Employee Coaching Training: How to Turn People Managers into People Developers
Management is a skill. As with any other craft, mastering it takes practice, support, and time. With a competitive talent landscape, an exhausted workforce, and pressure to control costs since the pandemic, HR leaders must find a way to support their managers.
Many HR leaders believe that it is the manager's job to develop their employees, but in reality, most managers aren't well-positioned to develop people right off the bat. Nor are they incentivized to learn how to do so in most organizations! This has created an environment where employees (and managers) are burned out, unhappy, and unproductive.
So how can talent leaders get the most out of their managers while also increasing employee retention?
The answer lies in management becoming a two-way street. Success for your organization starts with front-line managers becoming people developers. Here, we explain how to help managers with this new role, explore modern management styles, and provide tips on empowering HR and managers with the right tools to actually transform your organization.
The Current State of People Management
First, let’s take a look at the way things work currently. The typical approach to an organizational structure is to position managers as the primary agents of employee development. They’re working with their reports day-to-day, so that makes the most sense, right?
Experience says otherwise.
The traditional model that places the onus of development squarely on the shoulders of managers often doesn’t provide them with the necessary tools or incentives to develop their staff while performing their daily duties. Managers are often overwhelmed with their duties of compliance, policy enforcement, and achieving KPIs. That leaves little time for coaching or skill development.
Gallup research also shows that workers have continued to sour on their workplaces due to a lack of clarity on expectations, opportunities for development, and feeling heard.
This type of environment fails everyone involved—employees, managers, and executives—and the workplace product suffers. Gartner finds that a staggering 82% of employees report a working environment that lacks fairness, where they don’t feel informed, considered, acknowledged, or supported. An unsatisfied employee is an uninspired one.
These realities have led to a common struggle—a significant gap in employee development, with employees left wanting more. In a world where twice as many people have left their jobs due to development or career advancement than better pay and benefits, HR leaders must recognize this reality and commit to combating it.
“We’ve set up managers to fail, continually adding duties on their desk from every corporate function, while expanding their spans, raising near-term performance expectations, and insisting that they have a day job in addition to managing. All of this is a poorly designed model and then we blame the people in the model rather than questioning the model itself.”
Ben Brooks, Founder & CEO, PILOT
To bridge this gap, it’s essential to rethink the development paradigm, providing the opportunity for employees to get the most out of their work. The shift requires organizations to invest in teaching employees how to develop themselves, take ownership of their careers, and actively seek feedback. Performance reviews and learning plans should be continuous, recurring processes rather than annual events.
By separating development from performance rankings in HR systems, organizations can create a safe space for genuine development discussions – one that lacks any perceived pressure of a traditional review.
Read the eBook: How to Implement a Coaching Mentality at Your Organization
Key Steps to Turn Managers into People Developers
A Gartner study highlights that 60% of HR leaders consider leader and manager effectiveness a top priority, yet 24% acknowledge that their leadership development approaches are outdated. How can talent management leaders offer concrete ways to help managers address developmental feedback gaps?
For managers to be successful, their development leaders need to change the way they think about frontline managers.
HR Strategies to Empower Managers: The Bird’s Eye View
Here’s what HR leaders can do:
Foster a collaborative environment where both employees and managers share the responsibility for preparation, engagement, and action in the developmental process. Don’t place the burden entirely on the manager. One of the biggest predictors of the success of employee coaching is employees feeling empowered with their own career development.
Ensure that managers provide clear and actionable strategies to employees, aiding them in addressing developmental feedback and bridging skill gaps. No one likes a list of generic performance goals.
Recognize and reward managers who actively contribute to both individual and organizational growth by investing in their team’s development.
Encourage managers to take a proactive role in employee development, ensuring they are equipped to support their team’s growth journey effectively.
While talent management leaders focus on being the referee between managers and employees, you can help your managers focus on these steps to become a “people developer.”
Tips for Helping Your Managers Improve Their Employee Coaching & Training Skills
Have them establish a routine of monthly developmental meetings outside of regular supervision, assisting employees in creating their own action plans, and providing clear support and accountability measures.
Concentrate their employee coaching training efforts on incremental improvements, encouraging consistent progress through focused and manageable tweaks.
Make sure they balance recognition of past achievements with a forward-looking approach, and actively engage in co-creating development plans for their employee’s future.
Give all employees the permission and empowerment to drive their own career development. Remember that not everyone is looking to become a manager!
Don’t let managers get stuck on traditional employee coaching training modules like weekend workshops or technical training. Focus them on being flexible in their methods and outcomes of development.
“The biggest untapped resource in an organization is its employees. For decades executives and HR have spent their focus on trying to control, align, and prod their employees. HR of the future will be built around unleashing, empowering, nurturing, and supporting employees.”
Ben Brooks, Founder & CEO, PILOT
How Employee Coaching & Training Impacts People Development
By providing managers and employees with innovative tools and a transformative approach, talent leaders can unlock their full potential. Avoid task management: foster an environment of managers as mentors and coaches—and employees who are happy and empowered.
Create a runway where your managers are equipped with the necessary tools and skills to actively participate in the growth journeys of their team members. Managers will then become catalysts for change, learning to identify potential skills, and encourage continuous learning and development.
Foster Self-Ownership: Encourage employees to take charge of their development journey.
Utilize Progressive Tools: Build meaningful development conversations and action through frameworks like fireside chats.
Create a Feedback-Rich Environment: Cultivate continuous feedback, aiding self-awareness and growth for both parties (manager and employee).
Support Career Advancement: Assist employees in their pursuit of growth and progression. For example, you can help adapt your hybrid and remote employees to virtual feedback conversations.
Build a Workforce That’s Engaged, Motivated, and Productive
Transitioning your managers from people managers to people developers requires a change in approach to management from HR and other leaders. It’s not a simple flip of a switch, but the result is worth it. You’ll find employees and managers are more inspired, driven, and committed to the future.
Organizations that make a conscious choice to prioritize development are not only investing in the lives of their employees – but in their overall business. Engaged employees are better at their jobs and less likely to leave, avoiding the challenges of turnover, hiring, and other bureaucracy.
It’s time to embrace the new future of work by first empowering your managers.
