5: THE MANAGERS (COACHES)

“People join companies. They leave managers. Therefore, to keep your team happy and engaged, you need one thing above all else: great managers/coaches — not free lunches or yoga classes! As Gallup notes, “Managers account for at least 70% of variance in employee engagement scores.

What the data showed is that periodic one-on-one coaching (rather than superior technical knowledge) ranked as the #1 key to being a successful leader.

From our experience, great managers must focus those coaching sessions with their “direct supports” (a better term than “direct reports”) on five topics representing the five main activities of successful managers/coaches.

In reverse order of importance:

1. Hire fewer people, but pay them more.

1. Give recognition, and show appreciation.

1. Set clear expectations, and give employees a clear line of sight.

1. Don’t demotivate; “dehassle.”

1. Help people play to their strengths.

By defining the what and not the how, great managers/coaches give employees the autonomy to find their own way of achieving these goals.

Thus, a key function of great managers/coaches is helping individual employees refocus and prune their jobs over time so they focus more on activities that give them strength and less on activities that make them weak.

Ask a good manager about his team and he will speak in generalities, saying that they are

hardworking, responsible, fun, etc. Ask a great manager the same question and she will describe each of her team members with specific details about their personality, strengths, and achievements. Again, think about the “A-Team” action television analogy from the last chapter.