People leave bosses, not companies! And that is true.
An employee’s relationship with their immediate manager is paramount because a Gallup study showed about 50% of employees leave their company as a result of the lack of rapport with their bosses.
Also, research by Accenture showed an 80% correlation between employee engagement and a person’s connection with their immediate manager. Indeed, an employee’s most important relationship at work is with their direct boss. A crucial factor in creating engaged employees is their relationship with their supervisor. People may join organizations, but a chief reason they stay is their manager.
This is a statement that almost every single one of us has heard at some point during our careers, in fact, it might even be something that we have said ourselves.
What Employees Are Looking For
Staff are motivated when they work for a manager they like and respect and who is engaged with them.
By the way, when I use the term “managers,” I am referring to anyone in your company who supervises personnel – from the lowest level up to the top of your organization.
Effective and engaged supervisors are at the core of a successful organization. They facilitate and empower their staff, treat them with appreciation and respect, provide developmental opportunities, and reward them for their achievements.
Engaged managers provide clarity for what is expected from each of their staff, including feedback and coaching, while treating them as individuals. They also handle them fairly by not playing favorites, while showing concern for their personal well-being. It is also key that they design workflows that are organized efficiently and effectively for their personnel.
This relationship includes providing mental and emotional support while communicating the connection between what staff do on a day by day basis and the big picture of what the organization is all about. Thus, an emotionally intelligent manager can motivate their personnel and get them to work as a team to accomplish the goals at hand.
Things Managers Do That Drive Employees Away
- They don’t listen when their team members share their thoughts and opinions.
- They unnecessarily intrude in their employee’s personal time with emails and phone calls.
- They expect big results on important tasks or projects, but they nick-pick on minor things or errors.
- In customer disputes or departmental conflicts, they don’t stand up for their personnel, which undermines confidence in the manager.
- They are dishonest to their employees and try to manipulate them.
- They don’t offer enough congratulations and high-fives for jobs well done – so work is not fun.
- They have two standards, one for themselves and a higher one for their employees.
What an Effective Manager Looks Like
Having effective managers is like preparing a dish using ordinary ingredients and then immersing those ingredients in a marinade that will transform them into something extraordinary. The results are even better if you start with great employees, you can create a world class work force. The bottom line is great bosses can motivate, lead, and manage their personnel so that they are able to achieve the company’s Vision.
Highly effective supervisors bring out the best in employees. Conversely, ineffective managers can retard the productivity, contentment, and the stability of your workforce. Some of us have worked for a great boss, someone for whom you would break through a concrete wall just to please. Many of us have also had bad bosses, ones for whom you wanted to do nothing at all because of how they made you angry. What is the benefit of having effective managers? You will be able to achieve the Vision for your organization – and that is huge!
Great Managers Know Their Personnel
A successful manager turns an employee’s talent into demonstrated performance. For a supervisor to achieve this, they must first find out the unique things about each of their employees and then capitalize on these attributes.
To be a great boss you must know your personnel and how they are wired. The use of various personnel tests can be very beneficial in trying to understand and properly oversee your personnel.
To be an effective manager you need to know each employee’s:
- Strengths and weaknesses
- Motivators
- Style of learning (analyzing, doing, or watching)
- Preference for receiving recognition (be honored by boss, be honored by fellow employees, honored by customers, awards, certificates).
Attributes of an Effective Manager
Even though effective managers are key to an organization possessing engaged employees who will carry the company forward, frequently there is a lack of training provided to supervisors to develop these attributes. Many companies just assume when a person is given the role of a manager they suddenly are endowed the skill set that makes them a great supervisor.
However, both initial and ongoing training needs to be provided to enable bosses to bring out the best in their team. To assist you with the development of your managers listed below are some of key attributes of an effective supervisor we have developed from working with many clients in the past. You can use this list as a quick checklist to see how your managers are doing:
An Effective Manager:
- Is loyal to the business, clearly communicates the business’ vision, management’s decisions, and goals of a task
- Is able to motivate employees
- Creates a team environment that is safe and free from politics
- Has sufficient knowledge of the area they manage
- Has earned respect of their employees and is respectful of others
- Demonstrates leadership to employees, is able to implement changes, and leads by example
- Manages in a positive and supportive manner
- Makes their employees feel appreciated and valued, recognizes employees for their contributions, and is a “cheerleader” for the personnel under their supervision
- Empathizes easily with others – by habit they can put themselves in the other person’s shoes
- Is decisive and makes clear-thinking personnel decisions
- Treats all employees in a fair and compassionate manner and does not let personnel problems persist
- Is a good listener, tries to understand what their employees are saying, and acts upon the input that they receive
- Can delegate activities to others
- Possesses good people skills and is approachable
- Is an effective communicator either by writing or verbally or both
- Is proactive, adaptable, and flexible
- Is results- and goal-oriented and delivers what they promise to deliver
- Is organized, reliable, and is a good time manager
- Provides opportunities for growth for their employees
- Displays high integrity
- Is a positive role model and mentors other people
If you need assistance in developing a program to create fully engaged and productive employees as a result of having effectual managers, please contact us using the below information so we can show you how to truly turn your employees into your greatest asset.
Fountainhead Consulting Group, Inc. is an Innovation and Business Planning firm. During the past 17 years we have shown over 1,200 companies how to achieve their goals by using our unique, comprehensive and systematic, innovation, business planning and growth Structure of Success™, Innovation Academy™ and FastTrak Innovation Program™ methodologies. Using the components in these methodologies, each month we examine an aspect of how to transform your business or organization into a true 21st Century operation.
Office phone: (770) 642-4220
www.FountainheadConsultingGroup.com
George.Horrigan@FountainheadConsultingGroup.com
Tags: Business Planning, entrepreneur, front end of innovation, innovation, invention, small business consulting, small business planning, start a business
