Why Your Managers Hold the Key to Culture and Retention
Zag Dutton
Helping Pharma businesses attract in-demand talent | President at Career Connections Canada Inc.
Finding the right talent is just the beginning. We've helped countless companies secure directors, managers, and specialists across pharma, sales, finance, and IT, but here's what we've observed: the companies that truly thrive aren't just the ones with great hiring processes; they're the ones where managers create an environment where people want to stay.
When a client calls us concerned about turnover in their customer service department or engineering team, the conversation often circles back to the same critical factor: management. Your managers don't just oversee daily operations; they shape the very culture that determines whether your carefully selected talent chooses to build their career with you or takes their expertise elsewhere. The evidence is clear, managers serve as the primary link between leadership vision and daily employee experience, shaping culture through behaviors such as recognition, feedback, coaching, and living company values.
Here are three essential areas where your managers make or break your retention efforts: daily culture creation, meaningful relationship building, and proactive engagement strategies. Understanding these areas, and equipping your managers accordingly, can transform your retention rates and strengthen your organizational culture.
How Managers Shape Culture Through Daily Actions
Culture isn't created in boardrooms or mission statements. It's built in the everyday interactions between managers and their teams. When we conduct exit interviews for our clients, departing employees rarely cite company policies as their reason for leaving. Instead, they talk about how their manager made them feel, whether their contributions were recognized, and if they felt supported in their professional growth.
When managers consistently embody and reinforce organizational values, they foster trust, alignment, and a sense of belonging, which are critical for a strong workplace culture. This happens through seemingly small actions that accumulate into powerful cultural forces: how they handle mistakes, celebrate successes, provide feedback, and demonstrate company values in their decision-making.
For pharmaceutical companies, for example, where precision and collaboration are essential, managers who model these behaviors create teams that not only perform better but also feel more connected to their work. A finance manager who takes time to explain how budget decisions impact patient outcomes, or an IT manager who acknowledges the critical role their team plays in supporting clinical operations, builds meaning into daily tasks.
Building Meaningful Manager-Employee Relationships
The quality of the manager-employee relationship fundamentally determines retention outcomes. Research highlights that the quality of the manager-employee relationship is a key factor in employee retention, and when employees feel connected to purpose and valued by their managers, engagement and motivation increase significantly. This isn't about being friends with employees, it's about creating professional relationships built on trust, support, and mutual respect.
In our work with pharmaceutical clients, we've seen how managers who invest in understanding their team members' career aspirations, work preferences, and professional challenges create stronger, more resilient teams. A sales manager who knows that one team member thrives with client interaction while another prefers analytical work can structure assignments accordingly. An engineering manager who understands each person's long-term career goals can provide targeted development opportunities.
The most effective managers we've observed treat relationship building as a core competency, not an add-on to their "real" work. They schedule regular one-on-ones, ask meaningful questions about career development, and follow through on commitments they make to their team members.
Consider implementing a structured employee development program that requires managers to engage in meaningful career conversations. When managers have frameworks and accountability for these relationships, both parties benefit from more productive, focused interactions.
Proactive Engagement and Retention Strategies
The best managers don't wait for annual surveys to understand team engagement. They develop systems for ongoing pulse-checking and address concerns before they become resignation letters. Regular, honest conversations about engagement and goals help uncover issues before they lead to turnover.
We've worked with pharmaceutical companies where proactive managers significantly outperform their peers in retention, not because they have better teams, but because they have better systems. They know when someone seems disengaged, when workload becomes overwhelming, or when a team member might be considering external opportunities. This awareness allows them to intervene early with solutions, resources, or adjustments.
Effective engagement strategies require managers to think beyond traditional performance metrics. They monitor team dynamics, individual satisfaction indicators, and early warning signs of disengagement. A customer service manager might notice decreased participation in team meetings, while an IT manager might observe changes in collaboration patterns or project enthusiasm.
Train your managers to conduct quarterly "stay interviews" with each team member. These conversations focus on what keeps someone engaged, what might cause them to consider leaving, and what additional support or opportunities they need. Understanding these factors early allows managers to make adjustments before losing valuable talent.
Implement a simple tracking system where managers note engagement levels and key concerns for each team member. This doesn't require elaborate software, a shared document or simple database can help managers stay organized and follow up on important conversations.
Creating Inclusive and Supportive Team Environments
Inclusion isn't a separate initiative, it's woven into daily management practices. Companies with strong cultures are more likely to attract and retain top talent, and empowering employees at all levels increases opportunity and engagement. Managers who create genuinely inclusive environments see higher retention across all demographic groups, particularly in pharmaceutical settings where diverse perspectives drive better outcomes.
The managers we see succeeding in this area focus on ensuring every team member has voice, opportunity, and support. In pharmaceutical environments, this might mean ensuring quieter team members contribute to strategic discussions, that promotion opportunities are communicated transparently, or that flexible work arrangements accommodate different productivity styles and life circumstances.
Inclusive management practices require intentional effort and ongoing attention. It's about noticing who speaks up in meetings and who doesn't, ensuring work assignments provide growth opportunities for all team members, and addressing bias or exclusionary behavior when it occurs.
Consider developing specific inclusion competencies for your management training programs. Managers need practical skills and tools, not just awareness, to create genuinely inclusive team environments where all employees feel valued and supported.
Practical Tools and Training for Manager Success
Even well-intentioned managers need concrete tools and ongoing support to excel at culture building and retention. Training managers in cultural alignment and leadership competencies is an effective way to improve retention. The pharmaceutical companies we work with that see the best retention outcomes invest in manager development as systematically as they invest in technical training.
Successful manager development programs address both the "what" and the "how" of culture and retention. Managers need to understand why their role matters, but they also need specific techniques, conversation frameworks, and troubleshooting support when challenges arise.
Start with the managers who are already performing well in retention and engagement. Document their approaches, then create training modules that help other managers develop similar competencies. Focus on practical skills that can be immediately implemented rather than theoretical concepts.
Provide managers with simple tracking tools and regular check-in processes. Whether managing remote teams or in-person groups, managers benefit from structured approaches that help them stay organized and consistent in their retention efforts.
Consider partnering with external resources for specialized training or coaching support. Sometimes managers benefit from outside perspectives and expertise that complement internal development efforts.
Measuring and Sustaining Cultural Impact
Culture and retention improvements require ongoing measurement and adjustment. The most successful companies we partner with treat manager effectiveness in culture and retention as a measurable business outcome, not just a soft skill. High turnover disrupts teams, erodes culture, and increases costs, while strong retention strategies driven by managers drive engagement, morale, and customer satisfaction.
Effective measurement goes beyond annual engagement surveys. Create systems that provide managers and leadership with regular insights into team health, individual satisfaction, and early indicators of retention risk. This information allows for timely interventions and continuous improvement in management practices.
Track metrics that matter: retention rates by manager, time-to-productivity for new hires under different managers, and internal promotion rates by team. These data points help identify which managers are excelling and which need additional support or training.
Create feedback loops that help managers improve continuously. Share retention and engagement data with managers along with specific development resources and support. When managers see how their efforts impact measurable outcomes, they're more likely to prioritize culture and retention activities.
Celebrate and share success stories. When a manager successfully retains a valuable team member who was considering leaving, or when a team shows significant engagement improvement, use these examples to reinforce the importance of managerial culture-building efforts.
Your investment in manager development and culture-building capabilities pays dividends in reduced turnover costs, stronger team performance, and enhanced reputation as an employer of choice in the competitive pharmaceutical talent market. The managers who master these skills become your most valuable retention assets, creating positive ripple effects throughout your organization.
We help companies identify, onboard, and develop management talent that drives culture and retention. If you're looking to strengthen your management capabilities or need support developing retention-focused leaders, connect with us for a discussion about your specific needs and how we can help build the management foundation your organization requires for long-term success.