5: THE MANAGERS (COACHES)
âPeople join companies. They leave managers. Therefore, to keep your team happy and engaged, you need one thing above all else: great managers/coaches â not free lunches or yoga classes! As Gallup notes, âManagers account for at least 70% of variance in employee engagement scores.
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Managers with a growth mindset think itâs nice to have talent, but thatâs just the starting point. These managers are more committed to their employeesâ development, and to their own. They give a great deal more developmental coaching, they notice improvement in employeesâ performance, and they welcome critiques from their employees.
In retaining employees and keeping them engaged, weâll cover the five activities of great (vs. good) managers (we prefer the term âcoachesâ â more on this later):
⢠Help people play to their strengths.
⢠Donât demotivate; dehassle.
⢠Set clear expectations and give employees a clear line of sight.
⢠Give recognition and show appreciation.
⢠Hire fewer people, but pay them more (frontline employees, not top leaders!).
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 âdirect supportsâ (a better term than âdirect reportsâ) on five topics representing the five main activities of successful managers/coaches.
In reverse order of importance:
- Hire fewer people, but pay them more.
- Give recognition, and show appreciation.
- Set clear expectations, and give employees a clear line of sight.
- Donât demotivate; âdehassle.â
- Help people play to their strengths.
The best managers/coaches are less concerned about motivating their people and more concerned about NOT demotivating them. They consider it their job to prevent the hassles that block their teamâs performance. Such demotivators are usually related to issues with people or processes.
Being a good coach is essential to being a good manager and leader. Coaching is no longer a specialty; you cannot be a good manager without being a good coach. The path to success in a fast-moving, highly competitive, technology-driven business world is to form high-performing teams and give them the resources and freedom to do great things. And an essential component of high-performing teams is a leader who is both a savvy manager and a caring coach.