Doing last week’s research on employee engagement, I discovered Profiles International offers a self-promotion report, Five Critical Management Derailers.
They list these five:
- Poor interpersonal and communication skills
- Inadequate leadership skills
- Resistance to change
- Inability to deliver expected results
- Inability to see beyond their functional silo
I’m betting there are more than 5 ‘critical derailers’. I do, however, see a distinct connection between PI’s 5 and employee engagement…or, in this case, management engagement.
So, I’m hoping PI doesn’t mind if I cop their 5 and offer you my own suggestions for upping the manager’s engagement to get him back on track.
Interpersonal and communication skills. Certainly training, coaching, mentoring, and education will improve a manager’s communication skills. But the key is the transfer of those skills to on-the-job application. The starting and finishing point for improving those interpersonal and communication skills, then, is expecting (requiring) a regular and frequent communications between managers and employees. These can/should be all types of communications: one-on-one, formal, informal, full-blown presentations, facilitating meetings and discussions.
Inadequate leadership skills. Engaging your managers in leadership situations (aka, trial by fire?) is the surest and fastest way to determine one’s leadership potential, leadership ability. Get past the assumption held by too many that leading and managing are the same thing. Every leader must have management skills. Every manager must have leadership skills. But those skill sets are not the same thing. First, be sure you and your organization have a clear and consistent definition of what leadership means and does. Then form-fit those skills to projects which will enhance specific managers’ abilities within your leadership definition.
Resistance to change. Conversation can determine the cause and degree of the manager’s resistance. Two-way communication around changes anticipated, pending, and/or in place can determine the manager’s acceptance of these specific changes and willingness to work supportively. The best “engagement” action here may be to remove the highly change-resistant manager(s) from the highly change-frequent assignments. And what if your entire organization is change-frequent?
NOTE: Too much time and attention in this area may require more psychological skills than you have at hand.
Inability to deliver expected results. The key word in this phrase may not be “inability.” It may be “expected.” What I mean is the manager, especially if new to management or the functional area, may not have clear understanding of her expectations. How often is this the primary cause of an employee’s failure to engage fully? So, who says it can’t happen to a manager also?
Frequent, varied discussion of expectations is required. Be sure the discussion is two-way. It’s risky to talk, talk, talk the expectations and assume they are heard and understood. Engage the manager in restating, asking, setting scenarios, and other conversational tactics that demonstrate his clear awareness of expectations.
Inability to see beyond their functional silo. Sure does sound like a need for engagement beyond the team or department level. Engagement across disciplines or functions. Engagement with managers from other departments. This is where networking–as an engagement opportunity–can serve you well. Provide opportunities for managers from a variety of departments, units, teams to share their insights, ideas, issues, challenges, concerns. The more they hear about what goes on in other areas of the business, they less silo-bound their perceptions. The less-silo bound their perceptions, the stronger their (and their employees?) engagement at the company level.
Thanks, Profiles International, for stimulating thoughts about how engaging managers can keep them on track!
Tags: Employee Engagement, Management
