Our Managers are Under-resourced - Here are 3 tips to Better Equip Them

Harvard Business Review is at it again proving how critical managers are to the employee experience. 

Their article from last month emphasizes the severe gap between the high expectations of managers and the lack of training they receive to prepare them well. Fortunately, recognizing the problem is the first step to improving this gap for the current and next generation of leaders. 

The 3 solutions they identified for closing the gap are powerful. Here are the SparkNotes you can take to your leadership team to better empower your managers:

1. Prioritize the manager/employee relationship.

Managers have a direct impact on their employee's engagement (at least 80%), so the relationships they foster are mission-critical. Managers need to know that their organization prioritizes the time they spend caring for and investing in their team members. It shouldn't feel like extra work they have to do on top of their "day job".

Tip: Create a 1:1 meeting agenda template for all managers that contains recurring care and development questions that they're expected to ask their team each week. This shows them that you encourage them to invest in their people.

2. Invest in managerial growth.

Take advantage of this generation who is hungry to improve and drive change. There are dozens of ways you can provide growth opportunities. Here are just a few:

• Create a leadership development program as outlined here
• Have managers read a book together and take turns presenting on a chapter a week
• Recreate manager-led onboarding like Microsoft did
• Invite managers into high-level discussions
• Ask managers to practice giving and receiving feedback weekly
• Offer 1:1 executive suite meetings with each manager

What am I missing?

3. Create peer-to-peer opportunities for managers.

Top-down support is great, but we all know the greatest bonds are formed through similar circumstances. Encouraging monthly manager powwows allows them to build stronger cross-departmental relationships, wrestle with challenges together, and practice candid two-way feedback.

It doesn't take intensive formal training to resource our managers. It all goes back to how we help them prioritize connection and growth.

Supporting our managers is the best way to care for our employees across the board. When our managers have full cups, they can pour into their teams working on the front lines of your mission. 

That's how you build a culture of growth and development. That's how you combat rising attrition. That's how you win as an organization.