Respecting the style in which I usually write my articles, in the content of the following work the author will be discussed in the third person even though the reflections and proposals presented here are my own and the product of my research in administrative sciences.
Not all companies implement Succession Plans or, failing that, Career Plans to guarantee the growth and development of staff in their different areas. In some cases (if not in many of them), organizations prefer to search the labor market for people who occupy important positions that have become vacant or that have been created due to restructuring, growth of the operation or any other type of administrative expression.
The reasons for looking for people outside the company are many, ranging from the recognition of not having employees sufficiently trained to take over that responsibility or the firm need to oxygenate the organization with fresh minds. All of them valid, yes, up to a point.
For the personnel who work in a company, the arrival of an outsider destined to occupy a supervisory position is equal to the unexpected fall of a paratrooper, hence the expression Managerial Parachuting, since in many cases this figure is used by senior management in order to promote improvements within the area, in the best of cases, or put order in the operation.
However, their practice highlights the lack of planning in staff development, the lack of knowledge of insourcing as a tool to maintain motivation and interest in the company and, in some cases, the low value given to internal resources.
Management Skydiving has its advantages and disadvantages and sometimes the risks that are run when using this tool are often overlooked. However, it can be highly necessary and recommended in scenarios where it is impossible to generate changes or introduce improvements due to the style and culture of the organization or in those cases where it is the same staff who show disinterest in developing and assuming new responsibilities.
Advantages of Managerial Skydiving
Bringing trained, experienced people with fresh and innovative ideas to the organization is one of the responsibilities of the Recruitment and Development Management, because the more prepared, intelligent, identified and capable the staff is in the same proportion the company will be and this It offers enviable comparative and competitive superiority. Among the advantages offered by the use of Managerial Skydiving, the following can be mentioned, in theory:
It allows the introduction of new knowledge to the operation: The experience and knowledge acquired in other scenarios can be transferred and assimilated by the company through the new resource. This will be in charge of updating certain procedures and completely transforming others to guarantee the success of the management.
Facilitates contact with other management styles: Coming from different backgrounds and with different paradigms, the new recruited staff will offer innovative ways to involve people, keep them motivated and facilitate the achievement of goals. They are not committed to the management style of the company and, in certain cases, they are unaware of it, so they will try to create a new work environment and camaraderie.
Generates a climate of change and expectations: Before the arrival of a new member to the operation, expectations are increased and with it the interest in the work environment increases, this promotes a sensation of change among other employees who may be waiting for it with certain anxiety. Change is associated with renewal and this concept with the hope that it is changed to improve, not to regress.
It allows the rest of the team to start from scratch: Past mistakes, omissions and faults lose their status as permanent labels and go into the background, the newcomer will be unaware of such misfortunes and the opportunity to start from scratch and with the right foot is present. Everyone has an equal opportunity to make a good impression and to maintain it throughout the new administration.
The arrival of a stranger to the company requires a lot of support, an open mind and the ability to assimilate changes and new paradigms, otherwise little or nothing would be achieved with their participation in the administrative process.
Disadvantages of Managerial Skydiving
If the recruitment of new personnel is done without taking into account the ideal profile for the position and its relationship with the expectations that the company has of it, there are many negative consequences that Managerial Skydiving will bring with it, among them the following can be listed:
Generates feelings of frustration and disapproval: If there are trained and prepared personnel to assume the vacant position and it is not taken into account by senior management for this purpose, consciously or not, feelings of frustration will be generated in them, this will affect their identification with the company and will be the trigger to initiate searches within or outside the organization that facilitate its growth and development or at least guarantee its valuation in future opportunities. In the absence of recognition, the work becomes a burden instead of a challenge, since growth expectations are usually had, this influences the behavior of employees who have not been considered, despite their qualities and talents, ending with induce attitudes of disapproval, rejection and loss of respect to those who run the organization.
Produces instability and confusion: Change can also be perceived as something bad and destabilizing, mainly because it will break with what was considered stable and manageable and will introduce variations that will affect the present rhythm. Usually the new managers make the changes they consider necessary to adjust the environment to their paradigms, when the staff is not involved in it, a climate of instability is generated that produces resistance. The confusion is given by the absence of information or the excess of it that both the company and the newcomer expose to the people regarding the occupation of the position.
It confirms the impossibility of growth: For most of the personnel that faces a new manager, especially when they come from a different scenario than the local one, their presence is the confirmation of their permanence in their job, in the routine of their operation and / or in the absence of possibilities to climb positions in the company. They tend to associate the arrival of the new manager or supervisor with a silent message that reminds them that they are not prepared for that position or that those who run the company are ignorant of the level and capacity of their employees.
Involving the staff in the decisions for which external personnel are sought facilitates the assimilation of the experience and opens the doors to the changes that this suggests. It is important not to ignore the participation of emerging staff in the search for new managers of management processes since otherwise, and depending on the level of maturity of the employees, adverse situations, boycotts or expressions of intolerance can be generated that could easily be avoided.
Now, it is the responsibility of the company to provide for the rotation of its management staff and to have trained personnel at the time of a vacancy, but it is also the responsibility of the employee to seek to have the ideal academic and operational level to pretend to opt for managerial or supervisory positions, otherwise, they will be the ones forcing companies to search outside their boundaries.
But the topic of Managerial Skydiving does not end here, as it also happens that there are certain practices that can significantly affect the use of the tool, its conceptualization, perception and impact on organizations, these can be classified as follows:
Irresponsible managerial skydiving: It is one that the company practices in knowledge of the existence of internal personnel capable of assuming responsibility for the vacant position. Usually it responds to particular interests, samples of cronyism or cronyism or the payment of labor debts acquired in past situations with people who are imposed on the organization. It can also be presented for whims, abuse of power, motivated by punishment or consequence of ignorance, political reasons, sentimental or of a nature other than administrative objectivity.
Unplanned managerial skydiving: It is one that occurs due to the improvised exercise of administrative work where elements of the subdivision of activities in the company are ignored and then, to ensure stability and the flow of the process, resort to the hiring of external personnel little or nothing related to the mystique of the company.
Exaggerated managerial skydiving: Corresponds to the misconception that any managerial or supervisory vacancy must be filled with personnel from outside the company, based on the fact that this guarantees innovation and process improvements.
In addition to the aforementioned, the behaviors of some skydiver managers that tend to be repeated in any scenario must be added:
They avoid getting involved with the organizational culture: Although it is true that it is not advisable to be contaminated by bad practices or omissions, one of the most common mistakes that newcomers to the operation have is constantly citing how this or that thing was done in "their company ”and trying to change the operation without knowing in detail the reasons why it works in the same way.
New employees matter: As a general rule, parachute managers tend to “assemble their team” in the new scenario, this does not always involve pre-existing people and, in most cases, represents the replacement of local employees by people who worked with them in other companies and whose work relationship, friendship and camaraderie, tries to be repeated in the new organization.
They are unaware of the progress made: With the firm intention of justifying their presence and generating an impact on the operation, they initiate restructuring, pseudo-reengineering or redesign processes without paying attention to the achievements made and inherited from past administrations.
They suppose the need to generate a new order.
They label existing staff: They base their criteria and perceptions on comments, prejudices or anecdotes that they provide from the staff they inherit and do not give the opportunity to offer the right to defense or to build their own image.
They appear to know the business: In a few days they talk about the company as if their permanence in it had a long history, they assume positions and offer opinions of people who have added value to the company with their performance even when they have not had the opportunity to do so.
Obviously, such expressions correspond to those paratrooper managers who lack seriousness, professionalism and sense of value, since there are successful examples where new managers understand the importance of getting involved with the elements of the company and make objective, responsible and considered decisions that add value. both the organization and those who make it up.
But also the paratrooper manager faces several risks namely:
Companies that contradict: These are those organizations that hire new talent offering them wide possibilities to put their knowledge and experience into practice, innovate and generate changes, but then limit their action, cut back on their initiative and question their methods for not "adjusting to the company culture "
Resentful employees: As a result of the lack of possibilities for growth and / or recognition, employees deny any information, help or collaboration to the newcomer, boycotting the processes and their results in order to misrepresent the image of the new manager. They show their dislike and use time and knowledge of the organizational culture to seem oblivious to the actions they undertake.
Non-existent tools: In certain cases the expectations created during the hiring interview exceed the response capacity of the company, so the new manager may have ingenious and feasible solutions to be applied in his area and find himself in front of an organization that not only lacks of tools but is not interested in acquiring or developing them.
Hostile work environment: It is not always possible to perceive the level of hostility and maladjustment that a company has internally and as a consequence of a strong disarticulation, need to excel and even unfair competition from its units; the paratrooper manager may find himself in the middle of a war that he did not start but that he has to take on if he is to remain in the company.
Inconsistent bosses: Another risk that a paratrooper manager runs is discovering that he has been selected in a company where the power and therefore his level of reporting is in the hands of a person with pathological instability in his decisions, actions and proceeding, which it is one of the causes of turnover in the area where it has been selected.
For its part, the company is also prone to taking several risks when making use of Managerial Skydiving, among them we can name:
Hiring the wrong personnel: The existing filters in the selection of personnel do not always work fully, sometimes people with good profiles are hired who have known how to hide their thirst for power, contempt for some social strata or types of personal cut, tendencies autocratic or lewd behavior.
People with wrong expectations: When a correct estimate is not produced, people can be hired who perfectly fit the profile but whose expectations in the area or the company are above or far below what is really expected. This can result in a short and fruitless employment relationship that will be useless for both parties.
Conflictive people: Even when perception does not warn of this possibility, there is the possibility of hiring managers who break the unity in the company, who confront their personnel and generate unnecessary conflicts between them, paratrooper managers who, upon arrival, bring "their people" generating a niche of power and that when leaving they usually wait for the team to also dissolve.
Hiring inept managers: Either because of a hasty selection, or too long a hiring process, or because some high level demanded the entry of a particular person, companies will always face the risk of hiring an inept manager.
However, not everything that can be said about Managerial Skydiving has to highlight its negative side. Indeed, companies require oxygenation, place the right people in key positions and seek the success of their operation based on the criteria and experience of good managers, who are not always found within the organization.
Managerial Skydiving must be practiced and used as a consequence of a conscious, planned and well-studied process, as it must bring lasting, measurable and sustainable improvements over time for the benefit of all the members of the company and not just a few. It must also be monitored, evaluated and oriented without limiting its activity once it has been applied in a particular area.
You simply have to discard the internal resource first, make use of insourcing, before taking a look outside the company. It must be understood that it is necessary to try to develop people so that they take on new opportunities, always keeping in mind who can happen to whoever is leaving.
When employees are aware of the absence of their own competencies to assume a large position, they respond in a better way to the arrival of a new managerial member, this facilitates their settlement and development in the new position, which is good for them, for the company and for everyone who integrates it.
These suggestions are worth taking into account:
For the companies:
Implement Succession Plans or, failing that, Career Plans that are real, feasible and experienced by your staff.
Exhaust the internal search before thinking about the job market
Make known to the company, the area or the unit the reasons why you think it is best to hire a staff from outside the company.
Be consistent with the commitments, expectations, and approaches that arise when hiring new staff.
Plan the use of Managerial Skydiving, avoid subjectivity and improvisation. Be responsible with the tool.
For Parachute Managers:
Properly value the business.
Try to research and experience the organizational climate very well before making the decision to be hired.
Check the willingness of the company to make changes in its processes and accept the improvements that it will propose based on its experience.
If you want to recreate the "good old days" try to do it with existing staff. If you find that it is impossible for you to make the relevant changes based on objective decisions, consider internal staff before "importing" talent.
Get involved with the company and with the staff, avoid value judgments and try to demonstrate with facts why your approaches are better than existing processes, where it warrants.
Keep an open, positive and objective attitude, do not get carried away by other people's perceptions. Do not tag anyone.
For staff:
Do a self-assessment before considering yourself bypassed by the company. Ask yourself: Do I have the skills the position requires? If the answer is "yes" it is time to apply the Grasshopper Theory and what it implies. If the answer is "no" you are jointly responsible for not being considered for the position.
Don't look at the new manager as "the enemy" - he probably has the same feeling of anxiety as you. Don't get carried away by prejudice.
Offer your support and contribution to the success of the new administration, if you were unlucky in the past what makes you think you are unlucky now? Embrace change with positivity.
Final thoughts
The labor market is changing, what was understood yesterday as job stability has disappeared, so it is not known when it will be time to use Managerial Skydiving to guarantee the continuity of the process, everyone must be prepared, Company, Managers and employees Therefore, at any moment they can find themselves involved in a situation where they will have to wait for a paratrooper or he will become one of them.
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Félix Socorro has a Master's Degree in Management Sciences, a mention in Human Resources, a Specialist in Management, a mention in Business Management, a Bachelor in Administration, a mention in Human Resources and a Higher University Technician in Management, a mention in Business Management. He is an international Lecturer and Facilitator on this and other management issues. Contact: [email protected]
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