The Pros and Cons of Tiered Management Programs vs. Consistent Management Approaches (with a Hybrid Solution)

When it comes to management development, companies face a crucial decision: should they adopt a tiered management program, where managers at different stages receive tailored training to their role or level, or opt for a more consistent management approach that applies more uniformity across all levels of management?

Two companies often quoted in discussions about management development are Google and Netflix. Google follows more of a tiered management development approach, designing specific programs for team leads, mid-level managers, and senior leaders. Netflix, on the other hand, embraces a consistent management development strategy, developing managers through the same core management principles and development pathways.

In this blog, we’ll explore the pros and cons of both approaches, with a particular emphasis on why a consistent management development strategy may be more effective for fostering alignment, accountability, and a strong organisational culture. We’ll also discuss how you can still incorporate the best of both worlds by building a consistent baseline while allowing room for specialised training where needed.

The Tiered Management Program: Google’s Model

Pros:

• Targeted Development: One of the biggest advantages of a tiered management approach is the ability to target the specific needs of managers at different levels. Team leads may need to focus on communication and team management, while senior leaders might benefit from learning strategic vision-setting and company-wide influence.
• Customised Learning: By breaking down management into tiers, companies can ensure that managers receive development that is relevant to their current role. This makes the training more actionable and directly applicable to their day-to-day responsibilities.
• Structured Pipeline: Tiered programs often create a structured leadership and management pipeline, helping companies to scale managers as they grow. Google’s program ensures that managers are trained progressively as they move up the ranks, providing a clear path for development.

Cons:

• Fragmentation: A tiered approach can sometimes result in a fragmented leadership and management culture. With each tier focusing on different skills and training, there’s a risk that the principles guiding management will become inconsistent across the organisation.
• Lack of Cohesion: When managers at different levels are trained in isolation, it can lead to silos in management styles. This can hinder cross-functional collaboration and create gaps in communication across teams.
• Complexity in Delivery: Implementing a tiered management program can be resource-intensive, requiring developing multiple curricula for different levels. This complexity can slow down the rollout of management training, especially in fast-growing companies.

The Consistent Management Approach: Netflix’s Model

Netflix’s management development approach offers an alternative strategy, where all leaders are developed using a consistent set of principles, regardless of their level of seniority.

Pros:

• Cultural Alignment: By ensuring that managers across the organisation are trained in the same way, companies like Netflix create a unified leadership and management culture. This consistency drives alignment in decision-making, behaviours, and management values, which is critical for maintaining a strong, cohesive company culture.
• Accountability at Every Level: A consistent approach eliminates the hierarchy in management development, ensuring that everyone - from team leads to senior leaders - follows the same standards of accountability and transparency. This can help foster a culture of responsibility, where all managers are held to the same high standards regardless of their role.
• Simplified Development: Implementing a single management development program that applies to everyone simplifies the training process. There’s no need to design multiple tiers of training, which can streamline management development and reduce training costs.
• Encourages Peer Learning: A consistent management approach encourages leaders and managers to learn from each other, as they all follow a similar development pathway. This can foster collaboration and shared learning across teams, further strengthening the management culture.

Cons:

• Lack of Specialisation: One criticism of a consistent approach is that it may not address the specific needs of managers at different levels. A team lead might not need the same training as a senior leader, and this one-size-fits-all approach could miss opportunities for more specialised development.
• Risk of Oversimplification: If not carefully designed, a consistent management program could oversimplify management development, neglecting the unique challenges that leaders and managers face at different stages of their career.

A Hybrid Solution: Consistency with Room for Specialisation

While the consistent management approach offers substantial advantages in building alignment and maintaining a unified culture, there’s no reason you can’t take some of the pros from a tiered approach and integrate them into a consistent framework. By doing so, you can address the specialised needs of leaders at different stages while ensuring that everyone is aligned with core leadership and management principles.

How It Works:

• Consistent Baseline: Start with a management development program that applies universally across all levels of management. This program should focus on key leadership and management competencies that are crucial at every stage—such as self-awareness, understanding team behaviours, effective communication, and decision-making. This baseline creates a strong foundation for every leader and manager, ensuring consistency in behaviour across the organisation.
• Specialised Modules for Different Levels: Once managers have mastered foundational competencies, you can introduce specialised modules that cater to their specific role or stage in the organisation. For example, team leads might benefit from training focused on managing small teams and daily operations, while senior leaders could participate in modules centered around strategic visioning and cross-company influence. This allows you to offer targeted development without sacrificing the consistency of core management principles.
• Shared Learning Across Levels: To maintain the cultural cohesion that a consistent approach fosters, create opportunities for leaders and managers at different levels to learn from each other. Cross-level coaching, peer-to-peer learning, and group workshops can reinforce shared leadership and management values while still allowing managers to develop specialised skills relevant to their roles.

Example: The Perform Platform offers a great example of how this hybrid approach can be implemented. The platform provides a consistent management development framework founded on behavioural insight and self-awareness, which are crucial for leaders and managers at any level. As managers progress through the platform, they can access customised modules that address their specific challenges—whether they’re a team lead managing a small group or a senior leader overseeing strategic initiatives. This ensures that management development is both consistent and adaptable to different stages of growth.

Why This Hybrid Approach Works:

• Alignment and Accountability: By building a consistent baseline, you ensure that all managers, regardless of their role, are aligned with the company’s core management principles. This reduces fragmentation and ensures that everyone is held to the same high standards.
• Flexibility for Growth: Introducing specialised modules allows you to address the unique challenges that leaders and managers face at different stages of their careers. This flexibility ensures that leadership and management development is relevant and impactful at every level.
• Unified Culture: A hybrid approach maintains a unified leadership and management culture while allowing for tailored development. Leaders and managers at different levels may have different responsibilities, but they all operate from the same set of principles and values.

Conclusion: The Best of Both Worlds

In today’s fast-paced business environment, companies need to develop leaders and managers who are aligned with the company’s values while also addressing their specific development needs. A hybrid approach that combines the strengths of a consistent management program with the flexibility of specialised training offers the best of both worlds.

By establishing a strong baseline of management competencies and introducing tailored modules where necessary, you can ensure that all leaders and managers are equipped with the skills they need to succeed, while still fostering a cohesive, high-performance leadership and management culture.

To find out how Perform could help you build your management development capabilities, book a call here.

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