The Value of Previous Management Experience

Previous project management experience does have a place in just about every company, but this is not something that should be assumed to always be beneficial. There is a lot of factors that could lead to this thought process going one way or the other. If a person was considered to be a great leader at his or her previous place of business, then the new company would benefit immensely from the experience. However, if the leadership was subpar or simply unsatisfactory, there would not be much positive value placed on what that manager brings to the new company. It could even be a concern that negative management could be brought by that individual.

Leadership is in high demand at just about all businesses, so previous experience will always be encouraged or favored (Northouse, 2010). The public does enjoy and has a great deal of interest in the overall concept of leadership, as many still ask the question of what constitutes a good leader. Many have the mindset that quality leadership is vital in order to see improvement in social, personal and professional lives. Even without the knowledge of how a particular person performed at a previous place of business, corporations will always favor someone with leadership experience, even if they are left with having to retrain them in specific areas. It would still be appealing to the heads of these corporations to have personnel who are not “rookies” in terms of leadership, and even upon knowing that the individual may not have made the best leader at his or her previous place of employment, this is still better in the eyes of some than someone with no leadership experience at all. There could exist the belief that a change in scenery would do the person much better and they may start to see an improvement in leadership behavior and skills. That person is still viewed as being much further along than a brand-new person who is seeking a leadership position but has absolutely nothing to show for the request.

In terms of “gut calls” and intuition, this could potentially be more harmful than successful. It is not clear on exactly what would lead someone to make calls such as these, but it would have to be known as far as what kinds of decisions they have made in the past. However, intuition is still extremely valuable and highly sought-after in a successful leader. Many leaders make decisions based on intuition rather than on the massive amounts of empirical data they have at their disposals (Wilson, 2018). Intuition can be used by leadership for all sorts of decisions, from hiring new personnel to transferring workers from one section to another, or if applicable, investment decisions within the company as well. Many are in favor of ignoring what business and company manuals state, as there are often many situations that come upon within the workplace that are not covered in the manuals and would be better served and solved by a leader with experience in that particular situation.

In cases such as those, following one’s gut to reach the desired outcome may be the best bet. However, it becomes dangerous as a leader to make those “gut” decisions or to decide based on intuition as merely a substitute for knowing company doctrine. In other words, it would not be beneficial at all for a leader to make guesses simply because he or she is in a leadership position, as this is something that happens quite often as well. There are times when, even as a leader, those “gut” and intuition decisions are necessary, as there are other instances in which there should be little to no deviation from a company or business policy. That is one characteristic of being a good leader; the ability to know when to do each. Another trait of a good leader is to know when his or her gut decision or upon following intuition led to an unfavorable outcome, and that they were upfront with employees. A leader should not ignore poor decisions or to continue to ride with them, when it was made more than clear that he or she should have gone in a different direction. Employees will respect a leader who can be honest from that standpoint.

References

Northouse, P. (2010). Leadership: Theory and practice (8th ed.). Sage Publications.Thousand Oaks, CA.

Wilson, C. (2018). Trusting your gut is the best business tool you’ve got—If you can listen. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/chipwilson/2018/06/14/trusting-your-gut-is-the-best- business-tool-youve-got-if-you-can-listen/#554e29894b16