Mentoring Your Next Manager

A manager is someone who holds a fiduciary relationship with the owner(s) of a company. This means managers hold the utmost trust and confidence of the owners, enough for them to be granted authority to make decisions for the company, command the employees, maintain and improve standings in the market, and ultimately represent the company’s values, vision and mission.

Any business owner would not simply entrust his company to any applicant, even those having a shining track record, because a manager should have the same beliefs and ideologies as the company’s. This is the reason why the best managers are usually the ones who have been in the company for a long time, have exerted impeccable effort towards their work, and have maintained an impressive relationship with both their co-employees and bosses.

How do you find “the one”? This entails mentoring. Here are some things that you will need in preparing your prospective employee for the coming rigors (and benefits) of being a manager:

Technical skills. Your next manager’s clerical experience is not enough to make him an effective manager—there is still the matter of technical skills and company requirements. What reports must he submit at the end of the week? How does he go about with drafting memos? What are his new functions and powers and limitations? It is time to bring out the company manual and reevaluate his new playing field.

Leadership style based on culture. What is your company’s management style? How do your employees react to your policies? True, leaders will have their unique style, but in a group setting, there might only be a limited number of styles that would actually work. A generous leader might be taken advantage of by employees who were once led by a strict and unforgiving one. Know which leadership style your employees react positively to.

Corporate vision. Vision is how you see the state of your company in the coming years. For now, let us say that your soon-to-be manager has his own vision. Does it coincide with yours? As the boss, you must share the same vision with your employee. Explain the reason behind it, your plans, and experiences that led you to build that vision for the company. Once your soon-to-be manager shares the same vision, his decisions will be for the good of the company and in line with your vision.

Loyalty. Loyalty is something even the best teachers cannot teach—it is earned and proven. But as a mentor, you can try showing your employee the reasons why he should be loyal to you. Make him understand that every decision you made and every policy you implemented are for the benefit of the company, and not because you want to prove you are right or hold power. Employees become loyal to their companies once they see they are well taken care of, and that every corporate decision is never to cause injustice to any of them. If you can show your protégé just that, and make him understand the positive reasons behind everything, his loyalty to the company and to the owner will follow.

*Originally published by the Manila Bulletin. C-4, Sunday, September 14, 2014. Written by Ruben Anlacan, Jr. (President, BusinessCoach, Inc.) All rights reserved. May not be reproduced or copied without express written permission of the copyright holders.