Employers: Did You Promote The Right People? (Part 3)

This multi-part article explores the importance of a company's managerial choices beyond the obvious considerations, and explains why - and how - companies should be taking a hard look at the people we put in charge of our people.

(Continued from Part 2)

The driving force behind inspiring an employee’s effort and dedication is not usually centered around money.?(But note: lowball the pay of good people at your peril.)?It’s about the desire for the team member to feel that the ongoing sacrifices they make in their personal lives and households are being exerted for a beneficial reason in the larger sense. ?

Embrace this fact: If an employee has been serving your company for any consistent length of time, they care.? Here are people that really want to believe that the HR-friendly title of “Team Member” means that they are truly performing work in pursuit of a team’s mutual success and progress.?If they are there and on the payroll, they do belong to something, but will their manager allow them to know why they have to keep pedaling and which way they are being steered, or is the overall direction too lofty a secret to share with “the help”? ?If that sentiment is even internally felt by a manager, that manager is likely going to amount to nothing more than an average and very replaceable one.?It will be detected by their direct reports, and the loyalty and productivity of his/her team will begin its way down a steady and almost unchangeable declining ramp to separation. ?

A good captain makes their team aware of their goal and direction and lets each oarsman understand that their contribution to the forward progress of the vessel is not only needed, but that their individual best effort and talents are necessary to help the vessel's course remain true and direct toward the goal. ?

No team member benefits from valueless secrecy.?Absolutely, there are sensitive topics and protected bits of privacy that make up the human resource aspect of a workplace, and that should or must be kept confidential, but focusing on what to do and not including a why/how is a shortsighted leadership approach, and an attitude of “because I said so” is an unfortunate and costly bit of managerial arrogance. ?

Do your managers give ample real talk to their team members to allow them to understand and care about what you’re all trying to accomplish??Could a novel solution arise from several individual thinking brains understanding where you want the ship to go, as opposed to just one captain thinking singularly because they want to be recognized as the man or woman with all the answers??(Newsflash to managers: Even the employer that promoted you to the position would likely not identify your superior IQ or immeasurably inventive methods as any of the top reasons you hold the manager’s role today. )?

Differentiating Qualities of The Right Managers

We all have an ego and a need to understand our value to a company;?managers included.?Managers, you’ll be happy to know you are risking nothing by heightening your people. Due recognition does not circumvent you even when you capitalize on the talents and contributions of your empowered employees.?As the responsible leader for that group, you often DO receive the benefit of notice from the org chart’s higher tiers for the wins...as well as the responsible face on the losses.?

If you want to avoid the latter, heed the perspectives below:?

• Acceptable managers can achieve specific results, and are plentiful everywhere. Intelligently-appointed managers, in contrast, don’t just achieve situational wins and the few important KPIs that they know will get looked at most, but also possess a genuine “we” outlook over an “I” one, and in that they provide more to an organization through both results AND longevity. ?Your CFO can share with you the cost of turnover.
• Deserving managers retain their heirarchical position of leadership but harness the power of all involved toward their mission. ?
• Intelligently-appointed managers organically limit expensive turnover and have a team that develops in talent, personal career roundness, and dedication through the number of battles they’ve participated in together.?You’ll get more from a struggling employee whose competence you grow through many battles than you will from constantly replacing them with untested, fresher "ringers" that need to try and acclimate from ground zero before pursuing each new team objective. ?
• Great managers, like most great coaches, have compassion but their effectiveness is not measured by how nice or accommodating they are.? They understand where the edges are and communicate corrective feedback for a beneficial purpose. Making a team member aware when they have performed beneath their capabilities is caring.? While never fun, it shows that you care about them, as well?as the goals that make the organization around them a viable reality.
• A deserving manager does not tout their experience or organizational height as the evidence of why their teams should revere and follow them.?Try it and you will noticeably get the opposite.?
• Realistic humility: Similar to a great coach in the world of sports, a good manager understands that, even though they likely have the most talent in putting together a whole game plan, executing each play requires talents, strength, speed, and agility that they, themselves do not?- and likely will never - possess.?When they know their role and their limitations, and - through their daily actions - show that they understand that they are not the sole necessary component behind why a team accomplishes their milestones, the team will follow in genuine loyalty in an effort to persist and win without the need for a manager to self-endorse. ?

[Coming in Part 4: Are my current managers as good as they should be? and what to look for in selecting your managers]