the larger business strategy, "I need to be able to communicate with crystal clarity," he says. "It is my responsibility to fill those gaps."
Paul E. DuCharme blogs about "what he thinks and what he likes" from his home in Washington DC.
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