Every Critical KPI Is Impacted by Managers
We all know what it feels like when someone close to us is having a bad day. It can permeate the space and affect our mood. The same goes for the workplace. When managers are disengaged, it trickles down to the team. When that happens, organizations face big challenges to their KPIs: retention, productivity, innovation, and absenteeism all take a hit.
According to a recent Gallup report, 2024 saw a decline in manager engagement that led to a drop in overall workplace engagement. Among Gallup's top recommendations to reverse this trend? Developing managers' coaching skills.
And that involves you.
Every Critical KPI Is Impacted by Managers
Productivity, innovation, retention, risk mitigation...all of these top organizational KPIs are influenced by how well managers are leading their teams. Yet, as important as managers are to organizational performance, more than half don't receive training on how to effectively manage projects and people.
According to a Gallup study, training managers on best management practices, such as effective coaching techniques, boosts the managers' performance by 20-28% while raising the engagement level of their teams by 18%.
Motivating employees and keeping them on track comes naturally to some managers but many struggle with these essential skills. Taking the time to develop managers' basic coaching skills:
1) Shows that the organization values the manager enough to invest in their professional development
2) Provides the manager with skills to help their employees become more successful
Motivating employees and keeping them on track comes naturally to some managers, but many struggle...
The Simple Premise of Coaching
At its core, coaching is about one fundamental message: letting employees know that what they do matters to you.
Effective coaches regularly do 4 things:
- Inspire Team Members - Successful coaches help employees understand how their contributions impact both the team and the organization. They take time to learn what motivates each team member and how to tap into and build on their unique strengths.
- Reward Good Work - When they see an employee doing something well, good managers acknowledge it with praise that is specific, positive, and genuine. Behaviors that are recognized and rewarded are repeated.
- Address Issues Constructively - Great coaches promptly initiate and navigate difficult conversations. They address mistakes, poor performance, or inappropriate behavior productively and respectfully, providing clear expectations and guidance on needed improvements and potential consequences of continued underperformance.
- Create a Safe and Respectful Environment - When employees believe their ideas will be dismissed or they'll face humiliation for mistakes, innovation and problem solving suffer. Psychological safety means creating an environment where team members feel safe to contribute fully, share ideas, offer opinions, speak up, and take appropriate risks.
Use our Speak-Up Spectrum to gauge and improve psychological safety on your team.
The Simple Premise of Coaching
At its core, coaching is about one fundamental message: letting employees know that what they do matters to you.
Effective coaches regularly do 4 things:
- Inspire Team Members - Successful coaches help employees understand how their contributions impact both the team and the organization. They take time to learn what motivates each team member and how to tap into and build on their unique strengths.
- Reward Good Work - When they see an employee doing something well, good managers acknowledge it with praise that is specific, positive, and genuine. Behaviors that are recognized and rewarded are repeated.
- Address Issues Constructively - Great coaches promptly initiate and navigate difficult conversations. They address mistakes, poor performance, or inappropriate behavior productively and respectfully, providing clear expectations and guidance on needed improvements and potential consequences of continued underperformance.
- Create a Safe and Respectful Environment - When employees believe their ideas will be dismissed or they'll face humiliation for mistakes, innovation and problem solving suffer. Psychological safety means creating an environment where team members feel safe to contribute fully, share ideas, offer opinions, speak up, and take appropriate risks.
Use our Speak-Up Spectrum to gauge and improve psychological safety on your team.
How Behavioral Training Assessments Measure Success
When managers establish regular two-way communication with direct reports, it shows employees they're valued. This, in turn, encourages their professional growth and they become more engaged and committed to helping the organization achieve its goals.
For most organizations, engagement is a critical KPI that is important to measure. Behavioral training assessments offer significant advantages over traditional methods, such as pulse surveys, when it comes to uncovering how managers and employees throughout the organization are doing. Conducted during required training, these assessments provide:
- 100% participation and more accurate responses than other methods
- Real-time measurement of skill and attitude improvements
- Data-driven insights revealing barriers to engagement that are lying beneath the surface
What Makes These Assessments Effective:
- Relatable video scenarios help learners connect with characters, gain new perspectives, and envision themselves applying the new behavior or skills
- In-context behavioral questions asked during eLearning measure learner beliefs, attitudes and readiness to apply the learning
- Integrated behavioral analytics track improvements post-training and identify areas and reasons the desired behaviors may not be adopted
Let the Data Guide Your Coaching Enhancement Strategy
Atana's Respectful Workplace courses provide engaging learning experiences while measuring the attitudes and behaviors that help organizations achieve their desired business outcomes. Data showing how managers (and organizational leaders) are perceived, and where additional training or support might be needed, is captured and presented on a dashboard. Tools to help address specific dashboard insights are available.
Transform your managers and your organization with our award-winning combination of engaging training, data-driven insights, and targeted solutions that boost engagement, heighten team performance, and drive lasting change.
