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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

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

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. 

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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


Development plan

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.

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.

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.

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

What GreatLeaders Do

1. SET DIRECTION

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

GREAT LEADERS.

• Take time to contract upfront, ensuring that every individual is clear and aligned on their objectives, and that the whole team's objectives support the broader enterprise goals

• Help (where needed) to prioritize workload and have regular check-ins to discuss progress, challenges.


2. ASSIGN RESOURCES

Allocate time, money and other resources required to achieve objectives.

GREAT LEADERS.

• Take ownership of ensuring that all individuals are aware of timings, deadlines, budget and resource allocation to help the individual achieve objectives


3. REMOVE OBSTACLES

Remove obstacles, create the right connections within the organization, guide direct reports through setbacks and bridge gaps in performance.

 GREAT LEADERS.

• Build big relationships to get the job done

• Help individuals to build relationships, grow networks and connect into key stakeholders where and when required

• Use regular conversations and feedback help to unlock setbacks, bridge gaps in performance and help individuals stay on track


4. MONITOR PROGRESS

Track status of all objectives and projects to course correct, reassign resource and manage timelines.

GREAT LEADERS.

• Actively check-in with individuals to ensure projects and objectives are progressing well and are on-track

• Discuss workload, priorities, resource etc, and help to realign where and when needed


5. DRIVE ENGAGEMENT

Understand the engagement drivers for each team member and have regular conversations to ensure a positive work environment.

GREAT LEADERS.

• Appreciate that every member of the team is different and that it's important to contract with each individual to understand what's important to them. What are their values? What are the drivers and motivations? What are their triggers? Knowing this information will make it easier engage with them on a deeper level.


6. SUPPORT DEVELOPMENT

Find appropriate ways to develop direct reports, supporting team members in accessing development interventions (eg: training, broadening experiences or other initiatives).

GREAT LEADERS.

• Initiate dialogue to understand where employees want to go in their careers, asses and agree on current capabilities and those to develop

• Flex their style to get the most out of every situation. Being able to adapt to meet the needs of every person/situation in a team is a great skill

• Know when to give directive feedback, when to mentor or coach, or when to empower individuals


7. REWARD & RECOGNIZE

Use all levers to reward team members, not only monetary, but also non-monetary rewards, as well as recognition.

GREAT LEADERS.

• Engage with team members to understand how they like to be recognized

• What's important to them about how they're recognized? Is it a thank you at the end of a job or is it something bigger than this?


8. MANAGE TEAM EFFECTIVENESS

Ensure health, governance, and coordination both within the team and with team stakeholders.

GREAT LEADERS...

• Seek to understand team dynamics and common team dysfunctions. What are the strengths and development areas of the team? How do they work together and collaborate to deliver results? Do they Trust one another?

• Encourage team members to engage in unfiltered conflict around ideas, hold one another to account for delivering plans and focus on the achievement of collective results

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Download MEM Brochure

You can download a brochure of the Manager Effectiveness Model

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