If there’s one topic that consistently shows up in lists of priorities for both People Ops professionals and company leaders, it’s how to help managers succeed with effective training programs.
You’ve likely heard the old adage, “People quit bosses, not companies,” and while it’s not usually quite that simple, there’s definitely some truth in that statement. Managers are the front line of the employee experience. They see the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of an employee's job and have the influence to create a very positive experience—or quite the opposite.
After facilitating 30+ cohorts in our Training for the Modern Manager program, we’ve talked with hundreds of managers across the country—and learned a lot! Today we’re sharing some insights on what managers need to succeed and what we as People Ops can do to better support them.
A Little Background: Why We Developed a Management Training Program
In mid-2023, I launched my very first Want To Work There product—Training for the Modern Manager. It was the effective manager training for small companies that I wanted in my last Director of People role but couldn’t find: a full 12-week cohort-style curriculum (both the participant and facilitator materials) that I could purchase once and then use to train every single manager in my organization. I wanted something that was accessible to smaller organizations, who are often priced out of management training support, but with an impact that would truly change the experience of every employee in the organization.
Now, I’m more confident than ever that our program has accomplished just that and more, having been rolled out in a variety of different organizations, ranging from tech startups (9fin, LeanTaas) to government agencies (Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources) to media companies (Rescue Behavior Agency, CrossMedia) to well-established brands (e.l.f. cosmetics) and more.
While half of our clients use the product as I originally intended—facilitating all of their own cohorts internally using our step-by-step guides and resources—the other half have opted for additional facilitation support. At first, I was the sole person leading these cohorts for clients. At the time of this article’s publication, we have a team of seven facilitators currently supporting the 23 cohorts!
Why am I telling you this? Well, one—I’m super proud! This vision I had for a modern program that could support managers with practical, actionable advice and tools has been making a huge impact of manager training on employee experience in the real world. There is no better feeling than that—let me tell you!
But I’m also sharing because I personally have spent more time with managers at all levels than anyone else I know, and I wanted to share what I’ve been learning from the experience.
Let’s take a look at the top 5 insights we’ve gained from across all our clients, no matter the size of the company or the manager experience level.
Our Top 5 Insights from Leading Over 30 Manager Training Cohorts
#1: Managers are eager for training support.
Whenever I speak to a potential client about our Training for the Modern Manager program, I always ask if they think their managers will be receptive to training. It’s rare that I hear anything besides a resounding YES. Besides the time concern (which we’ll get to shortly) their managers are truly hungry for (and vocal about) receiving any type of practical training and support they can get their hands on. This sentiment continues to be reinforced in the cohort sessions we’ve led with over 30+ teams in the last eight months.
Each time we kickoff a new manager training cohort, I’m consistently amazed by how eager everyone is to engage and learn. Individuals are showing up with their cameras on, having done the homework, and are eager to discuss the topic of the week. If you’ve led a meeting of fully remote employees, you know just how incredible this is - especially when it continues over the course of 12 weeks. While I’d like to take credit for this engagement, the content and facilitation alone is not enough to drive that kind of enthusiasm. So what is?
From what I’m hearing, most managers know that they are a fundamental part of their teams’ experience at work - and they want to learn how to become really good managers. Many say they’ve been asking for this type of support for years and are excited to finally get the opportunity to learn and grow. Specifically, they are most eager and excited for education and support that tackles their biggest issues, including:
Pushing past fear to providing effective feedback
Holding individuals accountable to assigned tasks
Building team cohesion
Navigating difficult conversations
These issues have continued to amp up among layoffs, a growing cohort of Gen Z employees with strong opinions and boundaries, and what feels like a never ending battle against burnout.
What You Can Do
Consider bringing Training for the Modern Manager to your company. Yes, I’m biased, but after putting hundreds of managers through the program, I am more confident than ever of the incredible impact the program can have within startups and scaleups. If you’d like to learn more, schedule a time to chat with me here.
Start a book club. And keep it low-effort for both you and attendees. First, choose a people management book. I recommend The Making of a Manager by Julie Zhou. Divide the chapters up over the course of 4-8 weeks and set a recurring meeting every week, or every other week, to discuss the readings. Invite managers and encourage them to come to every meeting even if they didn’t complete the readings. It’s a good idea to bring a list of discussion questions to each meeting and provide them the day before each meeting to help jump start the conversation. If you have never done a book club, this is a good time to approach leadership to secure funding for the books in different formats (physical, audio, e-book, etc.). Amazon and Thrift Books both sell used books if you are on a tight budget.
Create meaningful space for conversation. If you don’t think your team is ready for that level of commitment and structure, start by creating a safe space for them to give and receive support to others in a similar position. This can be a really effective way to help managers learn from one another and share strategies for managing their team. I recommend inviting all managers but not making it mandatory. Start with a few advocates who are really excited about the program and let them spread the word about how helpful the meetings are to gain buy-in from others.
#2: Managers are stretched thin (even more than most).
I think we often forget that “manager” isn’t just a job title that designates hierarchy - it’s a set of responsibilities that must be upheld. So often we forget that being a great manager takes time! Things like holding 1:1 meetings, providing meaningful feedback, aligning team goals with the larger company vision, and delegating work are often forgotten about when it comes to assessing people manager’s workload - and to great detriment for both them and their direct reports. In our work researching, developing, and scaling excellent people management for growing teams, we’ve developed a guideline we call The 10% Rule.
The 10% Rule: At least 10% of a manager’s time per direct report should be allocated to people management tasks, admin, preparation, and skills development per employee. Yes, 10% per direct report. If you manage three people, 30% of your time should be delegated to management. Five people? Fifty percent. Seven? 70%.
However, in reality, most managers get more like 5-10% of their total time to manage their team - regardless of how many people they’re overseeing. It’s no wonder they are so overwhelmed!
You might be wondering - how on earth can I give my managers 10% of time per direct report?! We discussed this concept on an episode of the PX Expresso Hour show and shared some helpful tips to get you started. We’ve also compiled three ways you can start creating more time for management practices below.
What You Can Do
Audit your manager’s direct reporting numbers. Compile a report of how many employees each manager supervises and look for any discrepancies. Is the managerial workload spread evenly, or are some managers supervising way more than others? Do some managers have mostly new professionals who may need more support than those who are more experienced? This simple exercise may unearth some inequities that could be corrected to free up some employees’ time.
Define managers’ roles and responsibilities and use it to make the case for more manager support. Use our Manager Expectations Matrix (Part #3) to determine exactly what your company expects of them. Take that list to your leadership to show them just how much you are asking of managers without formally giving them time to do it. You might all be surprised at how long the list is! This can start a conversation about instituting the 10% rule and adjusting responsibilities appropriately, or other ways you can free up some time for managerial duties.
Encourage your managers to delegate. This can be tricky - we all struggle with delegation - but managers are often doing tasks they shouldn’t, or don’t need to. They may do some things because they’ve always done it and it’s easy for them, or because they just enjoy it and don’t want to give it up. Help managers think critically about what they could delegate to free up some time in their schedule.
#3: Feedback is hard for almost everyone.
Effectively delivering quality feedback is quite possibly one of the toughest manager duties. There is no topic that comes up more frequently as a desired skill by managers who are going through the program. In fact, we devoted an entire issue to it.
What’s been surprising to me after spending time with so many managers is not that it’s a hard skill to master, but rather how eager managers are to get better at it. They are incredibly hungry for tools and frameworks that will help them in navigating the practice. This is especially true for those with Gen Z employees, who are vocal about desiring timely, effective feedback weekly - not at a quarterly or bi-annual performance review.
These are the feedback topics I hear about most often:
Navigating reactions to feedback, whether it’s sadness, anger, denial or a variety of others. Many are more worried about what comes after the feedback than delivering the feedback itself.
What to do when nothing changes after consistent feedback.
How to decide whether the feedback they’re offering is valid or is actually more of their own bias or opinion.
What You Can Do
Invest in Training for the Modern Manager. I’m proud of the entire program, but I’m exceptionally proud of the updated feedback and performance management content we’re getting ready to launch in January 2025. Because we are an accessible program (which includes all future updates in our one-time flat curriculum fee) all of our clients will be receiving this update at no cost to them. Doesn’t that sound like the kind of win you’d like to bring your CEO?
Introduce managers to a framework that makes sense for your organization. You’ve got a lot of options when it comes to feedback frameworks, like SBI (Situation, Behavior, Impact) or STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result). Choose the one that you’d like to encourage your managers to use, or that they are already using, and make it easily accessible. If you already have a manager resource library in your files or on your intranet, create a folder dedicated to feedback with worksheets, articles, and other items to help managers hone their feedback skills. If you don’t have one, this is a great place to start!
Share some examples using ChatGPT. AI can be a great training tool when you ask the right questions. A prompt I’ve used that works well is “An employee I supervise has been missing deadlines. Can you show me an example of how I can provide constructive feedback using the Situation, Behavior, Impact model?” ChatGPT can then show you what it actually sounds like to give someone that type of feedback. Encourage employees to use AI tools when they are struggling to find the right words, and to become more comfortable with those types of discussions.
If you’re looking for more on the topic of feedback, here are some other articles we’ve written on gathering and receiving feedback - and one podcast episode on employee feedback audits.
#4: There is extreme value in starting from the very top.
You might think that a manager training program would start with new managers who are supervising someone for the first time. But I have yet to have a single company choose to start there - they almost always start with the most senior people, including CEOs. Why? Because there is no “how to be a great manager course” that everyone goes through.
Some people make it into very senior roles, supervising a lot of people, without ever having formal manager training. They did the best they could, and they may be doing a great job! But everyone benefits from learning best practices for hosting effective 1:1 meetings, or giving feedback, or how to actively cultivate an inclusive workplace community. And it’s especially important for all managers - those new to the job and those who have been doing it for 20+ years - to use the same approach, methods, and terminology, or at least be familiar enough with it to participate in these conversations.
Workplace culture really is about norms, or “how we do things around here”, and that is rooted in the beliefs and practices that people bring into the community. It can be confusing and frustrating for everyone if some managers are being taught things a certain way through training, but senior leadership are taking a completely different approach.
What You Can Do
Get vocal about what you’re teaching your managers. Whether you decide to send senior leadership through manager training or not, make sure they are exposed to the key principles being taught. They should be able to talk about those best practices just as well as those who go through the program. Share it with leaders and share it with the whole team. There are no secrets to be kept, and all employees will appreciate knowing that the company is putting a concerted effort into training managers.
Actively recruit advocates. We all know that when someone who is well respected in the company gets behind something, it can start a trend, and others will be more likely to join. At the end of my cohorts with senior leaders I express how important it is for them to be advocates of this work, because if they care, others will too. If they don’t care, that makes it easier for others to blow it off and focus on something else. This may even involve giving them specific verbiage, or an “elevator pitch” for these best practices, to help them act as active advocates.
Invite top leaders in - thoughtfully. There are some considerations to make when bringing senior leaders into training. It can be intimidating for junior managers to be in a small cohort with them, and that erodes the psychological safety these trainings are meant to foster. An employee that doesn’t regularly interact with or have a working relationship with a top leader may not feel comfortable speaking up and actively participating. This could mean breaking into smaller groups for some work and pairing people by experience level, which will likely be a better experience for everyone.
#5: There is power in cohort-style programs.
This is something I’m very passionate about. Let me tell you… The bonding that I have experienced between remote and in-person teams during a cohort experience is absolutely exceptional. It’s not very often that all managers across a company get a chance to connect and hear about each others’ experiences. It's incredibly valuable to be around others who are not only experiencing the same frustrations as you (commiserating is so reassuring!) but are sharing the same learning experience.
The transformation in participants’ working relationships that I see in such a short time is absolutely incredible and should not be underestimated. So whether it's our program or something else that you're planning for the new year, I cannot recommend cohort style learning enough - it truly is one of the most impactful things you can do.
What You Can Do
Find time for smaller group sessions. I’ve seen some companies pack all of their managers into one training group, where there can be up to 20 people. That group size makes it easy for people to hide, or sit back and let others do the talking, which is not the experience we’re aiming for. In small groups, there’s no hiding - everyone is expected to participate and it’s easier to encourage the quieter folks to speak up. Smaller groups also foster the forming of stronger relationships which is vital to making folks feel comfortable sharing.
Know that psychological safety takes time. But in the right atmosphere it can grow very quickly. You can’t jump into your most vulnerable questions in the very first session and expect people to open right up and start sharing. Prepare for it to take a couple sessions of discussing lighter topics so the group can build that momentum and trust with one another. But if you keep working towards it you’ll see it grow over just a few weeks’ time.
Plant someone to kick off the conversation. We as humans will match the level of vulnerability that others around us have. If someone gives a shallow answer, the next person will likely follow suit and that will set the tone for the entire session, whether intentional or not. It can be helpful to reach out to someone before the meeting, or identify an active participant early on, and ask for their help. Explain the importance of having one person start the trend of being vulnerable to give others that permission. If they are open to it, it can make a huge impact in your effort to foster relationships and get people to open up.
I could keep going on and on about all the things I’ve learned from managers, but I think you get the idea: Managers want to get better and are asking for more support!!
This might look like implementing a manager training program or building your own version of a training program. You might ask your managers what they need help with, gather a list of requests, and then pick a few requests you can begin to support.
However you choose to engage in the journey, we are here to support you!
