Managers play a key role in companies as the connective tissue between leaders and the larger workforce. Tasked with communicating expectations and goals, motivating teams, overseeing workflow, and providing feedback, they set the example for how employees should work together and treat each other. And they do so to varying degrees of success, generally with limited oversight from senior management.
A Gallup survey found that 50% of employees who quit are quitting their boss, not their job. Given this, it’s no surprise that manager performance accounts for at least 70% variance in employee engagement. The most common reasons employees cite for quitting a job is not feeling valued (54%), followed by lacking a sense of belonging at work (51%.) This points to a skills gap in empathetic leadership.
Being an empathetic manager isn’t easy. Managers are often overwhelmed, overworked, and lack the training to lead and mentor people with varied working styles. Much like public speaking or negotiation skills, knowing how to be a better manager and motivate teams effectively isn’t something most people are born with; it’s learned.
Building better leaders
Research by leadership development expert Jack Zenger reveals that most managers do not receive training until they have been in a leadership role for almost 10 years. Leaders who go two years without training often end up with negative leadership habits that impede their careers, says Linda Hill, a Harvard Business professor and leadership author, in a recent interview with the Harvard Business Review.
At Praxis Labs, our curriculum leads have extensively studied management theory to learn the secrets to successful inclusive leadership in the evolving modern workplace. Creating safe spaces for managers to practice their skills supports them to communicate effectively, give feedback thoughtfully, and ultimately build trust. These actions support a psychologically safe and cohesive workplace that values collaboration, innovation, and productivity.
Want to build better managers? Here are 3 steps you can take.
1. Invest in inclusive learning opportunities for managers
Equitably delegating tasks. Recognizing positive contributions. Listening with empathy.
In management roles, leveraging these inclusive leadership skills is critical. Investing in DEI training is one way to help managers be more mindful of their unconscious biases and equity in the workplace. Leveraging the perspective-taking power of immersive technologies with performance analytics capabilities can support your managers to become more self-aware and effective leaders.
Pro tip: When implementing an L&D strategy, make sure you consider how and when your employees prefer to learn. For example, in one Salesforce survey, three-quarters of employees said they prefer to learn on the job and in small moments, as opposed to in long seminars. Your people will appreciate your flexibility.
2. Hold managers accountable.
Feedback should be a two-way street. Research suggests that it’s best practice to give employees at all levels of an organization regular opportunities to give and get feedback that is constructive, specific, and timely. Additionally, we recommend organizing regular pulse surveys where employees can anonymously provide feedback, as opposed to once-annual performance reviews. Surveys should account for seemingly minor things like tone, as well as more serious things like explicit bias. Regular check-ins demonstrate that your company values employee opinions.
3. Embrace new technology
Managers who avoid incorporating the latest tech into their work processes are holding their teams back. Professor Linda Hill cautions leaders against counting on younger team members to carry them forward digitally: “Just because you put someone in the room who has digital capabilities or who has never seen an epidemic before, you bring in a new young person from a different generation, doesn’t mean that person knows how to speak up or how to be heard, and you’re going to have to help with that as the leader.”
Collaborative technologies (i.e. Slack, immersive platforms), when coupled with empathetic leadership training, create a common space for older and younger generations to share ideas. From DEI training to persuasive communication practices, these technologies can enhance a wide range of essential training activities. You can build a more cohesive working environment by prioritizing training on new technologies and incentivizing managers to incorporate new tech into their workflows.
Better managers = better business outcomes
Inclusive leadership is more learned than born, and adaptability is key. By investing in DEI-minded learning and development opportunities and embracing new technology, you support your managers to lead equitably. And by strengthening your organization’s feedback loop, you help them build trusting teams that will follow them into the future.