It's The Manager | Book Review 

“The old boss-to-employee, command and control leadership environment has "worked" when it comes to building process efficiency systems, engineering large buildings and creating infrastructure. But the top-down leadership techniques of the past have not adapted to a workplace that now demands coaching and collaboration to thrive" (p. 1)

Jim Clifton & Jim Harter's first of their three book series published between 2019 and 2023, subtitled Moving From Boss to Coach, explains the why and the how current and aspiring leaders should be coaches rather than traditional, authoritative bosses. Although this work was written pre-Covid, contemporary Gallup findings in the author's third book in the series, Culture Shock, validate if not amplify 2019 observations, in particular with regard to employee engagement. This review explains the why, or corporate engagement findings and offers suggestions regarding how -- by examining the two larger Boss to Coach and The Future of Work sections.

Landscape

Consider relatively flat individual employee engagement numbers which have hovered around 30% for decades. The authors recommend a simple, yet breakthrough goal for any leader or human resources department. If, of your managers, 30% are great, 20% are lousy and 50% are just there -- which are about the U.S. national averages of employee engagement -- double the 30% to 60% and cut the 20% to single digits. Do this and your stock price will boom (p. 14).

How might one start this process? Perhaps we should rely less on, but not abandon process-oriented results driven corporate metrics and increase focus on individual personal development. Matt Lieberman's findings, published in Harvard Business Review, found that focusing on both people and results increases sixfold how frequently we are viewed as great leaders.

Take a look at the changing demands of the workplace (p. 21), similarly described in multi-generational works such as Gentelligence or What Millennials Want From Work:

Past                                                                         Future

It's tempting to proclaim we're casualties of matrixed working environments. Yet how connected your teams of managers are as a group will determine whether the teams they manage will support other teams or not (p. 27). Stanley McChrystal found and describes the same in Team of Teams. We should foster knowledge-sharing and informal communication channels between teams in addition to increasing personalized individual development plans.

Boss to Coach

If leaders were to prioritize one action, Gallup recommends that
they equip their managers to become coaches. (p. 89)

This finding mirrors the Culture Shock recommendation:

Make sure your managers hold one meaningful
conversation per week with each employee.

That's the conclusion, and the authors answer to how is called Moneyball for workplaces, essentially the Gallup Q12 Engagement Survey Questions (p. 109):

Q1: I know what is expected of me at work.
Q2: I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right.
Q3: At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.
Q4: In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work
Q5: My supervisors, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.
Q6: There is someone at work who encourages my development.
Q7: At work, my opinions seem to count.
Q8: The mission or purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important.
Q9: My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work.
Q10: I have a best friend at work.
Q11: In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.
Q12: This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.

Besides a deliberate shift to leader as coach, much of the Q12 seems to hint at creating a motivational environment. Think about the Motivational Assessment from an Academy Leadership Creating a Motivational Environment workshop, spanning the discovery of what motivates or demotivates someone to identifying personal dreams and goals, foundational steps for any coach. It's difficult to underestimate the influence a single supervisor or manager may have:

One of Gallup's biggest discoveries is: The manager or team leader
alone accounts for 70% of the variance in team engagement. (p. 114)

Here are additional tips on how to refocus our energies. The five traits of Great Managers (p. 126):

1.  Motivation - inspiring teams to get exceptional work done
2.  Workstyle - setting goals and arranging resources for the team to excel
3.  Initiation - influencing others to act, pushing through adversity and resistance
4.  Collaboration - building committed teams with deep bonds
5.  Thought process - taking an analytical approach to strategy and decision-making

Future of Work

Return to Office remains a dominant workplace topic, even in our post-Covid era. That's probably because the most desired perk is workplace flexibility (p. 135). Employees are watching closely whether or not organizations "walk the talk" regarding work/life balance:

Whether an organization offers flexibility and whether it
actually honors flexibility are two different things. (p. 152)

Recall the Changing Demands of the Workplace or focus on my life rather than my job. The authors share the key to accommodating female employees to your organization is making your workplace culture flexible enough to accommodate family and life obligations (p. 151). It may very well be that women increasingly entering the workplace has spearheaded a focus on work-life balance. Maybe women are leading the way since the majority of Americans now report virtually no difference in gender preference for a boss (p. 145).

A couple other nuggets:

Keep in mind the ultimate outcome of flexible work: autonomy with accountability (p. 161). The formation of effective teams, especially those where individuals know and hold each other to high standards is paramount.

Beware of administrative leadership. Diversity training often fails when it feels mandated and is not part of a culture built on respect, strengths and leadership commitment (p. 138). Culture, not fads, matter.

Baby boomers have shown a greater desire than workers in other generations to develop their colleagues, and they often outpace younger workers in their capacity to build a business (p. 155). They are at a stage in life where they are natural coaches.

Employees in the workforce aren't looking for amenities such as game rooms, free food and fancy latte machines. But they are looking for greater flexibility, autonomy and the ability to lead a better life (p. 157). We should focus on what is meaningful. 

Summary

Gallup's considerable data on engagement and recommendation to double it are a fantastic starting point for any manager who wishes to lead. Remember, becoming a leader is not about us.

Perhaps the most salient point is that
each individual employee -- women as well as men --
defines what a good life and career means for them. (p. 153)

Team Gallup generously provided a copy of the book for review.