For your existing team, the good news is that all managers can learn to release the potential of their teams. You must encourage your leaders to take charge of this process and stay flexible and agile when faced with change.
So how can organizations develop good managers today?
There’s no way to quantify and measure soft skills. This is why unprepared managers can get away with their mistakes and maintain their behavior.
Similarly, many managers receive promotions only thanks to their experience within the company and not based on their real results.
The only solution is to talk to the people on their team and use their feedback to assess a manager’s achievements and conduct:
1. Are they engaging with their team members on a regular basis?
2. Are they able to motivate individuals who are struggling to finish a task or can’t distance themselves from personal issues?
3. Can team members rely on their manager to discuss personal problems and maintain confidentiality?
4. What efforts is their manager taking to coach the company’s talent?
Whether one or all aspects on this list display a red flag, the first responsibility organizations have is to train these managers so they’ll know what’s expected of them and how they need to conduct their work.
Soft skills were on their way to the forefront of teams before 2020.
Unfortunately, Gartner has found that only 34% of learning and development executives can say they’re effective at training their managers. Management training helps organizations address competency gaps they might have and guide employees’ future. Your hires can take courses, receive certifications, go through reskilling, and be tested for their knowledge of managerial skills too.
Just like all employees are unique, managers also have their own distinct particularities.
Gartner has identified four core types of managers. Each one has their determined focus that can become a hurdle when managing different employee personality types:
Teacher managers: Uses personal feedback to teach and coach their talent
Always on managers: Always provides feedback on a complete skill set
Connector managers: Connects employees with the right people for the skills and experience they need to get
Cheerleader managers: Encourage team members throughout the self-development process from afar
Yet, not everyone likes getting constant feedback, being persistently monitored, or, the contrary, not being guided at all. That’s why the Connector manager stands out as the type that can improve employee performance with minimal compromise.
This type of leader connects the three essential aspects of day-to-day work: individual employees, teams, and the overarching organization.
The goal is to drive high employee performance. All this without disengaging employees (like the Always on type) or staying irrelevant (such as the Teacher kind).
The same Gartner study concluded that Connector managers are more efficient at driving employee performance as opposed to Always on leaders.
What’s behind this success?
Connector managers empower their teams. So while every individual will work on their own skills, they teach them to share their expertise, helping the team as a whole. In turn, everyone learns from the best person and the team can maintain complete transparency.
Another handy trait of the Connector manager is their ability to let the team do the actual training but maintain an overlook at the process. On one hand, they connect the right people. On the other, they will always return to recognize peer involvement and results so no one is left without feedback.