What 2023 can teach managers about 2024

Managers matter. The critical role they play in employee motivation, experience and engagement has become even more obvious in recent years. We’re at the horizon of the next evolution of work, and managers are integral to this future.

Modern managers aren’t just task masters assigning to-do lists and overseeing productivity. They are leaders, facilitators and enablers of their teams’ success. The role they play in fostering a positive and inclusive workplace culture that is open, collaborative and adaptable is essential.

So, when management is more about mentorship than supervision, how can managers get the best out of their people while still steering strategic direction and managing their own levels of stress and overwhelm?

To understand the experience of managers better, at Culture Amp, we conducted extensive global research between July 2022 and July 2023 on the state of the manager in today’s workplace, identifying trends and insights from over a quarter of a million managers at 3,304 companies.

Here are five insights managers and leaders can learn from for 2024.

1. Manager modelling matters.

Managers are the ultimate role models. We found that if a manager does something first, employees are much more likely to follow suit. So if you want to create new habits in your employees, focusing on managers will have a multiplier effect.

Leading by example is the key to changing behaviours within a company, especially those related to performance. If a manager does something first, an employee will be more likely to take that action.

For example, they’ll be:

• Three times more likely to do one-to-ones.
• 4.7 times more likely to give public recognition.
• 6.4 times more likely to have a development plan.
• 19.7 times more likely to give continuous feedback.

We also found that when employees have a great manager, who they see as a role model, they’re 27 per cent more motivated. Great managers help organisations get the best out of their employees, drive higher company confidence, and contribute to employee retention.

2. Managers and their people have mismatched priorities.

Managers need to navigate the conflicting expectations of their managers, direct reports and peers. They’re being pulled in many directions and can only stretch so far as they manage the push/pull between being a manager and being a leader.

In our study, managers reported they should focus on communication and influence, strategy and growing others as their top three priorities, and these aligned almost exactly with what their managers think they should be doing.

However, we found that the lowest priority of managers – “sharing information” – is actually the top priority of their direct reports. So there’s a disconnect between what a manager is prioritising and what their people need from them.

3. The more direct reports, the less effective the manager.

The higher up the management ladder someone climbs, the less time they spend focusing on developing effective manager behaviours.

The evolution from frontline manager to middle manager to senior manager means managers are losing focus on foundational management duties along the way.

We found that a manager with five or more levels of reports is 63 per cent less likely to publicly recognise the good work of an employee than a frontline manager.

Creating a development plan, one of the most compelling experiences for an employee’s engagement, is 27 per cent less likely to happen for direct reports of a middle manager and 56 per cent less likely to happen for those reporting to senior managers.

As managers ascend the organisational hierarchy and their number of direct reports grows, they become less likely to perform basic behaviours.

Having higher levels of direct reports also meant managers scored lower on statements such as “my manager genuinely cares about my wellbeing”, “my manager makes me feel valued”, and “my manager is a great role model for employees”.

4. We need to get back to management basics.

“Managing up” will only get you so far.

Managers who receive glowing feedback from those above them aren’t necessarily the managers who are getting the best out of their people.

We found that one out of 13 managers rated in the bottom quartile of manager effectiveness by their direct reports still received a glowing performance review.

Sustainable and effective management needs to be assessed by performance reviews that take into account the full picture, including direct report feedback – because nothing crushes employee confidence like a manager who receives praise from their leaders but is blatantly ineffective in the eyes of their team.

5. Managers aren’t diverse or representative.

The majority of managers are still predominantly white, male and middle-aged.

We found 80 per cent of senior leaders are white, 73 per cent of them are male, and 46 per cent are aged between 45 and 54. This is still the model of managers who ascend the hierarchy into the upper echelons of leadership.

So, in 2024, we need to look at pathways to encourage more diversity in senior management so that our leaders are more representative of the people in their organisation and the broader population.

Looking ahead

The world of work continues to evolve at speed, and it’s clear that organisations and people are competing for limited manager attention.

No matter where you are in the world, managers play an invaluable role in every organisation, so let’s take the lessons learnt from 2023 and use them to empower managers in 2024 to improve experiences in this new world of work.

Justin Angsuwat is the chief people officer at Culture Amp.

Jack Campbell

Jack is the editor at HR Leader.