How Will You Manage in the New Year?

Managers: You are one, and you have had them. You have loved some and loathed others — but now that you’re in the role of manager, you realize just what a tough job it is!

In fact, the role of a manager is one of the most critical in any business, and perhaps the hardest of jobs to do well.  You were likely promoted to management because of your success as an individual, your hard work, and your dedication to the company mission - only to discover that management is all about other people’s projects, priorities, and professional development. 

Managers are typically accountable and responsible to many different levels, at any given time — supporting a team, collaborating with peers, reporting to leadership, and aligning to overall company goals. Managers more than any other role in an organization are responsible for the effective flow of information and activity up, down, and across an organization. You are the people we point to when things are not working well, the people we rely on to get the work done, and the people who assure execution of tasks and goals.

And yet, many managers are unprepared for and unsupported in facing the dilemmas, challenges, and everyday realities of fulfilling their role. Did you know that according to Gallup Research, managers account for at least 70% of the variance in team engagement, resulting in a huge impact in productivity? As the old adage goes, employees don't leave companies, they leave managers. This has never been more true than it is now.

Managers: The Need to Focus

Given the complexity of the 21st century, post-pandemic workplace — riddled with challenges of recruiting, onboarding, upskilling, and retaining top talent, all while suddenly navigating remote and hybrid work — how can you possibly focus? Even before COVID, people realized that the biggest opportunity to improve their productivity and growth was through better management.

In reality however, there’s a gap: In today’s ever-changing environment, managers are often even less supported or prepared, which can stall productivity, reduce ROI, and cost companies their best employees. In general, managers are often overwhelmed by the job or haven't been set up for success in their functional and management roles.

Managers — and the employees they lead — are a company’s most valuable asset. Employers grow only if their employees are growing. If an organization wants to survive or better thrive through this crisis, they must start by developing managers into learning leaders — and that’s where our process improvement framework called Whole Brain® Thinking can help.

The Whole Brain® Model is a powerful tool for creating a shared language, improving alignment between your team and the tasks at hand, and learning your "secret sauce" for improving productivity and reducing your own level of frustration. For the better part of the last 40 years, our Whole Brain® Thinking framework and the associated HBDI® assessment have played a fundamental role in helping organizations be more efficient, effective, and productive — helping managers save time, increase engagement and better adapt to change.

Once you learn the framework, integrate it into your professional practice, and understand how to best leverage cognitive diversity to your advantage, your 1:1 conversations, team meetings, and decision making all improve.

We invite you to keep growing as a manager by downloading our 1-2-3 Go! Manager's Guide and implementing the numerous tips included.