Manager Effectiveness Model

​People Managers have two key roles:
 
1-Organize and Align the work to achieve company objectives
2-Engage, Develop and Rewards their teams.
 
In each of the roles there are four key tasks

Organize and align

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1. Set Direction. Define objectives, priorities and course correct for each member of the team, aligning objectives with those of the broader organization.

2. Assign Resources. Time, money, and other resources needed to achieve the objectives.

3. Remove Obstacles. Managers need to remove obstacles, create the right connections within the organization, guide their direct reports through setbacks and bridge gaps in performance.

4. Monitor Progress. Through regular check ins Managers need to monitor status of objectives and projects to course correct re assign resources and manage timelines. By doing so they also drive accountability.

Engage and Develop

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1. Engage. Managers need to understand what the engagement drivers of their teams are, these drivers are different for each individual and change over time. 
So, having regular conversations with team members, and finding the right engagement levers and interventions is key to a positive work environment.

2. Develop. Managers need to find the appropriate ways to develop their teams. The first step is to have a dialogue and understand where employees want to go in their careers, assess and agree on current capabilities and those to develop. The second step is to provide access to development interventions whether they are training, critical experiences, or exposure to senior managers. The last step is to debrief learnings, provide coaching and support. 

3. Rewards. Managers need to use all levers to reward their teams, not only monetary but also non-monetary rewards including recognition. 

4.Team Effectiveness. Last but most important is to manage the effectiveness and efficiency of the team. Making sure the health, governance, and coordination within the team and of the team with its stakeholders works to its best. 

Done well these tasks should allow the organization to achieve its objectives and its team members to develop. 

Quality People Managers are at the heart of successful organizations with engaged employees. 

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Every person with a direct report is a People Manager, as you go up the organization Managers become Managers of Managers and then Organizational Managers, and in each transition the scope, time dedication and framework of impact changes significantly, but the eight tasks remain the same. 

Developing Manager Quality, focus on the What and the How

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We know WHAT we expect of Managers, they need to play two roles and do eight tasks

To have great people managers the focus is on developing them on WHAT to do and on HOW to do it.

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For example, a people manager to be effective in Setting Direction, must have core skills like communication, empowerment, and delegation, which in turn will help in other tasks.

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When Assigning Resources or Removing Barriers skills like problem solving and critical thinking are key.

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To effectively Monitor Progress a people manager must develop core project management skills like negotiation, time management and organization. 

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While Engaging and Developing others as well as when managing Rewards, emotional intelligence, empathy, and feedback skills are critical. 

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To effectively Manage Teams, a people manager must have people skills, adaptability, conflict management and influencing.

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Thus, development of People Managers needs to focus on what they need to do and the skills to do it well.

Development plan

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To create a development plan, start with an assessment on what managers are good at and what needs to improve, a 360-feedback, or similar tools will provide data on behaviours related to the what and the how, and help prioritize efforts.

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An effective plan focuses on developing few key skills at a time.
   
To develop skills there is a component of theory that need to be tough. This could be 30% of the activity.

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Then comes practice/feedback/practice/getting better/more practice and more feedback. This is the other 70%.

Once skills are at certain level then train another group of skills.

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And once you finish, retrain again… learning to be a good People Manager is a continuous, never ending, journey.