3 Steps for Selecting People Managers

Identifying people managers for your organization is one of the most important tasks because of the impact of not having the right people in place. Though there should be a best practice for identifying who should take on people leadership responsibilities, I have not seen one put into practice.

By following my guide, organizations will significantly benefit by putting the right people in these roles, which will ultimately drive positive employee engagement and business performance

Unfortunately, most organizations continue to promote people into people leadership positions because they are amazing individual contributors.

They assume success in the role means success leading others in the role.

Most organizations don't have an official process or development program to prepare future leaders. Even when the organizations offer leadership development programs, the selection process likely doesn't tie to their success in the program. I think there's a way to do this better.

Here's how, step by step:

Step 1: Outline what a successful people manager does in practice

If you don't what success looks like, you can't select the best people for the role.

Some factors you should include are ongoing dialogue with team members on their development and career plans and providing clear expectations and measures of performance goals. Ensure you have outlined clear leadership behaviors for your organization.

Step 2: Assess potential people managers for how they are already demonstrating people leadership responsibilities

So many organizations skip this step because it's not how they've done it in the past.

Look at your targeted candidates to identify how the team views them. Are they collaborative? Do they focus on teaching new team members or helping to upskill others? Do they demonstrate leadership within their scope?

If you're not seeing these behaviors, this candidate may not be right for this type of role right now.

Step 3: Develop leadership development programs that provide insights on who is motivated by enabling others to success

Though this may sound like a significant investment, it will be worth it. You want to find people that want to enable others to perform vs. those who believe it's the only way to get a better title or position.

Require all individuals interested in people leadership positions to go through a learning program that allows them to practice the key skills that will make them successful in the role. At the end of the program, identify those individuals who thrived in the activities and target them for people leadership opportunities.

Being a people leader isn't for everyone. We need individual contributors that will lead projects and thought leadership. Organizations need to create growth opportunities for everyone that don't require people leadership. The wrong people in people leadership roles will negatively impact your employee engagement and put your business performance at risk.

Make sure you’re selecting the candidate who is most likely to bloom in the role.