Effective frontline managers have the capability and interest to be effective managers, have clear goals and roles, understand the people they manage, understand themselves and how they impact their employees, have been trained how to effectively coach, and are able to remain focused on employee development. Organizations need to recognize the importance of each frontline manager's role and the effects that the manager has on the employees and company.
In 2008 China suffered one of the worst food safety incidents in history when tens of thousands of milk products were infested with melamine. This contaminant afflicted over 300,000 children and was the cause of six infant deaths in China. Government investigations revealed political corruption had inhibited the ethical production of the milk products. The companies responsible for the products had deceived customers in order to save production and profits.
The World Health Organization noted the incident to be one of the largest food safety events in history. The scale of the problem proved that the crisis was not an isolated incident, and that several large-scale government and business leaders had been involved in covering up the tainted products.
The Director of the Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine was fired, and countless officials, dairy executives and farmers were severely punished for their involvement. The incident resulted in the loss of life, business and trust in China.
Fast forward to 2010 to discover that the new regulations implemented in 2008 had failed again. Chinese officials issued a recall for over 170 tons of milk powder still contaminated by melamine. This was a worldwide crisis and the government did not follow through with the elimination of the products as they had suggested. Tons of compromised products are on the market today, and it is estimated that around five companies have repackaged and resold the infected product that was supposed to be destroyed.
Leadership- particularly the quality of supervision and the nature of relationships between supervisors and their teams is crucial to performance and production in the workplace. The frontline management involved in the milk crisis did not adequately handle their employees, production or ethical responsibilities which resulted in a national health crisis and death. Frontline managers are responsible for the well being of their employees and their organizations.
Assessments offer information that can enable companies to identify effective managers. Certain personality traits and behaviors contribute to the overall effectiveness of a leader. Assessments will identify these traits and offer coaching solutions to either minimize or amplify these attributes in order to create successful managers. The results from the assessments will also provide insight into the employee's ability in specific jobs and roles within the company.
Once a manager has been selected they should be allowed to review their employee's assessment results in order to better understand the types of people they are responsible for managing. Each employee needs to be recognized for individual traits and behaviors so that the manager has the ability to adapt their managerial style to each employee's needs. Managers should also review their own assessment results to understand their natural management style and how it can be adapted in order to more effectively manage employees.
Once the results have been reviewed and understood, frontline managers need to be trained on how to maximize their effectiveness as a leader through coaching. Not all managers are natural coaches, training is necessary to ensure that employees are equipped with a manager who is able to develop them and solve problems. A manager who is dedicated to the development of their employees will undoubtedly take the steps necessary to improve themselves so that they may improve others.
Had effective frontline managers been in place in China during the production of the milk products, the issue could have been resolved sooner or prevented entirely. Ethical production is a result of quality leadership and management. Despite the size of the organization, leadership and management must be able to develop employees consistently in order to grow. Selecting and training frontline management will keep your organization from crying over spilt milk.
Author Resource:-
Jim Sirbasku is co-founder and CEO of Profiles International, a leading provider of human resource management solutions and employment assessments for businesses worldwide.
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