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“Get some perspective.” That’s the best advice I ever received as a manager. And I took it to heart, because during my 20 years as a C-Suite leader at Cisco, the only time I received formal feedback was when I asked for it.
My experience isn’t uncommon. Most organizations treat feedback as a bottom-up process — primarily in the form of performance evaluations for individual contributors. In fact, performance reviews are now the highest priority among HR professionals, reflecting today’s drive to “put the right butts in the right seats.”
I wish this emphasis on performance evaluations was about workforce development and career advancement, but it’s not. Instead, it is clearly driven by cost reduction or containment.
The Rationale for Better Manager Feedback
My perspective on workforce planning and management has always centered on a chicken-versus-egg question. Do employees make a company great? Or do leaders and managers make a company great? I come down squarely on the view that no company will ever be among the best in the world if it doesn’t have the best managers in the world.
Managers are either your best talent magnet or your worst talent nightmare. Have you checked the stats on bad managers? They’re appalling. Bad managers have an out-sized impact on talent attraction and retention — the very essence of planning and managing people in any organization. And alarmingly, most organizations have relatively few competent managers — typically less than 10% of the total manager population. (By the way, I hate pointing out that “competent” is a low bar.)
It’s Time to Make Manager Feedback a Priority
I believe the way feedback is used focuses on the wrong goal. Most organizations spend too much money and time trying to figure out how employees are doing. How engaged are they? How did they perform this year?
Instead, what if employers leveraged the power of feedback to understand how managers are doing? After all, employees can’t feel empowered and build successful careers without the support of great, good, or even competent managers.
In 2024, we must choose the chicken over the egg. That means we must answer these questions:
- Do we have the right managers in place to move our organization forward?
- Are our managers walking our talk?
I’ve spent the last decade exploring these questions with hundreds of companies large and small, and fortunately I found a few that invest deeply in their managers. Although the sample is small, these companies clearly demonstrate that happier, more resilient teams can coexist with strong market performance.
Let’s Make 2024 the Year of the Manager
It seems to me that most organizations have forgotten about managers. Their development has taken a backseat to other priorities. So, I’m declaring 2024 the “year of the manager.” I might be lonely on the mountain screaming out loud, but I’ve brought along a game plan to share. And now I’m looking for a few lone nuts to join me.
So here’s my 2024 plan to help any organizations commit to their most important employees — their managers. If you want to nurture and grow great managers, take these three steps:
1. Know the values you want in a manager
If you expect managers to walk your talk, what are the values you want them to internalize? If you don’t know, the feedback you share with them won’t be useful.
I’ve come to believe organizations reflect the personality traits of their leaders. What should your frontline leaders stand for? What kind of culture are you fostering? How should that culture be reflected in managerial mindset and behavior? Define what you’re expecting from your managers, and be willing to communicate about it on an ongoing basis.
2. Recognize feedback as a vehicle for development — not evaluation
With the force of your leadership, be clear that feedback is not an “up or out” mechanism. Reframe it as a path for building on each manager’s unique strengths. Building strengths is the opposite of evaluating performance. It puts people in a position to grow and succeed.
As the team leader, this is where you need to walk your talk. Make it a priority to align development and learning resources around building strengths within your managers. If you get it right, this may be your most productive, cost-effective expense of the year.
3. Commit to 360-degree feedback methods
The endless stream of employee surveys hasn’t worked, but 360s do. Why? With a 360 approach, managers are invested in the process. Also, peers who participate and provide input usually know the manager. This creates the right conditions to act constructively on the results.
Start Improving Manager Feedback Now
I founded The Culture Platform (TCP) specifically to help managers get better at “walking the talk.” On some level, I want all managers to have an easy way to experience what I experienced at Cisco. I was the “lone nut” who wanted to hear feedback about how I could be a better manager. So I proactively sought feedback from others across the organization.
It worked for me. I received plenty of compliments, which I appreciated. But what mattered most were comments that indicated how I could improve. These insights made it possible for me to see where and how I could grow. And by focusing on development in those areas, I eventually became ranked as the team’s top manager in my final role in Cisco sales.
Are you a lone nut like me? Let’s start a movement and make 2024 the year of the manager.
If you want to see how TCP can work for your organization, drop me a line at thecultureplatform@gmail.com, and I’ll be happy to help you get started with a free trial. Or visit us online anytime at TheCulturePlatform.
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