Psst! 8 Secrets for Growing Your Employees Into Successful Managers

External hires underperform in comparison to internal promotions during their first 2 years on the job and are 61% more likely to get laid off. When considering job applicants for an open position, you’re probably better off choosing someone who already works for you, according to The Wall Street Journal.

1. If the culture fits…

Quick note: not every employee is going to be great “management material” right off the bat, especially entry-level workers. That is why it is so important to screen for more than just hard skills.

Employees who L-O-V-E working at your company will naturally inspire others and are also much more likely to stay with the company for longer than employees who aren’t aligned with your organization’s values, mission, and vision. Once you have the right employees, then you can focus on developing hard skills and management traits.

2. Hone in on The potential

Don’t wait until you have to fill a position ASAP to start vetting your most promising employees. Identify potential soon after hiring and flag individuals that could grow into a management role in a few years. These are just a few signs of a promising employee:

• A love of learning and self-improvement (employees don’t have to be perfect, just teachable)
• Focusing on solutions instead of complaining about unsolvable issues
• Asking for feedback and being open to criticism

3. Make room for growth

According to Gallup, 87% of Millennials (people born in the early-1980s to early 2000s) claim that career growth and development opportunities are one of the most crucial aspects of their job. In “Millennial speak,” that means employees who don’t see room for growth won’t stick around for long.

Be sure to highlight internal promotions and create new positions and teams, making sure your best employees aren’t headed toward dead ends.

4. Ahoy!—get employees on board

OC Tanner claims that 69% of employees who experience great onboarding are likely to stay with their organizations for at least three years. Make time for welcoming your new hires properly—it could mean the difference between losing new employees before they have a chance to be promoted and having a team of experienced managers down the road.

Tip: Do a quick assessment of your onboarding program now. Check out these 5 warning signs of a failing oboarding process. Any sound familiar?

5. Don't Shy Away From Career Talk

While some people aren’t natural managers and need to be trained first, others simply don’t want to become managers. Maybe they cringe at the idea of responsibility or would rather focus on honing their craft instead of managing others. The best way to figure out your employees’ interests is to sit down with them regularly and ask the right questions.

6. Clone your best managers

Do you wish that you could clone a few of your top performing employees? No need to wait for the technology to be invented. Instead, use your star managers to mentor talented employees and pass along their wisdom and good habits to the next generation of managers. In a study of Sun Microsystems’ mentoring program, Gartner found that:

• Mentored employees received promotions 5x more often that those who weren’t mentored
• More than 70% of mentees stayed with the company versus less than 50% of non-mentored employees

7. Start small

Forget the sink or swim approach. Expose talent to small management opportunities like heading the weekly team meeting, and then slowly increase their degree of responsibility to managing small projects or teams. Even if they fail to meet objectives first time around, it won’t be a disaster. They will leave wiser and will be ready for the next challenge.

8. Don’t push them out of the nest too quickly

The day-to-day of management is often quite a different beast to what employees think being a manager entails. Forbes reports that a whopping 98% of leaders feel that managers need more prior training for dealing with common duties like time and project management.

Training shouldn’t stop right after the promotion. A dedicated manager onboarding program can teach new leaders the essentials of people management and help them rise to the occasion like you had always known they would!