Alissa Finerman

Los Angeles Executive Coach and Gallup Certified StrengthsFinder Coach, Speaker and Author

4 Strategies To Be A More Effective Manager

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Every manager would like to engage their team and have employees who are excited and enthusiastic about their work, feel connected to the company’s purpose and feel like they are making a difference. The question is how can managers achieve this simple but not easy goal. The trouble is that most managers are not given the training to develop and engage their team.

Employees can either be engaged (34%), not engaged at approximately 50% (people work for a paycheck rather than because they love what they do and lack any emotional connection to the company) and actively disengaged with levels at approximately 16% (people who don’t like what they do, dislike their manager and company and make this opinion known causing a negative impact). It’s not that managers don’t want to be amazing in their role, but they often don’t have the tools to do this.

Gallup has studied engagement levels at work for many years and currently is approximately 34%. This means that on a team of 10 people, only 3-4 people are engaged and actually like their job. The other 6-7 people are either not engaged or highly disengaged. Managers account for 70% of team engagement and play a critical part in the overall success of the team. Managers are like the quarterback of a football team. They call the plays, set the tone and influence the entire team with their confidence, energy, fears and mindset. So managers need to be aware of the energy and belief system they are contributing to the team.

Here are four tips managers can use to engage and develop their team:

1. Know the strengths of each person on your team

It’s essential to know what each person on your team does well and how they uniquely contribute. When people use their strengths they are 6x more likely to be engaged in their work, per Gallup. When managers focus on employee’s strengths, active disengagement with employees falls to just 1% and the level of engaged employees rises to 61% (as opposed to 45% if the manager focuses on weaknesses), per Gallup.  A strengths approach is empowering and helps employees naturally focus on ways to manage conflict, share their voice, communicate, build relationships, execute, influence, think strategically and build trust using what they do well (aka their strengths). You can learn more about your strengths via this assessment (CliftonStrengths).

2. Ask better questions

Tony Robbins says the quality of your questions determines the quality of your relationships. Every manager needs to ask more effective questions that focus on the key issues and let their team know he/she cares. A few great questions to ask each person on the team include: are you clear on what success looks like in your role (only 50% answer yes to this question), what are you excited about in your role and what gives you the greatest satisfaction, what would you like to do more of this year and what one action step can I take to help you be more successful? Managers also need to ask better questions to understand issues from all perspectives and resolve conflicts in a timely manner to reduce any team drama.

3. Listen

Most of my clients think they listen but their direct reports often have a different opinion. Listening means more than being present for a conversation. It means listening to what someone is saying and having them feel heard. This includes not interrupting or finishing a sentence even if you think you know the answer. It also includes putting your phone down and looking up from the computer and just focusing on your employee. It can be helpful to paraphrase back the key takeaways so the person knows you understand and hear their concerns. Listening is challenging and takes effort but this simple practice helps you connect with your team on an authentic and powerful level.

4. Recognize the people on your team

All people want to feel that they matter and recognition is the perfect answer. Managers need to understand that people are unique and therefore may want to be recognized in different ways from a congratulatory personal email to lunch to a group team email to a simple thank you. Often, managers mistake negative feedback for recognition. They are not the same. Per Gallup research, only 40% of employees on a global basic feel they have been recognized in their work in the last 7 days. Recognition is a great way for managers to let their team know they care about them.

Managers play several roles in a company including being individual contributors, developing each person on their team and being responsible to motivate the team to achieve performance goals. Engagement and success levels increase when managers consistently recognize people on their team, listen to the needs and concerns of each person, ask better questions to solve conflicts and help people understand and use their strengths to achieve their goals.

About Alissa

Alissa Finerman is an Executive Coach and Gallup Certified Strengths Coach, speaker and author of Living in YOUR Top 1%. She works with managers, C-suite executives and teams to leverage strengths, shift beliefs and achieve meaningful goals. Alissa has an MBA from the Wharton School and a BA from the University of California, Berkeley. She has worked with Ross Stores, Petco, BNP Paribas, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Brookfield Property Partners, Neutrogena, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Dress for Success. To learn more about coaching with Alissa, please visit her website and follow her on Facebook

Best Articles on Leading with Strengths

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As a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach I have seen how a strengths approach can make a difference for employees, customers and companies. It’s a win-win. The Gallup Organization does amazing research on the strengths based approach and how it can help your employees, managers and organization. Here are a few excellent articles to learn more. Feel free to contact me with any questions or to learn more about doing a strengths seminar for your team.

* How a strengths based development approach can improve profit, sales, engagement for your company, customers and employees

ROI for Strengths Based Development

* Managers can make a huge impact in the success of your company and employee engagement. This article shares why managers matter, how they can make a positive or negative impact and a few strategies to help them development.

Manager Development Matters

* The strengths based development approach is impactful. This article shares some powerful stats that companies are seeing from using this approach. It also shares some best practices for managers to consider.

Strengths Based Development: The Manager’s Role

Why Aren’t All Organizations Strengths Based

Why Coaches are Essential to Creating Strengths Based Organizations

Building A Strengths Based Organization

Do Strengths Differ for Men and Women

Strengths Based Development for Leaders

Do Employees Know What’s Expected of Them

 

About Alissa

Alissa Finerman is an Executive Coach and Gallup Certified Strengths Coach, speaker and author of Living in YOUR Top 1%. She works with managers, C-suite executives and teams to leverage strengths, shift beliefs and achieve meaningful goals. Alissa has an MBA from the Wharton School and a BA from the University of California, Berkeley. She has worked with Ross Stores, Petco, BNP Paribas, Neutrogena, Bristol-Myers Squibb, the Milken Institute, LA Business Journal, Prostate Cancer Foundation, and NBC Universal. To learn more about coaching with Alissa, please visit her website and follow her on Facebook

Managing the Millennial Factor

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Millennials are an important part of the workplace. There are 73 million millennials who were born between 1980 and 1996. Their voice matters and if companies, teams and people are going to be successful, managers need to understand this growing segment of the workforce and manage them more effectively.

When people are not engaged at work they are less likely to be loyal to a company and will move around more easily for new opportunities. Per Gallup, millennials are the least engaged generation at work at 29% compared to Genxers at 32%, Baby boomers at 33% and traditionalists at 45%. Gallup estimates that turnover for millennials stemming from lack of engagement costs the US economy $30.5 billion on an annual basis. High turnover is very detrimental to building a cohesive team because people need to be recruited, trained and re-learn about how best to partner with co-workers.

Managers who want to connect with and effectively manage millennials need to expand their development style and understand the six shifts taking place, per Gallup research, in this segment of the workplace.

  1. My paycheck to my purpose

There is a big shift taking place right now and it’s moving away from just having a job to make money to wanting to work for a company that’s making a difference in the work (think Tesla, SpaceX, Google, Uber, SAP, Toms). So companies need to realize that works like purpose make a difference and just simply having a sales target or empty goal that means nothing to an employee will not drive engagement. Millennials want to feel like they are connected to a larger purpose and making a difference.

  1. My satisfaction to my development

Companies can give all the perks in the world to their employees but if people don’t feel like they are being heard, recognized and developed by their managers they will not be engaged. A simple step mangers can take is to schedule regular meetings with their team and give feedback and share the goals and specific role responsibilities. People like to feel that they matter and that their voice is being heard. Regular meetings is an easy way to address this area and improve performance.

  1. My boss to my coach

Millennials want their “boss” to act like a coach and help them get better everyday. Bosses are often more about giving out orders rather than having a collaborative approach and listening to input (every boss is different). Millennials want to be part of the team rather than feel like there is a chain of command. They think their ideas are just as worthy as those of their boss and wanted to be treated with respect regardless of their age.

  1. My annual review to my ongoing conversations

Historically, companies have operated with annual reviews. This is changing now but millennials want constant feedback just like how they communicate. They are constantly texting, tweeting and instagraming so they see communication at fluid rather than a one time event. Managers need to understand this and adopt if they want to be successful. Gallup highlights that only 21% of millennials meet with their manager on a weekly basis.

  1. My weaknesses to my strengths

Most companies love to have people work on their weaknesses rather than identify and leverage their strengths. The strengths based approach focuses on what people are doing right and partnering to manage any weaker areas. To improve engagement levels, managers need to work with millennials to help them understand their strengths and how they can use them more effectively in their role.

  1. My job to my life

Millennials don’t just see the work day as a job, they see it as a way of life. They want to connect to the organization they work for and feel like they are valued by the organization, team and manager. The best way for a manager to drive engagement and make millennials feel like they matter is to honor their strengths and help them do more of what they love.

* based on the Gallup research report “How Millennials Want to Work and Live”

About Alissa

Alissa Finerman is an Executive Coach and Gallup Certified Strengths Coach, speaker and author of Living in YOUR Top 1%. She works with managers, C-suite executives and teams to leverage strengths, shift beliefs and achieve meaningful goals. Alissa has an MBA from the Wharton School and a BA from the University of California, Berkeley. She has worked with Ross Stores, Petco, BNP Paribas, Neutrogena, Bristol-Myers Squibb, the Milken Institute, LA Business Journal, Prostate Cancer Foundation, and NBC Universal. To learn more about coaching with Alissa, please visit her website and follow her on Facebook

Strengths Partnering for Greater Success

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If you had to list 3 things that annoy and frustrate you about people you work with or 3 strengths and ways the people you work with add value and contribute to the team, which would be easier for you?

When I ask this question in my Leveraging Strengths for Success Team Seminar, the answer is typically that it’s much easier to find what’s wrong with people than what’s right. This is a mindset that is often found in corporate America but is slowly changing as a strengths based approach becomes more widely used. Many companies look to develop their people by identifying their weaknesses and then design an improvement plan (this approach does not usually excite people to focus on what you’re not good at). Whereas, a strengths based approach focuses on identifying strengths and figuring out a plan to help employees use them more often in their role (this approach does excite people to put your strengths and natural talents to good use). The result with a strengths approach, per Gallup research, is a workforce that has higher engagement, satisfaction, productivity and profitability. Just to clarify, the strengths based approach does not overlook weaknesses but it only focuses on a weakness that gets in the way of your success. So for the sales manager who frequently travels but is not great with travel logistics, she can still be successful in her role by partnering around this weaker area with someone who is good with logistics.

Gallup research also shows that teams who focus on strengths are 12.5% more productive. People also learn faster, work harder and stay longer thereby reducing turnover. As you look for ways to partner, here are some steps to consider:

  1. Identify your top 5 strengths and understand how they help you be successful in your role (you can take the Gallup StrengthsFinder Assessment to identify your strengths)
  2. Clarify your goals so you understand what you can contribute and what strengths you need in a partner
  3. Bring in a partner who complements your strengths and helps to manage around weaknesses
  4. Brainstorm how the partnership can resolve various challenges and achieve specific goals (different partnerships may be needed to achieve different goals)

Here’s how partnering can be more effective. If you are an Activator, defined by Gallup as people who make things happen by turning thoughts into action, you learn by doing and can be impatient with too much talk and no action. Activators like to walk out of a meeting and jump into action. A potential partner depending on the goal could be someone with Strategic, defined by Gallup as people who create alternative ways to proceed and can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues. The strategic person has the ability to see the forest rather than just a single tree. The combination is powerful because you have someone who can move various ideas of a project forward (activator) and a partner who can see the bigger picture and thoughtfully consider the best way to step forward (strategic).

Partnerships become a key strategy as we build effective teams and leverage our strengths. This approach allows us to accomplish key goals that could not have been done alone and partner around any weaker areas. The better you understand your own strengths and what you contribute to your team the more effective your partnerships will be.

About Alissa

Alissa Finerman is an Executive Coach and Gallup Certified Strengths Coach, speaker and author of Living in YOUR Top 1%. She works with managers, C-suite executives and teams to leverage strengths, shift beliefs and achieve meaningful goals. Alissa has an MBA from the Wharton School and a BA from the University of California, Berkeley. She has worked with Ross Stores, Petco, BNP Paribas, Neutrogena, Bristol-Myers Squibb, the Milken Institute, LA Business Journal, Prostate Cancer Foundation, and NBC Universal. To learn more about coaching with Alissa, please visit her website and follow her on Facebook

The Strengths Spectrum: Where Do You Stand?

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We all have strengths — defined by Gallup as the ability to consistently provide near perfect performance (ie, the customer service rep who can consistently turn an angry customer into a happy customer). Strengths are not just something you are good at — they need to give you energy. Sometimes we use our strengths effectively and productively, known as using them in the mature form, and sometimes we use them ineffectively and unproductively, known as using them in the raw form. As you focus on developing as a leader, you want to consider where you play on the raw vs mature strengths spectrum. Ideally we want to be using our strengths closer to the mature side of the spectrum but sometimes this doesn’t happen because we may be tired, frustrated, pressed for time or have a complete blind spot and be unaware of how we behave and are seen by others.

Once you’ve identified your strengths (you can take the Gallup StrengthsFinder Assessment) and understand how they help you be successful in your role, you can then start to dive into the raw and mature side of each strength. This is not a good or bad thing, every strength has a raw and mature side depending on how we use it. For those who strive to become leaders and more effective and respected in your role, you want to make sure you are closer to the mature side of the spectrum and using your strengths effectively and moving closer toward your goals.

As a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach this is where I spend the majority of my time working with clients and teams because this is where leaders and managers get derailed. This is also a valuable tool to develop people on your team and help them become better leaders.

Let’s take a look at a few examples for some of the more frequent strengths in their raw and mature form:

STRENGTH Definition MATURE FORM RAW FORM
ACHIEVER(enjoys making a list and getting stuff done) Likes to focus on tasks and goals in a productive way Tunnel vision, doesn’t focus on key priorities and is busy on non-essential tasks, loses sight of goal
RESPONSIBILITY(your word is gold) Takes ownership, you follow-through on what you say Hesitant to delegate and can be a micro-manager
STRATEGIC(ability to see the bigger picture) Can see patterns and different paths forward Too quick to come to a conclusion, can run others over and not listen
ANALYTICAL(thoroughly researches an issue from all angles) Asks insightful questions and can prioritize key details Endless need for details and has difficulty coming to a decision

 

Our work becomes to understand where we play on the strengths spectrum by increasing our self-awareness and getting feedback. The reality is that work and life can be stressful. We often work with difficult people on challenging projects that push us outside our comfort zones. Sometimes we let our ego get involved and we can lose sight of the goal and what we each contribute to the team and project via a strengths based approach. As we increase our understanding of our strengths and how we can use them for us (mature) or against us (raw), we start to become more effective leaders and better respected in the workplace and at home.

About Alissa

Alissa Finerman is an Executive Coach and Gallup Certified Strengths Coach, speaker and author of Living in YOUR Top 1%. She works with managers, C-suite executives and teams to leverage strengths, shift beliefs and achieve meaningful goals. Alissa has an MBA from the Wharton School and a BA from the University of California, Berkeley. She has worked with Ross Stores, Petco, BNP Paribas, Neutrogena, Bristol-Myers Squibb, the Milken Institute, LA Business Journal, Prostate Cancer Foundation, and NBC Universal. To learn more about coaching with Alissa, please visit her website and follow her on Facebook