Think Manager is Just a Title? Think Again.

Managers, I think it’s time we take this job more seriously. Even if you’re the type of person that reads all of the management books and listens to all of the podcasts on how to lead your team I bet you are underestimating the impact that you have on your direct reports. 

Being a manager is a lot more than a job title. It’s a relationship.  — Amy McGeachy, HR Consultant

When I read this data I knew it to be true in my body. It’s a reality that I encounter every week in my HR Consulting work. Managers have just as much impact on a person's mental health than a spouse (both impact mental health by 69%). Even more surprising, is that they have more of an impact than a therapist or mental health provider (according to a 2023 study by The Workforce Institute). With that knowledge, I can’t think of a greater responsibility than to care wisely for the people on your team.

I don’t think this is in any way intentional or malicious, it’s just hard to have that kind of perspective, especially when management is treated largely like a position, rather than a relationship. Traditionally we say that a leader has a ‘span of control’ of X number of people but I challenge you to change that to ‘span of care.’ The shift is directly linked to the type of responsibility that aligns with the study.

When we fail to recognize our impact on our team members, some less-than-ideal things start happening. You might recognize them...

You find yourself (or other managers) saying that an employee is just not doing their job.

It’s so frustrating to work with an employee who seems to do anything but what you’re counting on them to accomplish. Many managers see this as an inherent issue with the employee, but the truth is usually more complex (and fixable!) than that. 

You find yourself (or other managers) saying that someone is “just not working out.”

This person looked so great when you hired them ... but six months in, all you have is a pile of issues. I have managers come to me regularly who are able to list all the mess-ups an employee has had over the last 90 days. But when I ask them whether they’ve actually had a direct conversation with that employee, the answer is usually a surprised, “Well, no” or “Not yet” or “I haven’t had the time.” And, I get it, no one wants to spend time in conflict conversations or worse if you know that it’s not going to work out it feels like time wasted.  

So what can you do instead?

The exact steps you take will depend on what’s going on, but if an employee is struggling, the first thing to do is ask whether they’ve been trained or not. It seems like such an obvious thing to consider, but many organizations either haven’t developed effective training processes, or they  expect employees to onboard so quickly that they haven’t had enough time to absorb the organizational culture and the context of their job, which is just as important as the actual nuts and bolts of the work.

Likewise, if you find yourself wanting to say that an employee is just not working out, consider thinking about it in the opposite direction, asking whether your organization hired them this way, or whether your culture made them this way? That can be a tough thing to look at, but it can be especially useful if you find the same patterns of behavior or struggle emerging in multiple employees. Pay attention to patterns and trends occurring in your organization.

Finally, look at your communication with your employees. It could be that you’re providing guidance and instructions via one means of communication, but the employee needs to get it in another way. Talk with your employees and work with them to figure out whether they need to communicate – and train, for that matter – in written, audio, or kinesthetic formats, and then do what you can to work with them. We all have different learning styles. If emailing someone isn’t working, consider a meeting to explain it verbally or even model it in person. When an employee is struggling I’m a fan of all three! With technology we can even screen record steps to help someone learn a new task. 

Let’s also take a note from our peers in education and use the Gradual Release Model when training on a new task or onboarding. The model simply outlines how to teach a new skill in an easy to use format, I Do, We Do, They Do. First you show them how it’s done, then you do it together and finally you let the employee do it and you provide feedback. 

Ultimately, it’s about remembering that management is a relationship, not just a position.

Being able to work so closely with people and have such an outsized impact on their lives is a huge privilege, and one I think many managers don’t think about quite as often as they could. It’s also a lot of responsibility, which can feel taxing at times. If your management has felt a little more taxing than you’d like, I’m here to support you in problem solving and thinking differently about your role. 

The gradual release of responsibility training method is: I Do, We Do, You Do.

When training and onboarding employees its simply not enough to tell someone how to do a task or project and expect them to excel. We may want to take a note from our peers in the education sector to truly teach employees new skills and tasks. Learn the I Do, We Do, You Do model.

Learn more and sign up for Manager Training at mcgeachyconsulting.com.