Don't Misuse A Valuable Resource...When I was 19 years old, I was promoted to a Squad Leader in a US Army Infantry platoon. Before that promotion took place, I was trained in the principles of leadership. I attended my first leadership development course; I was mentored by my own Squad Leader as well as the Platoon Sergeant. I was taught that leadership was about people. I was taught how to motivate people to achieve a higher standard of excellence. I was taught how to succeed and help others to succeed… I loved every minute of it.
A few years later, when I left the military life to blaze my own trail, I naturally assumed that leadership in the civilian world, particularly the corporate world, would be very similar in regards to preparing people to lead.
As soon as I left the Army, I used my GI Bill and enrolled in college. But, I still had to work to make ends meet so I went to work for a retail outlet selling music, video, and books. After about 3 months, the store manager noticed my work ethic and encouraged me to apply for “Music Department Manager”… a front-line position. So I did.



Not all Leaders are valued
One thing that became abundantly clear during that tenure was this: The Company didn’t really much care about developing me as a leader. Nor did it care much for team-building, or engaging the employees. It seemed as if it only cared about task completion. 
Because the company was task-driven (as opposed to people-driven), I found myself staying late every night, completing work that should be done by the team. I tried to delegate tasks, but the culture of the company had disengaged the employees. 
I was repeatedly denied the opportunity to schedule the team for meetings and team-building exercises. I was told that payroll didn’t allow for such activities and that it was a waste of time that could be better spent on tasks. I was also told that – because I was now a salaried employee rather than paid hourly – it was my duty to complete any tasks that went undone by the team.
Aha! I was just a glorified hand with a title and better pay. Thank you, but no thank you. As a leader, I am much more valuable than that.
That’s not to say that front-line leaders shouldn’t get into the trenches – they absolutely should… but they can have more value than just being a glorified work hand.
I left the company very shortly afterward. I went on to work for a different company with different values and increased KPI by 250% in my first six months. 

But... But... But...

Granted, a retail environments pace is very fast and time tables for completing task are short, but tasks would be completed much faster and better if companies placed more focus on developing teams and employee buy-in… and that starts with developing the front-line leaders.
This is true in any business. The nature of the work is really irrelevant. When it comes to productivity, more gets done with a team that is properly built, developed, and led. In fact, companies are missing the boat on productivity – and eventual profitability – if they don’t.
A large organization could have as many as 20,000 front-line managers who typically make up 50-60% of all managers and directly supervise up to 80% of the entire workforce (Hassan, 2011). These front-line leaders have the most direct connection to employees and have a huge impact on engagement, retention and performance. 


So why aren’t more resources devoted to front-line leadership? 
I would argue that it comes down to cost. The sheer number of frontline leaders compared to senior leader makes it more expensive to implement effective training programs that drive results. This means a more significant investment and substantially more risk. A risk most companies aren’t willing to take. Thus, the go-to answer is promoting hard-workers and making them work even harder.  
On the other hand, highly trained frontline leaders drive better customer/client experiences, higher productivity, increased employee buy-in and, ultimately, increased profitability. These may seem like bold claims, but they are supported by research (Liaw, Chi & Chuang, 2009; Purcell, & Hutchinson, 2007). 

Now think about this for a moment… front-line leaders supervise approximately 80% of the workforce! 
Imagine how productive (and profitable) the workforce would be if front-line leaders were properly trained in leadership disciplines such as team-building, time management, and interpersonal communication. 
Imagine how much more productive the workforce would be if front-line leaders were people-oriented rather than task masters or “bosses” who simply give and follow orders or pass down order from on-high.
Imagine how much more productive middle management would be if they could rely on front-line leaders to develop and coach the team.
Imagine how much more productive executive leadership could be if they were able to focus all of their attention on the vision and culture of a company, comfortable in the knowledge that the front-line leaders were building great teams, training excellent workers, and bringing the results that executive dream about.


The Bottom Line
Yes… providing leadership training to front-line managers could be expensive. But front-line leaders are a valuable resource for any company. How much more profitable would a company be if it simply provided this training?
When you consider the costs of turnover, time spent correcting mistakes, time spent fighting fires, and losing valuable people to the competition, the ROI becomes a little clearer.

Train your people…

Learn. Lead. Achieve!





Joe Vulgamore is a Life Coach and Leadership Development Specialist - as well as a Personal Development Author and Speaker. He works with people to develop life and leadership skills to sharpen their edge, perform at optimum levels, and achieve excellence. He has 30 years of leadership experience and a proven track record of helping thousands of people from over 14 countries, across 5 continents, to make life-transformations through one-to-one coaching and workshops.