Where are we now? How we left managers, the growth engine of every company, behind…

The last four years have been extraordinarily unpredictable. However, one thing has been consistent: the sharp decline in the investment in people managers, which has decreased to less than $500 per manager. That’s less than a cup of coffee a day! Despite this lack of investment in managers, performance expectations and responsibilities have increased considerably. Modern leaders are both individual contributors and people managers. They are being squeezed between leadership who want stronger performance, and their teams who require more than just transactional management — they require strategy, vision, mentorship, coaching and ongoing development. As one of our partners put it: “managers are like kitchen runners, running back and forth, back and forth, and they don’t have any time to come up for air.“

So, this is where we are:

• Managers simply don’t have time to be managers: 45% of managers are spending more time managing projects than managing people (Gartner)
• Managers don’t know how to grow: only one in five HR leaders said managers at their organization are aware of their own strengths and development areas. (HBR)
• Managers are extraordinarily stressed: 54% of managers are suffering from work-induced stress and fatigue. (Gartner)
• Managers are disengaging: 70% of managers report being disengaged at work. (Gallup)

It might then come as LITTLE surprise that there are significant downstream effects on the people that they manage:

• People don’t trust their managers: Only 1 in 2 employees is confident in their manager’s ability to lead their team to be successful in the next two years. (Gartner)
• People are experiencing extreme negative emotions: one in five employees reported feeling loneliness, anger, or sadness during the majority of the previous day. (Gartner)
• People aren’t getting value from their managers: Only 47% of employees say they derive valuable outcomes from interactions with their managers. (HBR)

HR teams have taken notice: 74% of HR leaders are prioritizing support for their managers in 2024. (Mento’s 2024 State of People Development Report)

What’s the impact? How we’re leaving serious revenue on the table when we underinvest in our managers…

We have overcorrected in this market, and we’re paying the price. A recent Gallup report estimated that the cost of poor management and lost productivity from disengaged employees is $8.8 trillion, or 9% of global GDP. I mean, wow! Sit with that one for a second. It’s staggering.

When managers are disengaged, their employees are disengaged, driving down productivity, performance, innovation and wellbeing. It should come as little surprise that when companies invest in organizational health and effective leadership they see 35% higher total shareholder returns (TSR) than those that don’t (Mckinsey).

There are both cost savings and revenue gains if we start to re-invest in people. First, we need a mindset shift: investing in managers is a revenue-driver and fundamental to any successful business.

HR teams have taken notice, and are on the frontlines advocating for leadership development: 74% of HR leaders are prioritizing support for their managers in 2024 (Mento’s 2024 State of People Development Report). The question remains: what are the most effective strategies for getting leadership buy-in and what are the most effective investments to make?

What can I do about it? Strategies for the “new normal” for leadership development from Dropbox, Booz Allen Hamilton, and more…

The message here isn’t to make you fall into despair! The impact and data of underinvestment have become too overwhelming to ignore. Yet again, it’s becoming a consensus that investing in managers is the best way to increase the productivity and performance of organizations.

As HR teams regain budget, what they're most excited about is the opportunity to do things differently and rewrite the leadership development playbook.

The opportunity was perfectly stated by our partner, Karlee Pierce, who heads up Leadership Development Programs at Dropbox: “As markets, the workplace and the world continue to be uncertain, managers have to do more with less while balancing their own humanity. HR has the awesome opportunity to support leaders in the flow of work. It’s people AND results that enable hope, resilience and innovation.”

How are talent leaders taking advantage of this opportunity to reimagine how they support their teams? Through extensive research, and conversations with partners, here’s how the new playbook is starting to be remade:

What we’re (mostly) saying goodbye to:

• Generic, one-size fits all solutions with endless licenses.
• Small HR teams doing everything in-house (you all are heroes, but you’re also people, too!).
• Optimizing for quantity of people impacted over quality.
• Doing something for morale only (the boost is too short).
• One-off training that doesn't drive long-term behavior change and performance impact.
• L&D stipends which are rarely performance orientated, take up a huge chunk of budget, and create incentives for companies to encourage people NOT to use them.
• Investing in low-cost, low impact solutions.

What we’re saying hello to:

• High impact, long-term programs that are measurable, targeted and personalized.
• Investing in solutions and programs that drive meaningful performance.
• Focused on developing leadership skills that translate on-the-job.
• Targeted investment in highest-impact leaders.
• Ensuring different types of learning methods (social, experiential, etc).
• Tiered Support: it’s OKAY to invest differently in different populations, depending on needs, business impact and individual performance.
• Personalized, contextual and relevant to the individual: the more relevant and aligned to solving real problems for people, the more impactful it will be for the organization.

This is the first in a three-part series exploring the new playbook for modern leadership development. The next will focus on the tactical strategies and programming from HR leaders who are thinking differently about talent development.

Not interested in waiting? Grab a time with us here, or drop us your email and we’ll send you a few resources to get started (no annoying daily emails, we promise).

If you want to continue learning about the state of managers and what you can do about it, checkout our recent Rethinking How We Support Managers in 2024 on-demand webinar here.