The 4-Hour Rule of Great Managers

“Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.”

                                                                                                            Theodore Roosevelt

Managers certainly benefit from leadership development experiences that help them grow core leadership skills - like self-awareness, providing feedback, coaching, and delegation - but without applying the “4-hour rule,” they will never be a great manager to their employees.

What Is the 4-Hour Rule?

Gallup Organization provided us with insights about the 4-hour rule in its best-selling book: First, Break All the Rules. Gallup’s research found that the most effective managers had one thing in common: they spent roughly 4 hours per year, with each of their employees, focusing on their individual performance and development. Acknowledging this core principal for great management, most organizations have adjusted their performance management approach to encourage ongoing employee feedback—versus employees only receiving feedback during their annual performance reviews.

The 4-hour rule is anchored by the fact that great management requires investing in the people you manage. Employees must believe that their managers care about their professional success and well-being before they will choose to commit and engage their strengths and discretionary effort. My favorite Gallup quote is:

“The talented employee may join a company because of its charismatic leaders, its generous benefits, and its world-class training programs, but how long that employee stays and how productive he is while he is there is determined by his relationship with his immediate supervisor.”

Notice the quote says that the retention and productivity of an employee is determined by the employee’s relationship with their immediate supervisor.   

Every manager wants loyal employees, but not every manager is willing to do what it takes to earn their loyalty. There is only one way for managers to build a relationship and trust with their employees, and it is by investing a manager’s most precious resource—which is TIME. By time, I mean energy invested in asking questions and listening to understand an employee’s goals, motivations, strengths, and weaknesses. The insights gained from these conversations enable managers to provide effective guidance, feedback, and coaching for enhancing employees’ development and career growth.

This doesn’t mean that managers need to become best friends—or even be social outside of work. Each manager and employee has individual preferences about how to maintain professional relationships. What it does mean is that managers need to invest time in conversations with their employees about their performance and development. This can come in quarterly, one-hour meetings or in regular ongoing interactions. It doesn’t matter the approach, but what matters is that employees can answer definitively “Yes” when asked if they received 4 hours of their managers’ time discussing their performance and development.

What Do These Conversations Look Like?

Research conducted by Dr. Judith Glaser, author of Conversational Intelligence, suggests that up to 95 percent of workplace interactions are instructions, or of a telling nature. One of the primary skills managers need to develop is to stop telling and lead through questions. This conversation shift helps create an environment where their employees feel valued, empowered, and motivated—all key ingredients for engagement and performance.

Managers should regularly ask their employees two types of questions:

• One set of questions is targeted at understanding employees’ context and perspectives regarding their challenges and opportunities (How do you feel about the current situation? / What challenges are you encountering? / What actions have you taken? / What would success look like?).
• The other type of question’s aim is to generate forward-focused solutions for those same challenges and opportunities (What do you think you should do next? / What solutions do you see? / What other approaches might work? / How can I support you moving forward?).

Both types of questions are important for managers to support their employee’s growth and development; but forward-focused questions have special power in that they create broadened possibilities, shared motivation, inclusion, a growth mindset, and new insights. This asking process creates an environment where the employee feels valued and in control, which are critical factors for retention, well-being, and performance.

Taking the time to ask questions prior to providing perspectives doesn’t stop managers from sharing their perspectives; it just means that they choose to ask questions and understand other views before sharing their own.

In my more than 20 years of experience developing leaders and leading departments, teams, and individuals, the 4-hour rule has proven to be a universal price of admission for great management. I regularly share the 4-hour rule with leaders when presenting or delivering workshops, and I always follow it up with these two questions. The first question goes like this: “In the last 12 months, how many of you experienced your immediate manager investing 4 hours with you in discussing your performance and development?” Usually only about 20 percent of the room raises their hands. The second question is the most relevant for those who aspire to be great managers: “During the last 12 months, would the people you manage say that their manager invested 4 hours with them discussing their performance and development?”

How would the employees that you manage answer this question?

Tony Gambill is a principal consultant for CREO Inc., an innovative management consulting and advisory firm based in Research Triangle Park specializing in the life sciences, healthcare, and technology services industries. Tony brings more than 20 years of executive experience in leadership and talent development within global for-profit, non-profit, technical, research, healthcare, government and higher educational industries. www.CreoInc.net