Leader Tips: Focus on Manager Experience to Create Better Workforce Culture

Who do you think is the most impactful in the workforce? Employees or managers? The answer would be both, but managers bear bigger responsibility when it comes to shaping great workplace culture which then can help retain top employees. As David Burkus said, “Employees don’t leave bad managers, they leave bad cultures their managers aren’t helping them survive.”

The role of manager

Studying over 50,000 managers, Gallup found that the role of a manager is dominant in an organisation. Managers do impact employee experience which accounts for an astounding 70 percent of the variance in team engagement. Managers are also influencing employees’ effort that substantially impacts the bottom line of an entire organisation.

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Managers also become the heart of an organisation as they uphold and communicate the standards of company culture and brand. Managers can either make or break any change initiative as well. Nearly every problem and achievement in an organisation can be tied back to the quality of a manager. Thusly, how managers feel about the organisation will greatly influence how everyone feels about the organisation. 

“When managers prone to be negative, employees will feel the same and company will likely see a higher turnover.”

Leaders should focus more on manager experience

Leaders often forget that managers are employees too but leaders often focus on employees than managers. 

Managers are going through a hiring process just like any other employees in your organisation. The only difference is that managers play a greater role in shaping better employee experience. Employee experience is an entire journey individuals encounter, observe, or feel over the course within an organisation. Namely, there are 7 key stages where employees interact with organisation in a pivotal way. The key stages are attracting talents, hire, onboard, engage, perform, develop, and depart.

Moreover, understanding and optimising employee experience is a key priority for human resources and business leaders in order to achieve organisational success. Based on Workplace Trend survey, 83 percent of human resource leaders said that employee experience is an important factor to empower the workforce. When employees find enjoyment in their job, they will be committed to sticking longer with an organisation.

In line with employee experience, managers also experience the same from onboarding to company orientation. The way managers interact with employees will likely have impacts on employee experience as well. Therefore, leaders should create a better manager experience before focusing on employees because managers will help shape better company culture, resulting in solid teamwork.

How to create better manager experience

Likewise, in order to create a better manager experience, putting yourself in manager’s shoe would be a nice strategy. You can do this by understanding the challenges and perks managers face every single day on their duty. Other than that, you can simply follow these tips.  

1. Ensure your managers experience your purpose, brand, and culture;
2. Redefine the role of managers from boss to coach;
3. Select managers based on their aptitude for management;
4. Design manager learning programs that are continual, multimode, and experimental;
5. Require leaders to give meaningful strengths-based feedback to managers once a week; and
6. Design a succession planning system that considers criteria that predict people management success.

“If you can get your manager experience right, it will transform and grow every other dimension of your organisation – from culture to performance management to customers and profit.” – Ben Wigert & Ellyn Maese at Gallup

Read also: Using Company Culture to Attract & Retain More Talents