How do you help grow skills in the next generation of managers?

RCS Influencer Jake Magalsky says being open-minded leads us to adjust to the changing environment due to technology and economic conditions.

This is an excellent question that every roofing company owner and high level manager needs to be asking themselves and thinking about on a regular basis.  

It seems that the skills that get learned in one generation do not naturally get passed down to the next generation without effort and intention. I am often amazed to see how new managers are struggling with the same, seemingly mysterious, issues that senior managers struggled with and resolved years ago. 

However, I feel that the solution lies in picking the right type of up-and-coming potential managers as a protege for us to mentor and train for the next generation. 

Patrick Lencioni, in his book The Ideal Team Player, talks about three virtues that should be present in every high performing individual who is being groomed for an upper management position. The individual should be humble, hungry and smart. People who possess these three virtues are typically excellent candidates for training and placement in a higher position.  

Once you have found the right person, the challenge is now to give them the knowledge and training required to be successful. However, more importantly than that is to have the wisdom to give these individuals the freedom to fail. Expecting perfection every time is unrealistic. As a person is being trained, there needs to be a certain level of allowing them to figure it out on their own so that they can feel what it's like to make those decisions and do the things required to be successful. They are not going to nail it every time. The thing to watch out for is how they respond to their own failures. If they quickly seek more knowledge and correct the decision making process that led to the failure, it is unlikely that it will happen to them twice. This requires an open mindset. If the individual is defensive and close-minded about their mistake or worse, hides the mistake, it is quite likely that this will be a recurring theme with that individual.  

In conclusion I would say, there is not much difference between training the next generation and what it took to train the last generation before us. Being open-minded leads us to adjust to the changing environment due to technology and economic conditions, etc. New challenges will be encountered along the way but what it takes to overcome those challenges hasn't changed. The next generation has to be willing to struggle to be successful the same way all of the generations before them had to do. Unfortunately, life does not always progress on a continuum and we need to be intentional about passing on our knowledge and being calm and kind as we work with our fellow human beings to build successful companies.