Managers don't need more to do. They need better help doing it.

CIPD research found that only 53% of line managers felt they received enough training and information to carry out their people-management responsibilities well.

Only half felt they had enough time to manage people well.

Yet “Gallup's most profound finding -- ever -- is probably this: 70% of the variance in team engagement is determined solely by the manager.”

That's quite a disconnect.

We expect time-poor managers to influence engagement, performance, wellbeing, development, difficult conversations, conflict and retention - while getting the day job done.

So perhaps the answer isn't simply more training, another programme or another report to read.

Perhaps we should ask:

How can we give managers better insight, with less effort, at the point they actually need it?

Before the difficult conversation. When someone isn't responding as expected. When two good people aren't working well together. When a team isn't quite clicking.

Or simply: How might I get the best from this person?

People are complicated. Understanding them doesn't have to be.

What if we could give managers useful insight into themselves, their people and their teams -quickly, simply and when it matters?

Not more management theory.

And it shouldn't have to cost a fortune - in either time or money.

Better insights. Better management. Better performance.

Sources: CIPD – The importance of people management: analysis of its impact on employees (2023); GALLUP, How to engage frontline managers. Workplace August 9, 2022/updated January 19, 2024.