{"id":4059,"date":"2020-02-06T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-06T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/five-signs-its-time-to-re-train-your-managers\/"},"modified":"2020-02-07T19:48:06","modified_gmt":"2020-02-07T19:48:06","slug":"five-signs-its-time-to-re-train-your-managers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/five-signs-its-time-to-re-train-your-managers\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Signs It\u2019s Time\u00a0to Re-Train Your Managers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Employee engagement and satisfaction can make or break a business. Everything from company culture to benefits to schedule flexibility can affect the employee experience. Companies to go great lengths to maintain a happy population of employees, but what is the one thing with the most power to influence the employee experience? Managers.<\/p>\n

Frustratingly, many managers are placed in their position without being trained. Often high performing employees are selected to become managers because they\u2019re great at their job. However,\u00a0just because someone is excellent at organizing and executing their own work doesn’t mean they’re ready to manage a whole team of people.<\/p>\n

When you\u00a0have\u00a0a manager\u00a0who\u00a0needs training, your employees are going to know it. But will you?<\/p>\n

How to know your\u00a0managers need some help<\/h3>\n

1. Employee frustration at seemingly small internal hiccups <\/strong><\/h3>\n

If you\u2019re finding that group morale dips when relatively small issues need to be addressed, you might be seeing a symptom of poor leadership. Employees that\u00a0are already at the end of their rope dealing with poor communication or direction,\u00a0due to lack of leadership,\u00a0are going to get easily frustrated when issues arise, even if they\u2019re relatively small.<\/p>\n

There is a threshold for the amount of juggling and direction change\u00a0a group can take, and if their manager is adding to it, they\u2019re going to have a much lower bar for what frustrates them. Are you familiar with\u00a0the term \u201cthe straw that broke the camel\u2019s back?\u201d\u00a0Then you get the gist.<\/p>\n

2. Confusion about role clarity<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a team is organizing a project, do you see confusion around responsibilities? Do things slip through the cracks?<\/p>\n

If employees are unclear\u00a0about their\u00a0responsibilities, it could mean they aren\u2019t getting enough direction from leadership. Or it could mean their manager isn\u2019t following a consistent\u00a0plan\u00a0when delegating projects. If you have\u00a0a manager assigning projects and tasks based on whom they prefer, and bypassing employees’ job roles,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0going to create confusion at best,\u00a0and downright resentment at worst.<\/p>\n

3. You don’t hear new ideas from your employees<\/strong>
\nIf you\u2019re wondering why your employees aren\u2019t offering up new ideas and solutions to streamline processes, fix issues, and strengthen your company, you\u2019ve probably got a problem with management. The fact is, everyone working at your company is going to have opinions and\u00a0ideas. They just won\u2019t share them if they\u2019ve been shut down in the past, or if they\u2019re afraid of stepping on anyone\u2019s toes.<\/p>\n

Your employees are your best resource\u00a0because they\u2019re on the line doing the work. Your\u00a0managers should be doing everything in their power to engage them and get them thinking about how to improve the company. If your managers are critical, dismissive, or even uninterested in their team\u2019s ideas, all you\u2019re going to get is a lot of silence and wasted opportunity.<\/p>\n

4. You get pushback when things change<\/strong>
\nCompany culture comes from the top down, and if you\u00a0have\u00a0a manager or leader who is resistant to change, you\u2019re going to see that translate to the way employees handle change. Let\u2019s face it, you can’t run a successful business without continually looking for ways to improve and grow, which means you\u00a0have\u00a0to be open to change.<\/p>\n

Managers who resist change are working against the natural flow of any company and ultimately end up stifling innovation and growth. Train your managers to expect change as part of the job, so they take it in stride and see it as an opportunity for growth. By doing so, you\u2019ll develop a more agile and robust company.<\/p>\n

5. You only hear about the same few people on their team<\/strong>
\nIf a manager only ever reports on the same people, this could mean one of two things. Your manager has favorites among their team who get special attention and recognition. Or your manager is failing to properly coach and lead their entire team, leaving people to become isolated and lose support.<\/p>\n

Either way, your manager likely isn’t looking at their team holistically but is picking out (either subconsciously or consciously) people they more readily connect with. This favoritism is detrimental to promoting diversity, which has proven to be an excellent resource for building teams. Plus, you never know what Shy Sam from tech might have to offer if he isn’t coached into being more comfortable sharing his thoughts.<\/p>\n

If any of these are hitting home for you, don\u2019t lose hope! There are countless ways to\u00a0train\u00a0your managers\u00a0and help them learn\u00a0the skills they need to become great leaders. Chances are, you just need to give them the opportunity. When you provide your leadership\u00a0team\u00a0with development and learning opportunities to help them grow as leaders, you\u2019re investing in them, in\u00a0everyone they manage, and in your company.<\/p>\n

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