Why You Should Grow Managers Instead of Hire Them

There are so many advice articles on how to hire managers, but none of them make much sense to me. How to hire a manager? My question is, "Why would I hire a manager?"

As a musician, I have played in many orchestras and jazz ensembles -- in enough musical settings to understand that a "leader" of a musical group is first of all, a musician. They are leaders because they either got the gig or put the group together.

And, if they have responsibilities no one else has, and, if they are really good at what they do, they select great musicians to perform with them.

In a symphony orchestra, conductors are hired by audition. The orchestra members have a voice in the hiring, as does the audience.

Conductors come from a performance background specializing in piano, violin, voice, etc. Their musicianship and leadership is key to their success. And, most of all, their performance matters. Conductors are always on a term contract; the musicians generally outlive the conductor.

Yet, most organizations have a hierarchy of management positions. Take nursing, for example.

Florence Nightingale was the first to say that nurses cannot do everything, so there must be an administrator to help organize. In hospitals, nurse managers have already worked on the very unit they are now managing.

They start out on the front lines, then take that knowledge and provide the leadership and oversight to allow each nurse they supervise to perform at optimal levels. All the time, though, the nurse manager thinks like a nurse first and a manager second.

Why Hire?

Why would anyone hire a manager who hasn't been on the front lines -- who doesn't know the culture of the organization or has no positive history with the staff? Yet, it's tough to put someone in a management position who was once just one of the staff.

Tough because the role becomes a "step-over" everyone else. Tough because at many companies, management is not seen as service to the staff and the work, but as a pay raise and less "real" work. Also tough because whoever was a work partner now may have the power of hiring and firing.

So, many of us continue to invent reasons to not use the very person already in our midst -- the one who already has working relationships with our staff and shown commitment to our organization.

How We Do It

In our company, people grow into leadership positions organically, selected in large part by the evolution of the work and the respect of the people they work with. We grow managers and leaders where they sit.

And, it is a moving position, depending on the project or issue to be tackled. All of us look to the person who is the expert or has the most knowledge or experience.

As an owner and the CEO, I am humbled by the intellectual and creative prowess around me. Hiring and firing only happens at the executive level, and those of us with executive positions are well integrated into daily life of the organization.

No gossip will result in a reprimand or termination. That is because the transparency of the culture of our company does not tolerate toxic talk.

This may not work for every company. However, if you can do it, growing managers within your own culture will get you the best results.

It creates a team of people who know they have a stake in each other and everything going on. The power struggle is replaced with a service model that is mission driven. Employees have no reason to be in competition with each other because they know the real competition is in the marketplace.

Now to be sure, anytime you have people working together, there can be tensions and struggles. The question is how to resolve the issues to the best outcome for everyone, including, the clients or customers who depend on you.

A culture that is based on a model of shared responsibility and rewards has little tolerance for useless conflict. When it does happen, the culture itself demands resolution sooner than later.

We use an appreciative model and establish clear boundaries so that there is no mystery floating around regarding what is happening anywhere. We are also a strength-based organization, which leads our leaders and celebrates all of us.

We celebrate growth, work together to resolve a problem, and treat each of our clients like they are the most important client to us -- which they are.

Susan E. Mazer, Ph.D., is the President and CEO of Healing HealthCare Systems, producers of The C.A.R.E. Channel. A knowledge expert and thought leader on how the environment of care impacts the patient experience, she blogs at www.healinghealth.com.