Management Challenges - Getting Technical

Understanding the responsibilities of your management role

With respect to Mr Tom Jones, it’s not unusual for someone who’s very technically competent to be promoted to a supervisor or manager position.  But we’re not talking that sort of technical.

In addition to all the other challenges we’ve already covered here at the Promotion Paradox (You Don’t Exist Anymore, Relationship Resets, Authority Not Respect, It’s Not Quick or Easy, Decision-Making, Check Your Attitude, Stuck in the Middle) a new manager needs to get to grips with the way their employer works, policies and procedure that perhaps didn’t hit the radar prior to promotion. That’s the sort of technical knowledge we’re talking about here.

Anyone finding themselves in this position won’t be completely ignorant of all policies.  Those relevant to how their previous job was carried out, or their responsibilities for their own personal development will be familiar. They might have previously had an awareness of other issues like health and safety, finance, data protection, and procurement. But now it all steps up a gear.  A manager has to understand their role and responsibilities with regards all sorts of policies, and the learning curve can be steep.

As a new manager responsible for a team, regardless of size, it’s going to be important to be very familiar with many of the organisation’s HR policies.  There are likely to be procedures around goal setting and performance monitoring.  How this is done may or may not be mandated, but it’s common for regular one to one meetings to take place between a manager and the individuals they manage.  In addition to checking how things are going operationally these will be used as part of the performance and development process.  Consideration of the organisation’s mission and values will be needed when setting targets so that the individual knows how their job fits in with the ambitions of the business.

In addition managers have to monitor any absences, authorised or otherwise, within the team, there’s potential for getting involved in difficult conversations.  Difficult conversations won’t just be about absence, manager’s will have to deal with any team conflicts. There’s probably an HR process for all of these, and the manager has to know about them all. When there’s a vacancy in the team there’ll be recruitment procedures to follow, then interview processes, and once someone’s appointed there will be an induction and possibly a probation period to navigate. 

Other HR policies will relate to equality and diversity, expenses claims and leave entitlements amongst others. Not following HR policies could well result in people leaving the organisation or grievances being raised.

What about finance?  Not always, but often, managers are given some financial responsibility.  It might be authority to approve expenditure, facilitate a procurement or issue invoices.  They may be given a budget that they can allocate with a degree of discretion reporting on it regularly to more senior managers.  These financial activities will be covered by various policies and procedures.  There may be limits on expenditure/order values, or procurement frameworks might be in place.  There could be fraud prevention processes, and varied reporting requirements.  The business may have an internal audit function, or external audits will be carried out, both of these will have procedures and responsibilities associated with them. Not following finance policies could result in mismanagement of funds, loss of reputation, reduced profit or even fraud.

Then there’s health & safety, often unfairly tagged as the ‘fun police’. Properly thought-out health and safety processes are vital for the successful and sustainable operation of a business.  Even small service-based organisations should have considered any H&S issues.  All employees have H&S responsibilities, but these increase with promotion!  Businesses and their employees can be held liable for any accidents where H&S regulations haven’t been followed.  Sensationalised media reporting of overzealous H&S officials detracts from the fact that it is incredibly important for the following reasons -

            It ensures the health, safety and well-being of all,

            It significantly reduces the risk of accidents and injury,

            A good H&S record is good for morale and reputation.

Apart from the obvious increase in risk as a result of not following H&S policies, there can be significant financial penalties and reputational harm for both the business and individuals.

Similarly important is GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) policies.  Any business holding personal data must abide by the legislation – and managers can play a significant role in ensuring the organisation’s policies are followed without exception.  The key principles of GDPR are lawfulness, purpose of data, minimisation of data held, accuracy, storage requirements, integrity, confidentiality, and accountability. As with H&S there can be significant financial and reputation repercussions for failing to follow the regulations.

A business could have policies around branding and marketing.  There may be procedures around acceptance of hospitality and gifts.  In short, there are likely to be many aspects of the operations of the business that a new manager needs to get familiar with – and quickly.

Now don’t panic, we’re not suggesting that as a new manager you need to become a walking, talking, policy library!  There’s a good chance if you took the time to learn all the policies in full detail you’d have no capacity left to remember how to do your job!! No, what we’re trying to get at is that a new manager needs to get familiar with the organisations policies.  Prioritise or ask to find out which are the most important and delve a little deeper into those so that you understand your responsibilities.  Know where you can find the detailed policies, and who to speak to if you have any questions, or if any issues arise.

Often a good awareness means that you instinctively realise a situation is covered by a policy or procedure and you act accordingly.  Following policies and procedures may sound boring and restrictive, but they will provide you with protection if anything goes wrong. There can be significant consequences for managers and/or the business if processes aren’t followed.  However, all this doesn’t prevent you from challenging procedures if you think there’s a better way of doing things. Especially if you’re new to management you might have genuine questions about a policy that’s been in place for a long time – a fresh perspective should be encouraged.

Getting technical can be a challenge, but remember they are there to protect and support you.