Setting the right tone and culture within an organisation is not just the responsibility of senior management. Frontline managers--often a firm's go-to individuals--have a key role to play in becoming a part of the organisation’s DNA.
Yet despite the critical role these employees play, they often lack the training to manage pressure, communicate clear expectations and respond appropriately to employee concerns.
Because of this, an organisation must ensure that managers are inspired to fulfil this role and provide the practical tools to enable them to do it. In our whitepaper, we explain how organisations can remove the barriers to frontline managers in this role and why leadership needs to set a “tone from the top”.
Nearly half of respondents (46%) indicated the risk most likely to confront supervisors in their organisations was “feeling or exerting pressure to compromise standards to achieve business results.”
Despite the importance of the frontline manager’s role in the setting and maintaining of culture, our survey of E&C programmes found that these employees often receive the least attention in terms of training and support. Nearly half of respondents (46%) indicated the risk most likely to confront supervisors in their organisations was “feeling or exerting pressure to compromise standards to achieve business results.” This clearly demonstrates that frontline managers are lacking the support and training to carry out this important and strategic role within their teams and organisations.
There is not a single “out-of-the-box” solution for training and inspiring frontline managers. Many different tools can be used and the culture of the organisation goes a long way to determining the approach they adopt.
A few strategies to implement could be:
- creating short video-vignettes of leadership conferences for dissemination around an organisation;
- creating “ethical moments” that reflect real-life ethical dilemmas to stimulate practical discussion;
- filming a documentary about frontline managers to help them reframe the way they think and behave; or
- staging awards to recognise actions that staff have taken to inspire colleagues.
Encouragingly, results from delegates at our “Supporting Frontline Managers” event are showing signs of investing in frontline managers. Sixty-three percent of delegates say that they plan to develop or already have a clearly defined strategy in place for training frontline managers. These signs point toward intended investment in frontline managers for the ultimate success of an organisation.
Download the full whitepaper to see all the ways to help frontline managers succeed.
Putting the right people in frontline manager roles is vital too. As part of the interview process, this might involve psychometric testing as well as assessing potential recruits against the values and ethics of the organisation.
A strong E&C programme that creates the right culture and drives the integrity of an organisation is more important than ever. Failure to do so can be a significant inhibitor of business success.
Want to learn more about training for frontline managers?
Learn more about training for frontline managers? Schedule a consultation with our Advisory Services Team.
