Over the past few years, we have seen young managers occupying roles of mid- management in a short period of time. The concept of working your way up the corporate ladder has now been reduced to less than 2 years. With baby boomers becoming enamoured by very clever and ambitious youths, the young star is pulled forward to management positions. There is a 20 % increase in young managers being promoted over the past two years, which is a continuing trend.  Among the reasons for this pattern is the possibility that baby boomers are getting ready to retire, work part time or becoming consultants to ease their work load.

Being a young person myself, I am all in favour of for young managers because I can relate to them better and it makes me think that if I work hard enough I can attain their position. However, if the young manager steamrolls ahead of me and puts me down in the process then that might alienate myself and others which is not very beneficial to the organisation. These young managers might have brilliant minds and bring a lot of talent to the organisation including energy, enthusiasm, willingness to challenge existing management, and a big appetite for change. The only thing they lack is management skills. These are young managers who are so focused with getting ahead and doing their job right that they develop habits of work, work and more work but never learn how to become good managers.  

These inexperienced young managers are thrown into the deep end too quickly; they don’t get a chance to develop their managerial skills. An organisation should do a few things to help young managers become successful managers. These include:

• Start the development process 1-3 months before they begin their first management role. This will help them prepare for the management role by giving them a running start to get grips with the role and will give them the ability to develop a plan for how they will approach their new job.
• Early on, provide them with the tools and opportunities to achieve success. This could be a new manager skills workshop or a book on How to Manage Multiple Generations
• Help them build a business social network. This will include other young managers who can share their stories, tips and tricks. It may include other people in the business that can help them become the best managers possible. The most successful managers are the ones with the strongest networks.

With these tips and suggestions hopefully your organisation will be able to train your next young manager with the right skills to be a great manager.