5 ways to develop better managers

Companies tolerate bad managers at their peril. Apart from driving staff to leave, bad bosses can cause other havoc for the business.

Myles Thies, the head of strategic services at e-learning company Eiffel Corp, says a poor manager "spells imminent danger for any business".

While some people should never have been trusted with the power that being a manager brings, others are simply unprepared for the task, he says.

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"New managers often fail because the skills required for being an effective manager are usually softer skills like people management, communication skills and relationships, and not necessarily what they were promoted for."

He has this advice when it comes to training:

1) Management training can't be treated as a one-off event - it must be a continuous process;

2) The way in which people are selected for training must be, and must appear to be, fair. "Avoid favouritism and perceived advantages based purely on some form of aligned association";

3) Ensure that the training material and its contents are, as far as possible, in "small, bite-size chunks and is easy to access and consume";

4) Allow your new managers to develop good habits slowly. "Asking too much too soon can hurt your business and the person, who has been set up to fail," he says; and

5) Do not throw your new managers in at the deep end. "Provide training wheels for new behaviours - give managers opportunities to observe other good managers in action and also talk about approaches to being a better manager so these values and skills are shared across the organisation."