Have you ever been curious to see if there were any studies done around how many managers have gotten management training?  Based on my personal experience and chatting with peers, there seem to be many managers without such formal training.  I wasn’t surprised when I saw a study online that said that one in four managers have never had management training.   In my own career, I started off as a very strong individual contributor, with my earliest professional years forged in the intense pressures of investment banking.  From there, I progressed to eventually owning the entire finance function at several software companies.  The companies I worked at were small and venture-backed, so there wasn’t a lot of budget for human capital development, so I mostly learned how to be a manager by reading books and observing other great managers.  As I’ve transitioned from managing a talented international team of finance and accounting professionals to education, I’ve had time to reflect on the incredible assets I believe teachers can bring into the corporate world as managers.  

First, teachers are incredibly goal-oriented.  The school year in California is 180 days, and within that time, teachers need to stay on track with teaching according to educational standards.  Lesson planning starts off with stating lesson objectives.  Teachers need to assess how much their students already know about a certain subject and plan their instruction in the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).  If a teacher teaches at too basic a level, the class will be bored and disengaged.  If a teacher teaches subject matter that is too advanced, then the class becomes frustrated.  One parallel to this in the corporate world is the annual budget cycle.  What most departments don’t realize is that Finance works with all the other departments of the company on an annual operating plan where the entire company comes up with objectives and key results (OKRs).  Until the company’s management team can articulate what business objectives are, the finance team cannot build a financial plan and budget to match that plan.  Finance teams help department heads articulate how to get from here to there.  Much like finding the sweet spot in the ZPD, financial plans need to be ambitious but realistic (i.e. no hockey sticks!)  For example, if Company X wants to grow the chocolate product line, and not the peanut butter product line, then Company X will fund the chocolate initiatives more aggressively.  So, when asked “How much can I spend on the vanilla initiative?,” the finance team should ask, “How does that spend align with our company goals?”

Second, teachers can coach their teams using the tenets of cognitive apprenticeship.  The six tenets of cognitive apprenticeship are Modeling, Coaching, Fading, Articulation, Reflection and Exploration.  Said in plain terms, teachers as managers can demonstrate by showing their teams what great quality work product is, guide and coach their teams and eventually step aside to let their teams work independently.  I had the benefit in my career of having the opportunity to accompany some of my former bosses into board meetings, and seeing them present and field questions from investors helped me prepare for the times I would eventually present to the board.

Third, teachers are trained to give specific feedback.  How often have you gotten vague feedback?  I’ll admit, it’s probably a lot easier for teachers with twenty or so students working on thematically similar assignments, but there are some things teachers do that managers can learn from in the performance cycle.  The first is teachers come up with a rubric.  What does stellar performance look like in your field?  How about good performance?  Average performance?  If you can define in advance what those categories look like, it will be easier than having to come up with a rating after-the-fact.  Second, teachers take detailed notes so they can give specific feedback.  It’s hard to motivate or help the development of someone’s skillset with a plain “Good Job!”  Even as a substitute teacher now, I jot down feedback for teachers with names and activities like, “Johnny really enjoyed the multiplication game but struggled with spelling in writers workshop.”  Being specific helps both the student and teacher hone in on focus areas for improvement.

Have you had a really great manager who became your mentor?  I bet that inside that mentor was a kernel of a teacher.