In today's rapidly evolving and highly competitive business landscape, managers play a critical role. A good manager translates vision into actionable steps and keeps their team aligned. They actively leverage each of their employees’ strengths, mediate conflicts, and offer helpful feedback. They allocate resources and track budgets. They proactively address the needs of their own leadership as well as the people they lead. It is a critical role, and it can be overwhelming.

To thrive in management, people need to develop their own approach. Unfortunately, most managers are never taught how to succeed in their roles. Instead, they try to emulate the behaviors of other managers stopping to consider whether it is the most effective approach. When their employees do not respond the way they like, managers may try to shoulder their team’s entire workload, resort to command and control tactics, or assume they aren’t fit for the job. 

The result? 53% of managers are experiencing burnout, the highest rate among all employee groups (Microsoft Work Trend Index). Earlier this year, Fortune reported that 46% of middle managers were contemplating quitting their jobs because of the stress.

We have to do a better job of giving managers the tools and support they need to succeed and enjoy their work. This means addressing three key areas: personal awareness, professional development, and action planning.

Personal Awareness

Every manager needs to understand their own strengths. Strengths describe us and highlight our greatest opportunities for success. When managers understand their strengths, they can capitalize on those innate abilities in the workplace which leads to greater enjoyment and satisfaction as well as improved performance.

Managers also need to assess what is going well and what feels off or stale in their work. When they are coached to do an honest assessment of key areas that lead to a better work life, they gain clarity on what changes would produce better results.

Professional Development

Self-knowledge is not enough for success, and managers need more and different skills than the ones they finetuned as individual contributors. They need skills to better connect, communicate, and collaborate with their leadership, teams, and peers. This means establishing regular rhythms for relationships, understanding communication styles, and strategically maximizing individual potential.

Action Planning

Managers need practical ways to apply their self-knowledge and practice their interpersonal skills. Creating a roadmap that accounts for organizational goals, career aspirations, personal strengths, and available resources allows them to see a clear path to success and the steps they need to take to get there. With a clear plan, they are no longer bogged down in everyday chaos. Instead, they can focus on the things that will prove most beneficial for themselves and their team.

Having brilliant and effective managers who enjoy their jobs means more engaged teams and less stress for everyone. However, it doesn’t happen by accident. It requires that organizations actively invest in their managers. And it is truly a worthwhile investment. Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2023 report estimated that low engagement costs the global economy $8.8 trillion, but, when given a better manager, teams are up to 18% more engaged. So, just imagine…what could your organization do if it had more brilliant managers?

Want more Brilliant Managers in your organization?