The managerial transition intervention is based on Professor Ram Charan’s Leadership Pipeline model. Managers go through key transitions in their careers when they move up the organisational ladder. The scope of work and complexity increases at each level, and it demands new skills, time applications, and work values at each transition point.

The organisation's managerial levels provide 6 key transition points:

Transition Point1:

When individual contributors (like specialist IT engineers, or highly skilled R&D personnel)  move up to the front line managers' role in the organisation, the key challenge will be shifting from the paradigm of "doing" to "getting things done".
Key competencies required at this transition are: Planning work, filling jobs, assigning work, motivating, coaching, and measuring the work of others.
Key learnings required for the new level: Delegation, basic management concepts, time management, project task management, supervisory skills, and coaching skills.

Transition Point 2:

This transition point occurs when the first line manger moves up to become a “manager of managers”.  The key challenges at this senior manager transition include: Divesting of individual tasks to identify value-based resistance to managerial work.

Key competencies required at this level: selecting people to transit through level 1, assigning managerial and leadership work to them, measuring their progress as managers, and coaching them.

Key learning required for the new level: Appraisal skills, coaching and mentoring, understanding of strategic issues, handling conflicts, and team building.

Transition Point 3:

At this transition level, , the senior managers get ready to manage a function at the corporate or business level. Key challenges here would be to manage areas outside their experience, cross-functional understanding and inter-team working, and competing for resources.

Key competencies required for the new level: Team play with other functional managers, competition for resources, creating functional strategy, participating in business team meetings.

Key learning required for the new level: Communication skills, team building, cross-functional teamwork, negotiation and influencing skills, functional strategic planning and implementation skills, participating in business meetings, presentation skills, performance management, basic financial management, and project management.

Transition Point 4:

The next transition is for the functional head, to become a General Manager who needs to hold responsibility for the business rather than a function. Key challenges would be making a shift from looking at plans and proposals functionally to a profit perspective and a long-term view.

Key competencies required for the new level: More strategic and cross-functional, integration and management of different functions, goals Vs present needs trade-offs,and diversity management.

Key learning required for the new level: Competitive strategic planning skills, cross-functional team management, networking skills, facilitation skills, managing meetings, communication and presentation skills, results focus, performance management, financial planning and evaluation, profitability management, understanding of all functional management areas in the strategic perspective, and ability to integrate and lead complex projects.

Transition point 5:

The expertise in managing one business does not guarantee success in managing a group of businesses / business units. While in transition 4, the need is to appreciate and integrate all functions, at the group manager level, the need is to value the success of other people's businesses. As a group manager, managing a portfolio of businesses, and understanding the business cycles they are in, and to provide support for growth and development become critical.

Key competencies required for the new level: Proficiency at evaluating strategies for capital allocation and deployment purposes, development of business managers, portfolio strategy development and deployment, and objective decision-making.

Key learning required for the new level: Advanced financial management concepts, risk management, HR concepts, business strategic thinking, marketing, technology integration, portfolio management of businesses, decision-making skills, influencing skills, and value-based leadership.

Transition point 6:

The last frontier is transitioning to an enterprise manager. The key challenges are: Focus on values rather than skills, shifting from strategic to visionary thinking and operations to a global perspective.

Key competencies required for this level: Long-term, visionary thinking, valuing trade-offs between vision and operating mechanisms, external sensitivity, and managing external constituencies.

Key learnings required for the new level: Transformational experience to build an organisation through vision, exposure to global trends and directions, prioritising, mentoring, letting go of pieces, and value-based leadership skills.

Engagements possible: