Both expert studies and our everyday experience confirm that employees leave companies mainly due to their dissatisfaction with managers. Managers, however, are not the only ones to be blamed here: HR people are also responsible as they often make mistakes in their approach to managers. This fact was pointed out in an interesting recent article on the British HR Zone website which specifically offered three major recommendations on what HR professionals should stop doing to managers.
1. Stop creating unsuccessful managers
The best employees often become the worst managers because they are promoted to managerial roles "as a reward" for their expertise without adequate training and support. Before you make somebody a manager, you should be sure the person is ready. Have they led some major projects? Have they received feedback from other participants? Can they make decisions based on data?
2. Stop processes supporting poor managers
Traditional annual performance evaluation is a typical example of such a process. The current trend is clear and leads to regular meetings of managers and employees in order to share feedback while it is still relevant. Nor should recognition or rewards be one-off annual affairs.
3. Stop excluding managers from strategic planning
If you want your managers to have a positive impact on employees, they must be involved in company-wide strategic plans and objectives. If they don't know or understand strategic objectives, they can hardly inspire others to meet them. Remember that managers are also employees you should be taking care of.
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