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Managers are leaders, they lead people into greatness. They are on the front line of businesses everyday. While executives and CEOs across the world lay out visions for their companies, managers are the ones who implement the strategies and support their teams to bring those visions to life.
Not liking your boss and lack of management recognition are among the top reasons why people leave their jobs. This, along with your own personal experiences may lead you to believe that many workplaces are filled with bad managers.
The truth is people managers often lack the leadership support and empowerment they need to be their best selves, and to guide their teams to success. On average, they also feel their jobs lack purpose compared to leaders and executives.
Investing in managers and helping them become their best selves at work means you also invest in their teams who will benefit from a more confident, purpose filled and energized leader.
3 Ways to Empower Managers at Work
Get to Know Managers Deeply
Most people get promoted into management because of a technical skill or unique ability they’ve mastered, but management comes with a whole new set of skills, including leadership, communication, collaboration, conflict management, and critical thinking. Managers are at the intersection of employee goals and organizational goals.
Before you can empower people, you have to get to know them, their strengths, areas of improvement, values and what they want to achieve. Most companies start with strengths and look for a few key areas of improvement, but few look beyond, to find the personal values that are important to a newly promoted manager.
Find out what their vision is for their own life and career, not a 5-year plan, but a personal vision that is filled with purpose. Connecting that vision to the company’s vision and goals is how you start to build a roadmap for success.
Help Managers Lead
Some say that management and leadership are different, when we think of leaders we think of great visionaries, we think of the CEO or the VP of the company, whereas managers get saddled with the “day-to-day” operations, however managers do so much more than that. They lead teams to hit goals, complete projects, pivot when needed, all while supporting employees daily, and this takes leadership.
Help managers discover their inner leaders by:
- Providing autonomy – Give managers the authority to make high level decisions and publicly support those decisions.
- Making room for creativity – There are policies and procedures in every company, help managers lead authentically by making room for creativity and innovation. Encourage them to do things their own way, to trial and error their unique strategies.
- Promoting mindfulness – Promote mindfulness at work by inspiring leaders to become self-aware, discover what they’re passionate about, and be present with their teams every day.
- Offering resources – A good rule in life and at work is to never assume anything about anyone, always ask questions and use curiosity. I recommend this rule for supporting managers also, ask them what resources are needed and make those resources available to them.
Celebrate All Wins
Making joy part of our work life is rare. How often do you associate joy with work?
Many managers are currently struggling to support themselves and their teams through a pandemic, loss, financial and mental stress, and racial unrest. It can be hard to find joy. Inspire managers by encouraging them to celebrate all wins with their teams no matter how small. These celebrations will create community, bring joy at work, and the kind of positivity we all need.
These three strategies will empower managers to discover their greatness so they can lead with more purpose, a clear vision, and joy.
