Whenever I think about writing management tips, I can’t help but think of Steve Carrel on The Office starring deadpan into the camera and giving the worse management advice possible. Its so cringe worthy that it’s hilarious. Though Carrel and The Office satirize, lampoon, and exaggerate (perhaps not enough in my opinion) the inner working of corporate America, it is still an accurate reflection of some of the hopeless management theorists and practitioners floating around out there. From the extreme micro managers who have an incessant need to know and influence every single detail within the organization, to the aloof, standoffish “manager” who pokes his heard in the cubicle once a quarter to check up on everything, corporate America still has many malleable managers. And though there is no one single, absolutely perfect way to manage, there are best practices and methods to maximize management’s performance.

But even before you get to all that, you must have a stock of viable, potential managers you can mold. Here are a few tips to help you find and develop those managers:

• Determine who management material is and who isn’t – During the hiring and onboarding periods, it is essential to determine a candidate’s potential for growth within the organization, even if they are not being hired for management purposes right away. Search the organization and who knows, you may have a diamond in the rough with that new mail room clerk. The business world is filled with stories of successful managers who began their careers on the lowest rung of the corporate ladder. Find them early and you can groom them for higher level positions down the road. Makes sure to use assessments (Hogan, Cognitive Processes Profile, Team Management Profile, Myers Briggs, etc) to uncover potential that is not easily seen on the surface.
• Create a management development program – there are many ways to groom those you believe to be the future stars of the company. Send them to get advanced degrees, provide coaching, assign them to different areas of the company for new experiences, mentor them, etc. If you want o maximize a future manager’s potential, give them the tools they need to succeed.
• Create a steady stream of talent – My favorite scene in the movie “There Will Be Blood” is the one in which Daniel Day Lewis’s character stares in the camera and growls, “PIPELINE!” This is the point in which he realizes his dreams of building an oil pipeline to the coast are going to come true. This should be the same mentality organizations have with regards to their leadership. Establish a leadership pipeline to provide fresh, developed managers as older generation retire or leave the company. Without competent leaders for the future the organization’s success is likely to dry up.

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