Coaching Managers Elevates Your Organization
- by Calvin Coffee
Chief Learning Officer — With the reorganizing of the workplace and introduction of hybrid and remote work for many organizations, evolving priorities for employees, increased job-switching and burnout, managers are more critical to organizational performance than ever. Successful organizations have always depended on managers for engagement, retention and performance, but the best are investing in coaching support for managers beyond the top of the organization.
Changing roles
“I think, in many ways, the role of the manager is more important than ever,” says Amy Lavoie, vice president of people success at Torch. In a traditional, in-person work environment, executives and HR leaders could pick up clues from their interactions around the office as to how employees are feeling and functioning, but the disconnect in a more distanced workplace has meant more responsibilities on the shoulders of managers.
The extra reinforcement of company culture and values between meetings and other kinds of watercooler chats have been replaced with digital fill-ins like Slack and Zoom — all with the same job expectations. Instead of the office itself, managers are now the primary connection to the larger organization for most employees. They’re tasked with translating company values and culture to employees while also acting as the primary way for leaders to understand their employees.
Zoom meetings are great for bringing people together from all over the world, but they miss out on many aspects of work, like unsaid things between meetings or informal cues in office interactions that are “crucial to learning,” Lavoie says. “Making the [managing] job harder to really be able to support that whole person, which is an increased expectation of employees.”
As new generations of workers enter the workforce prioritizing mental health and development opportunities, the employee value proposition has changed for leaders. The increased demand on employee satisfaction, well-being and fostering connection largely falls under the job demands of managers who often receive less support themselves.
If organizations rely on the same old support mechanisms, managers will be less equipped to handle the increased responsibilities and more likely to burn out than the employees they manage. Managers need more support as their jobs have become more demanding than ever. “Investing in relationships for managers through coaching and mentoring can be a critical way to help support them,” says Lavoie.