In our last newsletter, we talked about five reasons why the role of the manager must be revisited. Our traditional expectations of this role are dated. Employees think so too. Many employees think that their manager was promoted prematurely and that they don’t receive enough training. On this point, managers agree with them. Accordingly to a recent McKinsey study, only 20% of managers think their organizations help them succeed as people managers.

To revisit the role of a manager, where do we start? We recommend adopting these 4 steps.

1. Rebrand the role of the manager to raise its status in the organization. See the manager as the linchpin to building team cultures and enabling team performance and that to be in this role requires a unique, and important, skill set that should not be developed by intuition or trial-and-error but by a purposeful development approach.

2. Redefine the purpose of the manager role. Historically, the manager was solely focused on task, to such a degree where relationships were often sacrificed in the name of the task.  However, today, we know more and know better. We know now that effective managers balance relationship and task to get work done on time and with quality outcomes. One of the ways we can do this is to ensure managers have time for people development. Even though most employees value this, the same McKinsey study cited earlier confirms managers rarely have time or resources they need to adequately address people development needs. This is consistent with the experience of managers with whom we work.

3. Redesign the role to ensure enough capacity exists to cultivate relationships. This means having time to coach, develop and lead others who are getting the tasks done. It means getting their teams resources, brokering through competing demands, influencing others, addressing obstacles, and clarifying expectations. The way a manager spends their time must correlate to the purpose of the role. Today it doesn’t.

4. Reward high performing managers in multiple ways. Rewards don’t always have to come in the form of more promotions and compensation. Ensure that long-standing managers are highly valued and that they know they are. There shouldn’t be any stigma associated with being in a managerial role for an extended period. A manager role doesn’t always have to be a stepping stone to something else at a higher level. Instead, recognize it as a meaningful career in and of itself and reward successful managers with increased autonomy and more responsible assignments. To be clear, this doesn’t mean more volume. It means rewarding them with more substance.

Organizations who challenge their traditional notions of how they’ve set up the manager role will be well served in adopting new approaches that set this key group of employees up for success. The impact of a manager on their team’s results, and the working lives of their team members, is far-reaching. Letting things happen the way they always have will not yield better results. However, taking a deliberate, strategic, and focused approach to supporting managers will.