Eight Simple, Applicable Tips for Managers

Written by Bob Kelleher , Founder, The Employee Engagement Group; Author, Louder Than Words and I-Engage ([email protected]) and Dave Ulrich, Rensis Likert; Professor, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan; Partner, The RBL Group ([email protected])

Early in each of our careers, we often met with students or new workforce entrants who aspired to be “the boss” and move into management. In recent years, our work with talented employees shows that fewer have such managerial aspirations. Our observations and experience can be confirmed by research.

Gallup polls show overall an eleven-year low in employee engagement (30 percent in the U.S. and 23 percent globally)—and that managers have more negative experiences that non-managers, especially managers who manage a hybrid workforce. Microsoft confirmed that 53 percent of hybrid managers and 48 percent of hybrid employees felt burned out.

Further Sirota and Hogan research found that the largest predictor of employee engagement is the influence of the direct manager. Gallup found that best practice companies (with more engaged managers) scored 70 percent on overall employee engagement (versus 30 percent for other companies). Thus, managers can impact the variance in engagement by dramatically. They allocate resources to focus strategies that succeed. They create organizations that benefit employees. They impact 25 percent of intangible value, which is a significant factor in firm valuation.

Bob’s research found that home circumstances (child/elder care, illness, relationships) and society stressors (political divisiveness, civil unrest and wars, inflation, technological advances, key talent scarcity) put even more pressure on managers. The allure of moving into management for advancement options, financial gain, ability to influence decisions, and personal status is becoming less compelling for many employees.

Managing people who inevitably act with personal emotion (often volatile, self-interested, and illogical) is arduous. And the research results suggest that being a manager is more demanding and difficult than ever. But we know that managers at all levels of an organization are necessary. We want to help those who choose to move into or are placed in managerial roles to be more effective at serving all stakeholders: engage employees, build stronger organizations, continually renew strategy, increase customer share, deliver investor value, and improve community reputation.

How Managers Can Better Manage Their People

Many models show how to improve leadership, including work we have done. In this post, we want to share eight pragmatic steps for being a better manager. These eight tips come from our collective decades of one-on-one coaching with, training for, and studying of managers who better manage their people.

1.???? Make it safe to opt out of or refuse management promotions.

Most people are not candidates for their bosses’ position, even high-performing individuals. We need to redesign careers away from a linear upward progression and toward a mosaic where talented individual contributors can be rewarded for their individual contributions and not be coaxed into manager positions they’re not suited to. Another option is to allow employees to cross train others in areas outside of their current job to increase their value to the organization, so they don’t look to be promoted just to “make more money” or have more status.

2.??? Redefine the managerial competencies.

Many leadership competence models cover the range of leadership requirements (strategy, execution, as well as talent and personal traits). The talent-enabled manager particularly needs to increase in empathy, humility, and vulnerability. These three competencies are often overlooked when evaluating people for management positions—even though most experts agree that these are proven traits of great managers.

3.??? Routinely do employee engagement or pulse surveys.

These data instruments can be broken down by department, location, business unit, profit center, etc. and include questions relating to how employees are being managed. This will give organizations an instant scorecard of both the underperforming managers (train up or move out) as well as the upper-performing managers (determine what they’re doing right and leverage these best practices elsewhere).?Most organizations perform exit interviews, which are lag indicators. Engagement and pulse surveys, along with stay interview questions, are more important leadindicators of engagement as well as early indicators of one’s flight risk. Organizations can learn how to keep people before losing them.

4.??? Personalize the selection and training of managers.

In the world of engagement, no one size fits all. Every manager is different, and variables such as experience, tenure, mentorship, business conditions, and personal situations all could influence how people manage and lead others. Teach managers that gaining trust with the team is their greatest engagement driver in their leadership took kit. Trust combines being trustworthy (which thankfully, most managers are good at) with being trusting (which unfortunately is where many managers need improvement).

5.??? Provide management training and ongoing support.

One client we worked with discovered that the first three to six months that managers were moved into a new position was when they were most open to training as they faced new challenges. According to a recent SHRM poll, 84 percent of American workers say poorly trained managers create a lot of unnecessary work and stress. Managerial training (including coaching) should not be an event but an ongoing process in which organizations focus on improving the competencies of managers. Include 360 leadership assessments as part of the development plan for all managers.

6.??? Reduce a new manager’s previous workload.

Sometimes those who transition into management linger too long doing their previous individual contributor work. Managing people takes time, and if someone is promoted without their workload being reduced, guess what happens? Their prior work responsibilities will take precedence over their new people management responsibilities.

7.???? Communicate first to managers.

When communicating to the organization, always communicate first to the managers so they can understand the reasons for the communication. Treat all managers, including first-line supervisors, as ambassadors of the communication. They need to be early adopters to ensure their own organizational buy in regardless of what’s being communicated. This communication helps managers offer employees a line of sight with answers to three questions: “Where are we going?” “How are we doing?” and “Where do I fit in?”

8.??? Recognize and appreciate supervisors, managers, and leaders.

Leadership roles are lonely at all levels, and sometimes we forget that people who manage others are employee themselves and are dealing with the same life and work challenges that their employees are dealing with. Emotions can be contagious.When people feel recognized and appreciated by those above, they will then naturally show more recognition and appreciation to those they manage themselves.?

To new entrants and individual contributors in the workforce, we encourage consideration of management as a career. Because when prepared and supported, managers have impact far beyond their personal scope.

Which tips work best for you and what else would you suggest?

..………

Dave Ulrich?is the Rensis Likert Professor at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, and a partner at The RBL Group, a consulting firm focused on helping organizations and leaders deliver value.