Michael Beck

How to Reverse Manager Disengagement

As the economy has become more challenging and unpredictable, workers are being asked to do more with less. The consequences, of course, are employee disengagement, burnout, and higher turnover. All of which make matters even worse!

These teams are being asked to do more with less by the leaders of the organization. The leaders don’t take these decisions lightly and generally don’t enjoy having to cut head count. Employees know that, but it doesn’t really help the situation.

There is, however, a “hidden” negative consequence to this issue of doing more with less.

The “hidden” negative consequence is the toll it takes on the managers of those teams. The Gallup Organization just released a study examining this issue.
https://www.gallup.com/workplace/349484/state-of-the-global-workplace.aspx

According to the study, the drop in employee engagement cost the world economy $438B in lost productivity in 2024! Gallup says the primary cause was a drop in manager engagement. And as manager engagement drops, so does team engagement, thereby compounding the problem.

The study goes on to say that the manager engagement issue especially affects managers under 35 years of age and female managers. Overall, manager engagement fell from 30% down to 27%. That means that almost ¾ of all managers are not feeling engaged!

What can leaders do to reverse this trend and improve manager engagement?

Provide Training on How to Manage
Most managers are people who were great individual contributors. After all, they’ve proven they know how to get the job done! The reality, however, is that technical competence isn’t enough to be an effective manager. Clearly, a good manager needs – among other things – to be able to oversee their team’s work and provide guidance, properly allocate resources, and help their team deliver quality results on time.

Because many of these skills don’t automatically come with being a good individual contributor, leaders need to train their managers on how to manage others.

Provide Training on How to Coach and Mentor Others
In addition to those skills mentioned above, managers also need to be able to coach and mentor their team members. Developing subordinates doesn’t only make them more valuable, enhance engagement, and increase productivity, but it also makes them more promotable and drives manager engagement.

It is essential that leaders teach managers how to coach and mentor their team members.

Provide Continuing Personal Development
When a manager develops team members it helps improve engagement, productivity and job satisfaction. The same things happen when leaders develop managers.

People don’t want to feel stagnant and/or stuck in their current role. They want to continue to grow, expand their skill set, and prepare for advancement.

If leaders want managers to stay engaged and committed (as opposed to simply being compliant), they need to provide development opportunities for them.

Have an “Open-Door” Policy
The final suggestion for helping managers stay engaged is for leaders to have an open-door policy. In other words, make it comfortable for managers to come to their boss with questions, ideas, and problems without feeling they’ll be criticized or judged.

Having an open-door policy allows both the manager and leader to grow and connect. People want to be heard and respected. Knowing they can come to their boss with questions and/or ideas helps accomplish that.

3 Hurdles to Developing Leaders

Every executive wants his or her leadership team to be effective. And from my experience, most of these senior executives do make the effort to help their leaders develop.

But the problem is that there are several hurdles to successfully developing leaders internally. Here’s what makes things difficult:

1. Addressing Symptoms
Typically, executives see one or more issues with a leader’s effectiveness and attempt to address/correct the behavior. But more times than not, the effort is at best only mildly successful.

The reason is interesting. In my years of coaching leaders, I’ve noticed that the issues a leader wants help with are often symptoms, rather than problems. And as we know, addressing a symptom rather than the problem usually makes things worse.

The art is in uncovering the underlying problem(s). It’s often a matter of asking the right questions and successfully changing their perspective. It’s one of the reasons bringing in a good executive coach is helpful.

2. Interpersonal Dynamics
For meaningful improvement to take place, open, honest, challenging, and confidential conversations with a leader must take place. But it’s virtually impossible for a leader to be completely open, honest, and vulnerable when those conversations are with the person who will decide their role in and future with the company.

It’s unrealistic to expect a leader to acknowledge their shortcomings and fears in a conversation with their boss. It’s unrealistic to expect a leader to share their frustrations and dissatisfactions to that boss. And it’s unrealistic to for a boss to challenge a leader’s thinking or judgment and expect them to respond transparently and honestly.

The interpersonal dynamics between boss and leader make it nearly impossible for an executive to effectively develop his or her leaders. It’s another reason bringing in a good executive coach is helpful.

3. Objectivity
Virtually everyone around a leader has an agenda – their direct reports, their co-workers, their spouse and especially their boss. They either want things to change or they want things to stay the same. They want the leader to act and make decisions in a way that gives them what they want. Consequently, for a leader to hone their thinking and judgment, they need an unbiased sounding board.

Because getting objective perspective and having an unbiased sounding board are essential to improving a leader’s judgment and decision-making, it’s nearly impossible for a boss to effectively develop his or her leaders. Yet another reason bringing in a good executive coach is helpful.

In summary, dealing with symptoms, interpersonal dynamics, and lack of objectivity can all limit the effectiveness of an executive’s efforts to develop his or her leaders. These issues are why utilizing an executive coach has become so popular.

Problem Leaders Are Still Common

As I work with senior executives around the country, it’s apparent that problem leaders abound. These are leaders who, although bright and experienced, cause problems within the workplace and make progress that much harder.

I’m regularly brought in to coach these problem leaders and I’ve found that the issues often fall into several categories, namely 1) lack of strategic thinking, 2) inability to influence and gain buy-in for their ideas, and 3) feeling the need to micromanage their team.

1) Lack of Strategic Thinking

A lack of strategic thinking often exists because for years prior to someone becoming a leader, they mastered the art of thinking tactically rather than strategically. In addition, they tend to see things in their “silo” – which results in a narrow focus rather than a broader, higher-level perspective. All of which leads to another common issue. The issue of addressing symptoms rather than the underlying problems.

Each of these issues causes friction in the workplace, slows progress, and frustrates everyone. Plus, to compound things, they have blind spots. They can’t see what they’re missing.

Helping them learn to think strategically and more broadly makes them (and their team) more effective.

2) Inability to Influence

The inability to influence others and to get buy-in for ideas is one of the most common sources of frustration and friction with leaders.

Because of their years of experience, they often have good ideas – ideas for driving results, solving problems, and/or moving in a new direction. The problem is that unless they get buy-in for those ideas, the best they can hope for is compliance from their team. And as we know, the results from a committed team are very different than from those of a team that is simply compliant.

The longer this dynamic continues, the more frustrated the leader becomes. And the more frustrated they become, the more agitated and confrontational they become.

Showing them how to have greater influence and how to be more persuasive has a positive and immediate impact.

3) Feeling the Need to Micromanage

Leaders who feel the need to micromanage cause widespread disengagement within their team, which of course, leads to low productivity and high turnover.

Leaders who micromanage don’t understand how to lead professionals. They don’t engage or listen to their teams. They don’t create a trusting environment. They treat adults like children. And they even treat people like “things”.

The key to effectively leading professionals is to treat professionals like professionals.

At the heart of this approach is the reality that most professionals want to do a good job. They want to produce professional results. Consequently, a leader doesn’t need to constantly monitor the work and progress of a professional. Instead, they need to ensure that the person is clear about what needs to be done, what the outcome needs to be, and when the task needs to be completed.

Once all of this is established, the leader needs to leave them alone to complete their work. They can (and should) wait for and expect the results to be delivered with quality and on time.

Helping leaders learn to let go while still holding people accountable is key to making them more effective.

If you’d like further insights on how to deal with problem leaders and make them more effective, feel free to download my whitepaper on
Strategies for Dealing with a “Problem Leader”: https://www.elicitingexcellence.com/problem-leader-strategies

Strategies for Being Highly Productive

An effective executive needs to be highly productive. Being highly productive not only allows us to accomplish more, but it also lowers feelings of stress and anxiety.

Many executives attempt greater productivity through prioritized lists and calendar management, but I don’t know anyone who’s actually been able to achieve high productivity on a consistent basis using these strategies. It’s not that the strategies don’t work. They do. But without another critical component in place, they’re only of limited usefulness.

Don’t you find it interesting how much more productive we are in the days leading up to a vacation? We plow through the important phone calls that have to be made, respond to all the important emails, and clear our desk of all the paperwork that needs attention. By the time we leave on vacation, everything important has been attended to. Why is that?

The reason we’re able to achieve so much relates to energy management.

The energy I’m referring to has four components to it, and the management of those energy reserves is essential for being highly productive. Our energy reserves are like a four-legged stool. We’re all familiar with the analogy of a three-legged stool. Without all three legs being of equal length, the stool is useless. But with a four-legged stool, even if one of the legs is shorter, it can still be used by exerting a bit of effort and balance. It’s not especially comfortable and requires ongoing expenditure of energy to maintain, but it is functional. The same goes for our four energy reserves. We can function even if one or more of our reserves is depleted, but it’s inefficient, draining, and it negatively impacts our productivity.

These four energy reserves are Physical Energy, Mental Energy, Emotional Energy, and Inspirational Energy. Let me briefly discuss each energy reserve and then offer some strategies to help keep them full.

Physical energy affects our ability to push forward. It helps our drive and our self-discipline. If you’ve ever had a “mid-afternoon crash”, then you’ve experienced the impact a low physical energy can have on productivity.

Mental energy affects our ability to think clearly, to concentrate and focus, to solve problems, and to be creative. Clearly, low mental energy hampers productivity.

Emotional energy impacts our ability to deal with stress, to communicate well, to think clearly, and to interact with others effectively. For example, it’s not uncommon to become short with people when we’re feeling stressed or tense, both of which are caused by low emotional energy.

Inspirational energy is the fuel that moves us to action. It is our passion, purpose, and inspiration that spark self-discipline, extra effort, and new direction. In the absence of inspiration, we end up just going through the motions. Low inspirational energy saps the productive juices out of us.

In order to stay highly productive, it’s essential to develop habits that replenish our energy reserves. There are five strategies that help accomplish this. Some are counter-intuitive and often overlooked, but don’t be fooled by their simplicity. For years they’ve allowed me to accomplish about 50% more than most people do.

High Productivity Strategy #1: Take Breaks
This is the most counter-intuitive of the strategies. After all, how can you become more productive by not working? Here’s why it works…

Most of us have the capacity to stay focused, concentrate well and work hard for about 1.5-2 hours at a time. After that, our focus, accuracy and creativity tend to drop. Ever notice that first thing in the morning you’re able to work quickly, efficiently, and accurately, but as the day wears on, your pace and enthusiasm wane? By taking a 20-30 minute break every 1.5-2 hours or so, you recharge yourself and return to work with the same enthusiasm you had at the beginning of the day.

Take a 20-30 minute break every 1.5-2 hrs.
(The secret to maximizing the impact of those breaks is what you do during them. This is where the second and third strategies for high productivity come into play.)

High Productivity Strategy #2: Eat Strategically
Most people think about what to eat in terms of weight or general health, but nutrition also serves another important purpose.

What and when we eat controls our blood sugar levels. When our blood sugar drops too low, our productivity, focus, and creativity suffer. Remember that mid-afternoon “crash”? It’s due to a drop in blood sugar (often as a consequence of a carb-laden lunch). Eating strategically means eating protein, fat, and some carbohydrate during your breaks. This mix controls the pace at which nutrition is absorbed, which stabilizes your blood sugar level and provides essential nutrients to your brain and your muscles.

Eat strategically throughout the day.

High Productivity Strategy #3: Get Up and Move
During those breaks discussed in Strategy #1, it’s important to get up from your desk and move. Walk around the office, go outside and get some fresh air, run errands, or do chores. Movement helps oxygenate your muscles, your organs, and your brain. It can also help reduce tension and stress, and helps you get refocused.

Do whatever you want during your breaks, but do something.

High Productivity Strategy #4: Release Stress
Being under constant, prolonged and/or high stress undermines our ability to think clearly. We’ve all seen what happens to someone who’s suddenly put under stress. They have a hard time formulating a thought or even completing a sentence.

Therefore, to be highly productive, it is essential to relieve feelings of stress and anxiety. Some people release stress by listening to music. Some enjoy meditating. Others release stress by going to the gym. And still others find that being out in nature helps them decompress.

No matter what you do to relieve stress, it’s just important that you do it.

High Productivity Strategy #5: Get Restful Sleep
Getting a sufficient number of hours of restful sleep allows your body to repair itself and your mind to process ideas and problems. Insufficient or restless sleep will cause a lack of mental sharpness, anxiety, and poor emotional control.

In order to get a restful night’s sleep, avoid caffeine late in the day and avoid eating a heavy, fat-laden, carbohydrate-laden meal late in the evening. Caffeine will keep you from falling asleep quickly and eating a late, heavy meal will cause your body to work hard digesting while you sleep instead of attending to the other tasks necessary for recharging and revitalization.

Eat strategically to ensure a restful night’s sleep.

In summary, managing your energy reserves combined with prioritization of tasks will make you a productivity superstar. Get in the habit of taking breaks every couple of hours, eating strategically throughout the day, getting up and moving, releasing stress, and adopting a lifestyle that allows you to get restful sleep.

Moving From Compliant to Committed

As you well know, a team or an organization that is simply compliant produces mediocre results. On the other hand, if people are engaged and committed, the results are very different.

When someone is compliant, they simply obey – doing what’s asked of them but no more. Typically they’re doing just enough to keep their job. In contrast, someone who’s committed will spend time and effort outside of normal business hours thinking about work, solving problems, finding better ways to get the job done, seeking out new insights, and taking action.

What causes someone to be committed? There are a number of drivers of commitment. The first is that they need to have some degree of self-motivation. If a person isn’t self-motivated about the work they’re doing, they should find a job that has the kind of work they can be enthused about.

The second driver of commitment involves the person they report to – their leader/boss. A motivated, committed person will soon become unhappy if their boss is someone they don’t trust and respect.
Trust and respect must be earned over time. Trust is earned by acting with integrity and by acting in integrity. Acting with integrity means doing what you say you will do and acting in integrity means being the kind of person you claim to be.

Trust grows when a leader follows through on their commitments, and mistrust grows when they don’t follow through. Trust grows as a leader consistently acts in alignment with the values they say matter to them, and mistrust grows when someone claims to embrace certain values but acts in a manner at odds with them.

When it comes to respect, a leader demonstrates they respect someone when they listen to their ideas and interact with them in a respectful manner. When a leader doesn’t value people and doesn’t treat them with respect, their team loses respect for them.

The third driver of commitment involves the culture of the organization. A company that lives by the core values that matter to it drives engagement and commitment. On the other hand, an organization that claims certain core values but acts in ways which clearly demonstrate that those values don’t matter, soon causes widespread disillusionment and disengagement. It’s just like a leader professing the importance of certain values but acting in a manner at odds with those values. When a company tolerates bad behavior, it demonstrates a lack of integrity, which leads to a loss of trust and respect within the organization.

The fourth and final driver of commitment involves the nature of initiatives undertaken by the company, the department, or the team. An initiative without a reason, lacking any purpose other than to make the person who set the goal look good, leaves people flat. If an initiative is to drive commitment, there needs to be a “why”. People become engaged and committed when they believe in what they’re doing and feel they are making a difference.

If you want a committed workforce, start by ensuring that skilled people are being hired who are self-motivated and aligned with the organization’s culture. Ensure that leaders at all levels improve their interpersonal skills. Take a good hard look at whether the organization is living up to the core values it claims to embrace. And be clear about why initiatives are being undertaken.

If you’d like help driving engagement and commitment, let’s find a time to talk.
Helping leaders drive stronger results is my passion.