Measuring A New Managers Sucess

Submitted by Chester Fox
in
Manager Tools Trinity

 Hi There, 

I'm currently in a position where I am being considered for a promotion into a managerial role and it is something that I want to do. I work for a small but growing company and currently there is a question on if another managerial role is really needed and what it will provide the company. Currently my manager has too many directs and the idea would be that I take some of her lower level directs and reduce the number she has. 

The issues comes with the question by the CEO of is this position necessary and what will it provide the company. I have answered that question to the best of my ability but now he wants to know how will they measure the success of promoting me to a managerial role?

I am looking for good measures of success for a new manager. What can my managers and I put in place as goals and measures to judge if it was a sucessfull promotion and we made the right decision?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions. 

C

Submitted by Matt Palmer on Wednesday March 7th, 2012 3:37 pm

It's near and dear to my heart.  My general philosophy is that managers are an overhead, a cost of doing business.  A manager should produce more of a productivity boost in his or her directs than would be obtained by spending the money instead on more people to do the work directly.
Being philosophical, of course, my response doesn't actually give you an answer, but it hopefully gives you some help looking for an answer.  You should be measuring whatever it is that the people who will be reporting to you do, and then make sure those metrics improve.
My company is going through this sort of thing at the moment, too.  Since I was brought on, they've hired, promoted, or have open reqs for 5 managers (including myself).  Basically, the CEO was managing everything directly, and now he's delegating departments to appropriate people to be managed instead.  The things that really drove that process have included issues like clearly falling productivity, as people no longer have any "face time" with "the boss", and an ever-growing list of things that just weren't getting done due to a lack of communication and coordination.  There was also a growing rift between two sides of the company, as they weren't talking to each other and there was nobody who had the time and energy to mediate the two groups coming together.  Perhaps there are some similar issues in your organisation that you can point to and say "That!  Right there!  That's what will be better!"

Submitted by Jane Cook on Thursday March 8th, 2012 6:22 am

Just had a quick thought while reading this, don't forget to inlcude the savings and improvements that your manager can make by their time being freed up to do other things.
 

Submitted by Chester Fox on Thursday March 8th, 2012 6:54 am

 Thanks that is helpful. I guess the more I thought about it the more I was coming to the same conclusion but when you're discussing it with the CEO and trying to describe it as something tangible it still seems hard to measure. The other difficulty is I'm taking directs from another manager in the company who is not leaving and who I have a good repore with (and will actually still be my manager more than likely) and I now have to try and say "well this is what I'm going to do to make these same directs work better". 
It's a good thing I like a challenge - thanks again for the feedback. 
C

Submitted by Sam Gamble on Saturday March 10th, 2012 6:21 am

It may not be quantifiable in hard terms, but I'd suspect from his point of view, projects/work will be more successful and timely because decisions should be made faster (they won't be concentrated in the one manager) and there will be another senior person (you) who will be able to ensure deliverables are proper the first time (assuming there is an issue with this).  Also the manager and the CEO should have better information about what is going on because you will have the time / ability to produce that reporting.
Put more directly, you need to understand what the problem is from your managers perspective and more importantly from the CEOs perspective, and you need to frame you being a manager as the answer to this problem (if that is the answer).  And put metrics around it if possible.
Reading mattpalmer's response I'm repeating many of the same points but I suppose its good we are in agreement.

Submitted by Martin Edmunds on Monday March 19th, 2012 3:36 am

Maybe look at the situation in terms of results.  
What results have you achieved in your current role that would add greater value at an organisational level. This could be processes introduced, sales achieved, relationships developed with internal / external partners that have enabled you to drive positive results.  By setting out your case out in terms of tangible results you help the CEO understand what you bring to role and therefore how you will "support" the other manager.  Having been in this situation I used this approach with great effect by stating what I can do, rather than what I may do in the future.
Good luck.