Typically in any business, the availability of a manager is critical, and the management of resources and proper utilization of these resources is what makes a business thrive in the changing world today.
As a business, you must use your resources to get what you want and remain relevant in the market. Resources in this regard come as products and human capital. Humans are an organization’s greatest resource.
However, without adequate management of these resources, the objective of your organization will most likely never be met. In this article, we will understand line managers’ role and importance. Before we know who a line manager is, let’s first understand who a manager is.
Who Is A Manager?
Most importantly, a manager is a professional who takes on a leadership role in an organization. This leadership role enables them to manage a team of employees to meet the goals and objectives of the organization. Managers play a vital role in the success of an organization.
Three Responsibilities of a Manager
As a manager, you are tasked with specific responsibilities that you have to take on skillfully; here are three primary responsibilities.
Decision Making
This is very important for managers to carry out effectively. Taking the bull by the horn for your department is highly necessary.
Often, managers are faced with making tough decisions. Therefore, they must have strong decision-making skills. Sometimes, managers must communicate with their employees to help them make the best decisions.
Team Leads
Managers are usually accountable for training their employees to perform better in their duties. They are responsible for offering their team members and employees professional development opportunities. A thought leader should also stay up to date with the new and disruptive trends of leadership.
They also wear the shoulder pads of mentors to their subordinates to teach them skills they could use as they advance their careers.
Conflict Control
Conflict, as we know, is inevitable in any organization where humans are present. People from different places, with different values, ideas, and nature, come together to achieve a common goal. As such, conflict of all these things is bound to occur.
Managers address conflicts when necessary. They usually exert conflict resolution skills to help maintain a positive work environment for their team and the organization.
Who Is A Line Manager
A line manager is known to be an employee who directly manages other employees and processes to report to a senior manager. They can be called a supervisor or team leaders. A line manager is entrusted with attaining business goals in a specific active line of business.
They supervise employees to achieve business goals and are the intermediaries between the management and the staff. Line managers also provide daily guidance, motivation, and feedback to employees. They play a massive role in shaping the culture of teams.
Companies could invest in training their line managers through external training. Places like London, UK, offer many professionally recognized training for line managers. Companies could send them on management training in London. Line managers need training for various reasons; here are a few
- training enables them to have clarity in communication
- it helps them achieve goals easily
- it teaches them how to prioritize and plan
- enables them to understand how to handle conflict and performance issues
- training sheds light on how to manage themselves and other people
5 Roles And Responsibilities Of Every Effective Line Manager
To effectively perform their duties, line managers must efficiently manage the resources under their care. They are entrusted with specific responsibilities to achieve organizational objectives, and these are a few of them.
Strategy Implementation
Line managers are responsible for ensuring that strategies are implemented at lower levels.
These managers are also in the best place to estimate performance, recognize bottlenecks with the strategy execution programs, and promptly resolve issues to meet goals. They are in the best position to identify problems with the strategy execution programs.
Mentoring And Coaching
Line managers are responsible for mentoring and coaching employees in the organization. They coach to show and guide employees on improvement areas and empower them to solve issues on their own and perfectly.
The line managers also need to undergo subsequent management training to help develop them into engaging and effective line managers. Through line manager training, they are taught to understand certain underlying factors to consider when managing a team to achieve a common goal.
Developing Training Plans For Employees
Line managers ensure that training plans enhance employees’ motivation and performance, allowing them to achieve organizational goals and objectives.
The right employee training plan can positively change your organization, internally and externally. Training helps to strengthen employees’ weak areas and enhance individual performance.
Reporting To Senior Managers
Line managers are groomed to report to their senior managers dutifully. They relay the outcome of delegated tasks and bring to the notice of senior managers specific issues.
They explain when needed, like when there’s friction in time and money.
Developing Team Talents
For line managers to be effective, talent development is a significant priority. In organizations, line managers are expected to have a good amount of control over identifying, developing, and advancing talented professionals on their teams. Line managers’ successors often emerge from these teams.
Who Is A Project Manager
A project manager is a professional who prepares the construction contract and develops a payment plan established around milestones. These managers are entrusted with site supervision and assessing the work done by employees on site.
They also deal with relationship management in general.
Line Manager And Project manager – What is the Difference?
Although project managers and line managers manage people, customers, and projects, a line manager has higher authority. Depending on an organization’s structure and type, a project manager may or may not be the line manager.
- A line manager has full-time management, unlike the project manager, which involves part-time.
- A Project manager is assigned to manage a single project, while the Line Manager manages a line of projects.
- A line manager would be aligned with the senior management’s vision and strategy and focus more on the company’s culture and policies.
- A project manager focuses on achieving the project’s goals and spends more time on the execution and management of the project team.
Conclusion
When a line manager performs his duties effectively, there is room for proper management and execution of resources to go in line with the organization’s objective. When there’s a fault in how a line manager carries out his duties, this fault can affect the efficiency of the team and hinder productivity. Hence, organizations are urged to place their managers on training programs to maximize productivity.
