The What and How of Manager Training (and some other stuff on retaining staff and establishing continuity

Table of Contents

• Importance of managers

  • Manager Development is Succession Planning and Cul …

  • What to Focus On and How

• 1% Solutions

• What I’m Reading (and watching and listening to…)

Importance of managers

Let’s talk about the importance of managers and the impact they have on their teams and the organization.

• Up to 70% variance on teams is subject to manager quality (Gallup)

• The degree to which folks describe their orgs as fair relies on managers (SHRM)

• Inclusive leaders reduce attrition approximately 76% (Boston Consulting Group)

Given how much power lies with managers, I still am confused by the lack of investment in how managers are promoted, onboarded and continuously developed. Or, when it does happen, onboarding and training is either too limited, doesn’t truly align with people’s work, or doesn’t influence behaviors. I won’t touch hiring today (I’m thinking that will be for next newsletter) but do want us to focus on how initial training to emerging leaders and/or continuous development for your current managers can not only improve manager quality but also create a culture of learning and continuous improvement. And this can be done in-house without a significant budget (though you will need time!)

Manager Development is Succession Planning and Culture Building

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I was reading Culture Amp’s State of the Manager. One of my biggest takeaways from the report- though not a surprising one- is how the quality of managers are impacted by the quality of their managers. One statistics- managers are 19.7 times more likely to offer continuous feedback when their own managers do so. These trickle down effects have a few noted impacts on your organization.

If you are a new or growing organizations, the quality of your first managers will impact the culture and trajectory of leadership for that organization— in my experience for years to come. Another thing I’ve seen? When initial leadership is poor or toxic, teammates will not only have learned poor habits that they replicate but also will form trauma bonds that will make it challenging to introduce new or different leaders into the mix. The big takeaway? Try as hard as possible to get it right as right as possible the first time.

But back to manager training. Developing your managers will mean that those who report to them are receiving second hand manager training in that they are observing best practices. Those best practices become the norm of how you as an organization do things which gets replicated. Alternatively bad practices similarly can become the norm and be replicated- which is why this is so critical (especially in the beginning). Didn’t get this right the first time? Make it a priority now.

What to Focus On and How

Having designed more than a few leadership training programs and led countless trainings, here are the topics I’d make sure to cover:

• What is a manager versus a coach and when to choose what (Google’s Project Oxygen has tremendous resources here)

• Radical Candor and Delivering Feedback (I suggest leveraging the resources that are online for Kim Scott’s book)

• Fierce Conversations- there is a specific book on this topic- for these purposes I label this as “the conversation you need to have when the first didn’t have the impact you wanted.”

• Planning and Leading Initiatives- this would include stakeholder analysis, decision-making and influence. I think Switch is a great resource for how to explains change management (I have a shorter summary that I use for trainings- feel free to email me and I’ll shoot it your way)

• Leaders Role in Disrupting Inequity and Bias (see article way below)

• HR considerations (when to go to Hr and when to escalate and how)

The how behind this is also important. Roughly, this is my sequence for any professional development topic (I’ve used this from topics ranging from Tier 3 vocabulary, Inquiry based questioning to delivering feedback to grow your team)

• Article study-explore a topic via article or chapter to help folks establish a common framework and point of reference

• Establishing criteria for excellence, followed by analysis of exemplars and non-exemplars to norm on what’s expected

• Case studies centered on most anticipated challenges in order to norm

• Teammates bring their own problem of practice

• Rinse and repeat

If you need support on building your own leadership development sequence (or even your professional development plan for your team) I’m happy to get on the phone (or zoom) to talk through your needs, or connect you with someone I know who can better support your goals.

1% Solutions

Leaders and managers are juggling a lot. Sometimes, we need a few quick actionable tips to help support our people and culture. I’m thinking a lot about K-12 spaces that are planning for the new year, working to retain current folks while also preparing for some level of turnover- though these tips and suggestions apply across industries!

• Improving Onboarding- 89% of employees feel an effective onboarding makes them feel more engaged, and there are countless studies that show effective onboarding has significant impact on retention. One quick way to improve yours? Ask folks who have been hired within the year two questions, and revise your processes as necessary”

  • What is one thing you learned in onboarding that helped you feel effective in your role?

  • What is one thing that if we had included in onboarding would have made you feel more effective at your role?

• Stay Conversations- Don’t wait until a teammate is sharing they may be leaving or an exit interview, and don’t assume teammates will always be proactive in raising issues. Instead, having quarterly or biannual stay conversations can go a long way in helping to keep a pulse on how folks are feeling. Questions you can add to your next check-in:

  • What do you love most about your work?

  • What keeps you working here?

  • If you could change something about your job, what would that be?

  • What are your long-term goals?

  • What is something you’d love to learn or try?

  • If you were in my shoes, what is one thing you’d either want to change or invest more in?

• Document and/or Audit your Standard Operating Procedures- I know you might be moving a million miles a minute. I know that you think that everyone knows what’s going on. But do you have documented norms and standard operating procedures that are easily searchable? Think of anything from submitting invoices to proposing a new role to what needs to happen when someone resigns to expectations around responsiveness. Now ask yourself three questions: Is it written? Has it been reviewed by the owners and consultants recently? Is it easily accessible? Whichever question you said no to first- do that. At worst, it’s routine clean up that should take a few minutes. But if you are in an org that has a fair amount of turnover, an org that may have to run layoffs (hello, schools losing ESSR funding), or an org that is aiming to grow, this will ensure that there is continuity in the work you do. Helpful Hint: I just started using Loom and the short video tutorials are (a) super easy to make and (b) more clear if the process at hand is one involving software, navigating an internal LMS or share folders or completing online forms.

What I’m Reading (and watching and listening to…)

• Increasing staff motivation to decrease attrition- First, I just discovered Wharton’s Nano tools. Nano Tools for Leaders® are quick, effective leadership tools that you can learn and start using in less than 15 minutes — with the potential to significantly impact how you lead. This article outlines the drivers for employee engagement and practical, tactical ways you can start implementing now.

• 6 Tips to Effectively Manage Layoffs like a Human- If you are not following Ashley Herd on LinkedIn or TikTok, you are missing out on a lot of practical advice.

• How the Best Bosses Disrupt Bias- This is an older article, but a perennial in my training library. I just shared this with a few clients and remembered just how helpful this article was in helping leaders disrupt bias on their teams in tactical ways. I’d suggest sharing it with your leadership team to discuss and naming one action you are committing to for the next quarter.