Manager Development: Management as a Profession
For line managers, managing and leading is a profession. Manager development as a field of activity encompasses the recruitment, selection, work design, activation, qualification, support, and assessment of managers. The design of such measures is a classic structural management task that is often driven by the HR function.
Corporate Guidelines of Management and Leadership and Managerial Competency Models
High quality of management and leadership cannot be achieved through selection and training alone, but primarily through intelligent structures and the stipulation of specific responsibilities. Ideally, the organization provides a normative framework for this in the form of a »corporate model of management and leadership«. If this is not the case and a common understanding of leadership and management does not seem achievable through official channels, it can instead be established through the back door of manager development. This can of course also be implemented on a selective basis at first. However, the approach only becomes truly effective when the implicit model, with its normative settings but also its regulatory leeway, runs like a common thread through all measures, from selection, training, refresher courses, and in-depth training to the assessment and career support of line managers. To this end, it must be specific enough that individual leadership competencies can be derived from it. The Complementary Management Model provides the ideal basis for this. Unlike conventional competency models, it is not based on general basic competencies that are relevant to many professions. Rather, it is about concrete action competencies that consist of being able to carry out defined management routines. Line managers must master the activities that make up their professional work – no more and no less.
Recruitment and Selection of Line Managers
The recruitment and selection of line managers should sensibly be based on the competency requirements and normative specifications of the corporate model of management and leadership. These requirements are then translated into a target group profile, which forms the basis for the appropriate marketing mix. A distinction must be made between internal recruitment via career planning, training programs, or internal job postings and external recruitment on the open labor market. Self-selection plays an important role in both cases, as the framework conditions and career alternatives influence a position’s attractiveness. Selection is based on requirements-oriented aptitude diagnostics, which in turn reflect competencies.
Initial Training and Continuing Education for Line Managers
For employees without management experience, initial management training is essential, as it is for newly hired line managers, since previous experience does not always meet the requirements of the new organization. When introducing new corporate management models, accompanying training courses are also necessary to convey the organization-specific understanding of management and leadership and to close any skills gaps. The need for such training is often underestimated, even though systematic training and continuing education are well established in many companies. This can be done internally or externally and is based on general training principles. Digital, mobile, and self-directed forms of learning, gamification, and short, targeted learning modules are becoming increasingly important, with entire teams sometimes being involved in the measures.
Systematic Job Design
People develop primarily through their work. This is where measures such as trainee programs, career planning, job rotation, job enrichment, job enlargement, foreign assignments, and deputization come into play. If these are to build the right skills systematically rather than randomly, they must in turn be based on a meaningful model of management and leadership competencies.
Managerial competence does not come about by chance.
Coaching, Mentoring, Case Consulting, Advisory
Coaching and mentoring are among the classic tools of manager development. Special forms include cross-mentoring, reverse-mentoring, and peer-mentoring. New position appointments should be accompanied by systematic onboarding, and failed assignments by structured review. Another form of support is ongoing guidance from the senior manager and HR advisory in the spirit of Complementary Management. The aim of these measures is to provide line managers with situational and individual support, reduce stress, take advantage of learning opportunities, and ensure the implementation of management and leadership standards.
Assessment and Feedback
Performance feedback on management behavior is one of the most effective manager development measures and can be provided both formally and informally. It is also a component of many other manager development measures. The key challenges are the definition of the relevant management performance and the separation of data collection from the evaluation of this data. A comprehensive definition of management performance should include results, input, and behavior. If initial data is evaluated without context, feedback systems lose their effectiveness and can impair the appraisee’s motivation and willingness to learn.
Manager development is more than just training.
Examples of the Application of Complementary Management in Manager Development.
Many organizations and consultants/trainers are already working with the Complementary Management Model. One example is the innovative concept developed by pt-training, a tool comprising online and offline elements (you can find out more »here«).
Another example is the Malteser Akademie, which has been using the model as a theoretical basis for its manager development measures for some time. This is described in the article “Komplementäre Führung in der Führungskräfte-Entwicklung der Malteser Akademie” by Matthias Gradinger (online supplementary material to Müller-Vorbrüggen, M./Radel, J. “Handbuch Personalentwicklung”; 5th German edition Schäffer-Poeschel 2022) and the article “Komplementäres Führungsmodell im Training” in training aktuell 5/2024 (full text in German on the science portal ResearchGate.net).
Under the title “Führen als Beruf [Management as a Profession],” Professor Kaehler, the developer of the Complementary Management Model, offers not only in-house training in German or English, but also an open seminar program. It is offered exclusively to senior managers—i.e. those who manage managers. The management program includes three two-day seminars on practically all topics related to management, as well as two individual online coaching sessions. It is held at Liebenberg Castle near Berlin. The implementation-oriented concept and a tried and tested team of trainers (Kaehler/Weiner) with extensive first-hand management experience ensure maximum practical relevance. You can find the brochure with all the details »here«.
