No kid I know ever dreamed that ‘I want to be a middle manager.’ Middle managers were traditionally the organizational backbone. They collected and communicated organizational memory, protocols, policies, and culture. There’s less interest and value in the past. Now, the focus is on the future. Technology is driving much of this. There’s no resting anymore.
The cost is high for everyone. People must retread themselves continuously. The company won’t guarantee a job and responsibility for retreading rests with each employee. Everyone must constantly reinvent himself or herself, develop new skills, master new technologies, learn new protocols, and adopt new attitudes.
More often, we’re induced to learn and develop competencies. Pay-for-learning may mean we’re rotated through different assignments in a work area or in the organization. Or, it may mean that we’re paid to increase our skills and knowledge. The advantages include improved performance, increased abilities, flexible workforce, and increased morale.
With all these changes going on around us, it’s important to know who you’re going to work for and why you’re going to work for them. What do they expect from you? And, what do they value?
Life Lesson Earned: About 80 – 90 percent of the learning that produces a successful manager, professional or employee comes from work itself, rather than from direct education or training. This makes it important to consider what type of company, process, culture, and opportunities are available when you work for a company. If an organization is publicly committed to learning, there’s a much higher chance you’ll be challenged as well as stay professionally current.