Get to Grips With the Essentials
Within any company, line management roles are important levels in the overall structure. They are responsible for many different roles. They also have a difficult part to play within the company dynamic.
Effective line management adds great value to your company’s success. Therefore, the development of your line management positions is critical to achieving great results.
We will discuss what line management is, its roles and responsibilities, as well as how to better develop your line management team members.
What is Line Management?
Line management is a selection of roles that oversees one or more people in the company to achieve results. This can be in production, service delivery, and administration. They report to a more senior manager in the hierarchy. Also, these positions are considered the link between line staff and senior management.
Therefore, line managers play an important part in managing team operations, team productivity, and increasing team morale. They also ensure daily tasks are completed efficiently, that targets are achieved, and standards are maintained. These might be quality, health, safety, service, or technical standards.
These roles can be from supervisory to assistant head of department, depending on your company’s organisational structure. Despite not having the word “manager” in their designation, supervisors are the first level of line management roles. The structure may look like this.
Supervisor > Assistant Manager > Manager > Assistant Head of Department
Head of Department positions and above are often considered senior management. Because different companies have different organisational structures, the number of line management positions will vary from others.
Key Roles and Responsibilities
Within the overall structure of the company, line managers have many roles and responsibilities. Very often, the line management roles collaborate with other department representatives. This is to align their goals with the targets of others. As a result, they need to have good interpersonal skills. Also, line managers should be good negotiators.
Some key responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
- Recruitment of new team members for their team.
- Induction and orientation of new hires.
- On-the-job training of all team members.
- Setting short and long-term targets for the team.
- Overseeing the daily operations of the department or section of the team.
- Conducting performance reviews.
- Creating development plans for long-term career succession.
- Handling conflict within the team.
- Managing the team’s weekly schedule and annual leave plans.
- Handling all necessary team reports, such as P&L, budgets, etc.
- Liaison with other department line managers for operational precision.
- Monitoring individual and team performance against company standards.
- Maintaining departmental financial targets, e.g., managing costs, reducing spending, increasing revenue, etc.
As you can see, line managers have many hats to wear. The above-mentioned list is far from exhausted. Line managers really do have many roles to play.
Within the team, they are the coach, guiding and supervising the work of others. Also, they are the decision-makers in the team. Line managers are also the team counsellors; giving advice and correcting bad performance or behaviour. Likewise, they are the team’s mediators, managing conflict and handling difficult situations.
Importance of Line Management Roles
We cannot understate the importance of all line management roles in any company’s structure. They have many important parts to play, here are some.
Line Staff to Senior Management Link
These line management roles are the important links between junior staff and senior management. Without that link, line staff feels their contribution doesn’t get recognised further up the organisational structure. This feeling is reduced when the line managers have a voice for the team. Be sure to include them in important decision-making.
For example, line managers lead team meetings and hear ideas and suggestions from their line staff. They then attend meetings with more senior management and share the ideas of their subordinates. Without that connection, important line staff suggestions never reach the ears of senior management.
Been There, Done That
As the line management positions are filled by people coming up throw the ranks, they really know and understand the line staff jobs and contributions. Having done these jobs themselves, they know the challenges first hand that their staff encounter.
As a result, line managers have greater empathy for their team when faced with challenges. Also, they understand the barriers based on having been there first-hand in their roles. They also have better ideas for improvement and can now make more assertive arguments for change in their management position.
Relationship Building
Line managers work with their teams on a daily basis. As a result, they build effective relationships with the team through those interactions. When staff members have a problem, it’s their direct supervisor or manager they go to for solutions. These relationships are essential for successful results. We see better teamwork, more effective communication, and positive work environments. Without these relationships, the team dynamic breaks down and overall productivity is affected.
Knowledge and Experience
Line management positions are ideally filled by people with the right mix of knowledge and technical skills. For example, an outlet manager will have worked previously in junior positions in the company. They will have learned the technical skills and gained experience during their time in the company. When they are promoted, they bring that experience and knowledge with them to the next level. Ideally, they will continue to add to that in their new role, preparing for the next.
This all adds to the overall strength of the team. Line managers shouldn’t be afraid to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty with their team. And, there is no excuse not to seeing as they already have the knowledge and experience to help out. This can contribute to teamwork and collaboration when the junior staff sees their manager giving a helping hand when it’s busy. It can really boost morale.
Challenges for New Line Management Positions
Line management leaders need to be ready to take on multiple roles. However, very often we see a number of challenges at these levels that could be avoided. Here will look at some of the common ones.
Moving From Staff to Leader
That first step from colleague to supervisor can be a challenging one for many to take. The transition can have a number of stumbling blocks. One of these is when another person in the team feels the position should be theirs. This can create tension in the team if people feel they have been unfairly passed over.
Another challenge is when the new supervisor struggles to take on the new role effectively. They fear alienating themselves from their friends by having to make unpopular decisions. The new supervisor needs to assert their authority without creating gaps in the team dynamic.
Managing the Performance of Others
As a staff member, you are responsible for your own performance. Once you take on a line management role, you are now also responsible for the performance of others. This comes with its own set of challenges. Line managers need to be able to find the balance between managing both simultaneously. This balancing act takes some getting used to. Without proper support, this can become overwhelming for some new leaders.
Also, new line managers need to now correct the poor performance of others. This can be challenging as it takes confidence to address underperformance. Not everyone is ready to do this in the early days of a new line management role. Often, it takes time and practice to get this right.
Focus on Results
A new focus line managers need is on team results. Goal setting and achieving targets are key management responsibilities. This can be a challenge for some new line management positions when they are faced with this for the first time.
Understanding the drive behind achieving these results can help. Line managers need to find ways to increase team motivation to achieve these targets. They might introduce team incentives. Another approach might be healthy competition within the team.
Motivating Others
Boosting morale within the team can improve the team dynamic and level of productivity. Your last role was about others motivating you. Now as a line manager you need to turn the tables and motivate others. Find ways to inspire others through your leadership approach. Encourage others when they perform well. Make sure you understand what motivates others to get better results.
Training, Developing, and Coaching Others
Now that your line manager is in place, they need to focus on individual and team development. Many don’t have experience with training or developing others. They only know how to focus on themselves. Time needs to be invested in helping the line managers in this new role.
First, they need to be able to identify the learning needs of others. Next, the line managers can start looking at how to develop others based on the gaps they have identified. Finally, once they are more comfortable, they can take on a coaching role.
Delegation
In order for line managers to effectively cover their increased workload, they need to learn how to delegate effectively. They need to be able to identify what tasks to do themselves and which to pass on. It can be tricky deciding which is which. Not all tasks can be delegated so they need to select carefully. Also, not everyone in the team is ready for tasks to be delegated to them. New line managers need to be able to delegate effectively or their workload will become overwhelming.
Developing your Line Management Team
All line management positions need to continue to be developed. Not only should we develop them for the position they are in, but we also continue to look at their future opportunities. Some key development areas are discussed below.
Prepare for Promotions in Advance
To have the best results in line management roles, prepare for promotions in advance. More mistakes occur when promotions are not planned for, in terms of development. Leaders needs to have development plans in place for their team members. This is true for all potential promotions that happen in the team. These can be short and long-term development plans.
Work on Soft and Technical Skills
Think of the first supervisory role you had. You would have had the technical know-how; however, you may not have had the soft skills knowledge. As part of the preparation for advancement, develop your team on the soft skills required for the new role. Line managers need these skills to perform to their best ability.
Practice Makes Perfect
Practical application of skills is required to get better results from line management. While classroom training is a great way for teaching soft skills, people need to have the chance to practice them. Everyone needs a mix of both theoretical and practical training.
On-the-job training is a great way of learning on the job. This can be done by shadowing someone already in that role. Another can be taking the lead in that role when someone is absent. Another approach is from completing practical projects or assignments to practice the skill. Blended learning gets better results.
Ongoing Development
The development of your line managers cannot be a one-off event. This needs to be a continuous process. Be ready to plan more development steps for all line managers to take. These can be technical as well as soft skills development. Allocate time for training and development opportunities.
Offer Encouragement and Support
We all perform better with commitment and support from our older peers. This is also true for line managers. In turn, this positivity will then pass on to the team they are leading. Therefore, the more support and encouragement they receive, the more they share.
Summary
All in all, companies need line management roles. These key roles add great benefits to your company’s success and drive. Therefore, We need to focus on effectively selecting and developing line management positions.
Remember, line management roles are the link between junior and senior positions in the company. They are the middle-man (or woman!). We need to respect their connection and relationship with the team. Without the line manager roles, your company would be missing an important part of the equation.
Look after your line management staff. Develop them well and create opportunities for them to continue to grow. The longer your line management staff stay with your company, the more experience, know-how, and stability they give to the team.
