The most expensive blind spot in business?

Companies spend enormous amounts of money, time and energy trying to get the best from their people.

Engagement programmes. Culture initiatives. Leadership development. Training. Executive coaching and mentoring. Awaydays. Incentives. Clarity of purpose. And more.

And now, of course, AI.

All potentially valuable investments.

But are we overlooking something much closer to home?

The everyday manager.

Gallup's research finds that managers account for 70% of the variance in team engagement.*

So how much practical help do we actually give our managers to help them to understand the people and teams they manage - and how they work together day-to-day?

Perhaps we need to give them a simple tool? A mirror. 

A mirror to help people see themselves more clearly; to help managers understand the people in front of them better; and to help teams see how they operate collectively.

Because every day managers have to make decisions and have interactions that affect engagement, relationships and performance.

How much organisational waste and lost potential comes simply from people not understanding themselves - or each other - well enough?

Our best resources still go up and down in the lift every morning. But what are we doing to help them be at their best when the doors open?

We're investing vast sums in making our technology and processes smarter.

Perhaps it's worth investing a fraction of that in helping our managers understand and manage our people better?

It doesn't have to be expensive - or even complicated.

Sometimes better performance starts with better understanding.

Gallup, How to Engage Frontline Managers, Workplace, 9 August 2022; updated 19 January 2024.