Hero or Villain?

There’s a war waging at your workplace and you might not be aware of it.

A role that can determine the fate of your organization.

This may sound dramatic, but it’s not.

Managers, are you a hero or villain?

70% of engagement at work is directly tied to the manager-employee relationship.

Talent retention and turnover is related to managers more than any other role in your company.

I think of “with great power comes great responsibility.”

A single person can make or break an organization…that’s huge!

Since now we’ve established the issue, let’s discuss how to fix it.

1. Get your hiring/promotion qualifications right.

Start by identifying the leadership traits you desire at your company.

Don’t overemphasize education and experience - that doesn’t make a leader.

Find people with natural leadership abilities that are doing the job without the title.

2. Make continuous training part of your culture.

Raise the standards, by raising the expectations company-wide.

Most company cultures lack development and accountability.

Training is not a one-off process. Stop treating it like it is.

Employees need training. Leaders need coaches.

3. Gather feedback and measure results.

If you’re wondering about the ROI on training, it’s 86% higher productivity when paired with coaching.

You can’t just check off the box once training is completed and not follow-up.

When leaders are held accountable for outcomes, they are more inclined to take ownership for the process.

I’ll be the first to say it’s not short or easy, but it is necessary.

Why? Because it’s controllable by the executives to enforce and prioritize a culture or training and development.

Choosing who to promote to manager falls on ownership.

Therefore, heroes or villains are created at work.

As a bonus qualification, look for people within the company who already have strong soft skills: communication, empathy, emotional intelligence, etc.

• If you’re looking to cut costs, notice which people are trustworthy and have gained rapport from the outset.

• Natural leaders are the same on the playground in elementary school as they are in the workplace.

Sometimes an outside perspective helps because when you’re inside you’re somewhat blinded by bias and past experiences.

I can spot leaders within a company quickly without knowing much context at all.

Most companies have only endured the manager as the villain, but if you select the next hero as manager loyalty shoots through the roof!

Take the concept of hero versus villain seriously because your people are talking about it, whether you’re aware of it or not.

Need help? Contact me here.

God Bless,

Scott

If you found this helpful and you’re looking to improve your soft skills as a leader, here are ways to work with me directly:

• 🗣 Hire me to speak at your company or next event (watch my speaking reel here)

• 🎤 Invite me to lead an interactive training workshop, remotely or in-person (depending on location)

• 🤝 Start 1:1 coaching with me as a new manager, current leader or executive (I once managed 30 people 1:1 weekly❗️)

Also, you can help me out by forwarding this to friends whom would benefit from it! Thank you!