Great leaders make great companies.
Studies of managers and companies consistently show that effective leadership improves both internal metrics (like employee retention) and external ones (such as financial performance).
Below are 7 ways you can help line managers to improve their leadership and build a better employee experience for all.
Gathering perspectives from over 100 million employees globally over the last 30 years has shown us that leaders who intentionally build trust – regardless of who a person is or what they do for the business – do better than those who don’t.
The most effective leaders typically focus on:
So how can you cultivate leaders like this in your own organisation?
The Covid pandemic has forced line managers to adapt to new styles of leadership, particularly when working entirely remotely from their colleagues and teams.
Many are feeling increasing pressure to perform at higher levels than ever before. “With constant change and challenge, there is often a disparity between what has been expected of managers previously and what is now asked of them,” explains Dr Petrina Carmody, Principal Consultant and Leadership Coach at Great Place to Work® UK.
“Coaching helps bridge the gap, and can be particularly valuable in supporting people at times of change – whether related to organisational change or individual change, such as moving roles or seeking promotion.”
Your own employee survey data can provide valuable insight into which departments within your organisation may benefit from coaching, and when.
“In teams where survey results are less favourable, coaching can be enormously powerful in supporting managers to improve their own and their team's experience and performance."
Great Coaching:
While certain characteristics of manager effectiveness apply across most companies, true insights come from identifying the unique behaviours that best align with your unique mission, culture, customer needs and strategic goals.
Think about which managers inside your organisation currently build high-trust relationships (you can use employee survey data as a source of truth here too).
Next, interview these managers, asking them how they did what they did. You can then use this information to identify several key behaviours that create a great work environment and share them across your organisation so that everyone benefits.
Employees follow leaders they feel are credible, fair and reliable. They trust managers who they believe to be consistent in these traits. As a manager, you can instill trust in three ways:
This doesn’t mean reaching consensus or decision-making by committee. Work with your team to co-create plans and concoct new ideas.
This means real collaboration through:
These effective management behaviours will make your employees feel included, valued and, in turn, inspired to do their best work.
Employee recognition signals to your people that their contributions are acknowledged and appreciated. It’s a key driver of employee performance, just like pay, promotions, inspiring work, training and autonomy.
Line managers can make recognition part of their ritual through “triggers” – such as setting tangible goals for their teams, and then celebrating these small wins with credit given to those who achieved them. By making expectations clear upfront and communicating how goals will be tracked, managers will develop a more collaborative and supportive environment for employees to thrive.
One creative method we’ve seen comes from Hilton. Through their annual ‘Recognition Calendar’, Hilton has helped middle managers to celebrate their people by providing easy-to-implement ideas to thank employees every day of the year.
If managing a larger team is the only way to a promotion in your workplace, you may need to rethink your promotion process. After all, some people could be more valuable to the organisation as an individual contributor.
Smart companies (and effective managers) create multiple avenues to success for employees. They help people earn new responsibilities and develop their skills through new projects, lateral moves and stretch assignments.
They also take an active role in employees’ development plans and keep an eye out for additional ways employees can add value to a project or lend their expertise to something outside of their general scope of responsibilities.
It's common for managers to rate and review their employees, but great managers want feedback to flow both ways. They make sure their employee surveys not only look at organisational culture as a whole, but management effectiveness too.
At Great Place to Work-Certified™ companies, employees reflect on management’s behaviour; whether management shows a sincere interest in them as a person (and not just a cog in the machine); and how much management’s actions match its words. This authentic feedback gives a nuanced picture of management’s effectiveness.
Now it’s your turn.
Learn how our consultants can help you adapt your culture to best fit the post-pandemic working world.