Skilled Managers Are the Answer to Employee Engagement

According to Gallup, everyday and in every moment managers account for 70 percent variation in employee engagement. Employees who are engaged get involved and are enthusiastic and committed to their work. Engagement directly impacts business outcomes essential to the organizations growth. As a result, an engaged employee increases productivity and improves client success.

Not engaged employees don't cause drama. They stay silent, showing up and wasting time. They do the minimum amount possible and rarely go out of their way for the customers. Non engaged employees are clock watchers, waiting for their break to come, it to be lunch time of their end of shift. They are taking up limited headcount making it hard to hire additional employees.

Managers Impact on Employee Engagement

Because managers account for 70 percent of employee engagement, good recruitment or promotions are vital the the organizations success. In many cases, especially IT, there are examples of people who earn promotions because of technical expertise but lack the managerial skills necessary to lead teams. In part they fail because they receive little to no management training or development support. Good recruitment and promotion decisions aren't enough. There needs to be residual support, development and coaching offered to people in management roles in a modern and focused way.

What Do Employees Want in a Great Manager

When recruiting or promoting someone into a management role it is important they have a level of technical expertise in the role but it is more important they have the ability to manage others. The power the manager has in making a difference to employee engagement is staggering, as the research shows. What employees want in a great manager:

• One who talks about their progress using specific examples
• A manager who encourages their development, no matter what areas their interests fall in
• One who helps them with their development by helping them develop a plan with milestones on actions that will help them achieve their development goals
• A manager who provides logical and effective processes around how they execute their jobs
• One who recognizes them and shows appreciation for their efforts and sacrifices
• A manager who encourages inclusion within the team

It is rare for an employee to directly express they want these things. However, that doesn't mean they aren't top on their list when evaluating their immediate manager. Even with your best efforts to open the lines of communication, many employees won't voice concerns, wants or needs. This is because there is a fear of being labeled a complainer and could lead to negative consequences.

When an employee leaves it costs the business 20 percent of their salary to replace them. Additionally, their departure can cause productivity, culture and brand reputation to suffer.

Train, Coach, Develop and Support Managers

Bad managers or a lack in consistency in how managers are managed creates unnecessary fluctuations in performance and engagement. This is why there are often gaps in performance between one workgroup and another.

Good managers maximizes the individual diverging needs of employees related to morale, motivation and clarity. Good managers have an innate talent for the job. Additionally they need to be provided with:

• Continuous on-the-job knowledge training because the market is continuously evolving and technical job knowledge is important
• An investment in their coaching and development plans - best practice is 3-5 hours of coaching per month
• Training on recognizing individual needs and strengths and how to leverage those for an improved employee experience
• Provide them with data driven ways to objectively rate their team to identify gaps in training or coaching or for job fit and execute a plan for improvement
• Teaching them to paint a vision that will rally their team behind them through storytelling of a better state than the current state
• Helping them develop and execute efficient processes that enable their teams to achieve peak performance - as a result, they remove roadblocks or things that impede or slow down their employees ability to meet performance expectations
• Provide the right guidelines and data drive ways to measure and report on overall job performance

If employee engagement is a focus, start with assessing the front line managers recruitment and promotion process. Evaluate how they are being managed compared to other workgroups. Measure their impact on the team. Initiate regular development plans that include a coaching schedule and frequent checkpoints. Create a vibrate, productive and innovative workforce by focusing on how you are measuring and managing your management teams.

This article originally appeared on my blog @ jasoncortel.com.