Can anyone give me any advice on how to not let hteir skills stagnate when they're working for a manager who has no interest in developing his people?
I've recently moved into a new role within my company. I'm more senior and the role is technical (my previous role was more project management focused) but it has some significant constraints.
I have regular one-on-ones with my line manager. In one of my more recent ones he specifically asked for me to identify things I wanted to do to further my development.When I came back to a subsequent one-on-one with some reasonable suggestsions, they were both stamped on.
One of my ideas involved broadening my range of responsibiltiies to develop my skills. I was told that, if I wasn't happy with the role and its responsibilities, I shouldn't have signed up for it.
My feelings about this particular manager are shared quite widely in the team - most people feel like the manager dislikes them or are a little bit scared of him,
What would be the MT way of approaching this scenario?
Do it yourself
It would be great if your manager would help develop you but if you feel that won't happen, then take the initative and do it yourself. For example, search for webinars, books, articles that you can study and learn from. Find a mentor - either in or out of your organization.
There is nothing stopping you from doing all of this yourself. Go for it!
Thanks
But surely it can only ever be part of the answer? Learning froom books can't completely supplant learning by doing. And my company won't recognise any self-directed learning I do for the purpsoe of internal promotions and opportunities.
One thing stood out to me in
One thing stood out to me in your message. You said you are new to the role and one of your first development suggestions was to expand and change the role. Many managers want to make sure people are solid in their role before considering new responsibilities. I would focus development on areas that directly impact your role. If it's technical, there may be specific training that will make you better at the role in it's current form (Agile, Six Sigma, etc.). Do that and demonstrate that it has helped you be better at your job, and maybe he'll be more open to expanding the role in the future.
Additionally, dtiller offers some good suggestions as well. If he isn't open to developing you, you do have some personal options to continue education and development.
Regards,
Randall