First Line Management’s like having kids — we all want to forget the early years
I’m still surprised by the initial lack of interest of business leaders when we make the case for long-term, focused support for the most junior managers in their organisation (and the ones managing most of their people). Executives tend to glaze over, understanding logically but seemingly uninterested in a conversation that makes perfect sense but somehow isn’t sexy enough. It’s as though it doesn’t warrant their attention at this point in their career or that somehow they’ve got more pressing things to work on, despite the fact that they know these first line leaders set the tone for their brand in the marketplace.
But you know what? I get it. It’s like being around young children when yours are now adults; you’re interested, but part of you wants to forget.
When my children were toddlers (a long time ago), many of our friends had got there before us and so were past the stages of falling over, bumping heads and the herding and navigating of daily dangers that comes with having small children. Now with grown kids of their own, I assumed they’d be interested in what we were experiencing and want to join our conversations about everything we were discovering.
Most of them weren’t. Most of them smiled, said they remembered those days, then glazed over until we talked about something more interesting. It took me a while to realise why:
They didn’t want to remember. In fact, they wanted to forget.
THE TOUGH EARLY YEARS
They didn’t want to be reminded of how hard it is to bring up young children; the daily graft of keeping them safe and entertained, and the never-ending school holidays where each day has to be filled in order to relieve their boredom. It’s tiring. It’s hard. And once we’re through it, most of us don’t want to go back there.
I reckon it’s the same for executives and senior leaders in large organisations. They don’t want to remember the days when they were junior. They don’t want to go back to where they had had little authority; when they felt like units of production and couldn’t decide their own daily agendas. Many execs ‘visit’ junior management for a relatively short period, before being fast-tracked to more seniority and all the privileges that come with it. Maybe when we reach a level where we have true authority and freedom, we prefer to forget the challenging early steps that helped get us there. And while I’m not suggesting junior managers are actually like toddlers, many organisations continue to behave as though they are.
First Line Management is certainly a tough gig, perhaps the toughest. It’s not for the faint-hearted. FLMs have all the responsibility for delivery yet rarely the authority to make major changes in their environment. They’re the doers not the designers and the training and support they receive often reflects this; a focus on tasks not behaviours and an operational dynamic that leaves them under-served and under-developed as a community. Maybe that’s why some of us don’t want to go back there.
WE CAN DO MUCH, MUCH BETTER
The managers in first line roles that I meet are normally brilliant company. They’re experienced, insightful, committed to the organisation and hugely passionate about the people they lead and the customers they serve. They’re the civil servants of our large organisations, where the governments will change (and often do) but they’ll remain a constant; continuing to serving loyally on the front lines of their chosen company.
Maybe senior managers do want to forget their junior years…but we all know we can do much, much better. First Line Managers don’t need much but they do warrant our interest. They all deserve our commitment, along with investment that supports, inspires and engages them over the long term.
And, like a parent of now grown-up children, you don’t have to go back there personally…but your organisational interest for a few moments might just make all the difference.
