Six Keys to Unlocking the Potential of Frontline Managers

Executive Briefing

Six Keys to Unlocking the Potential of Frontline Managers

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©2010 Profiles International, Inc. All rights reserved.

Six Keys to Unlocking the Potential of Frontline Managers Copyright 2010 by Profiles International. Printed and bound in the United States of
America. All rights reserved. No part of the report may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including
information storage and retrieval systems without written permission from the publisher.

Publisher
Profiles Research Institute
Dario Priolo, Managing Director
5205 Lake Shore Drive
Waco, Texas 76710-1732
Profiles International
l

Acknowledgements
CEO, Co-founder, Profiles International: Jim Sirbasku
President, Co-founder, Profiles International: Bud Haney
Editor-in-Chief: Dario Priolo
Managing Editor: Carrie D. Martinez
Assistant Editor: Natalie Hefner
Creative Director: Kelley Taylor

Six Keys to Unlocking the Potential of Frontline Managers | 2

Introduction:
Times of change present many challenges for organizations, particularly for frontline
managers whose people will be responsible for implementing the change. Pressure to
perform is high, as are emotions, and everyone is expected to do more with less.

The effects of poor frontline management may be particularly damaging at service
companies, where researchers have consistently detected a causal relationship between
the attitudes and behaviors of customer‐facing employees on the one hand, and
customer perception of service quality on the other.

In service industries, research has found that three factors drive performance: the work
climate; the ways teams act together and the ways that things are done; and the
engagement, commitment and satisfaction of employees. Leadership—particularly the
quality of supervision and the nature of the relationships between supervisors and their
teams—is crucial to performance in each of these areas.

“
This fact inspired us to identify six keys to unlock the potential of frontline managers:

1. Identify employees with the capability and interest to be good managers
Nearly 60% of frontline 2. Help your managers clarify their teams’ goals and roles
managers underperform during 3. Help your managers understand the people they manage
their first two years and more
4. Help your managers understand themselves and how they impact their people
than 50% would rather not
5. Don’t assume your managers know how or when to coach
manage people.
‐ Corporate Executive Board
6. Minimize administrative work to give managers more time to develop people

”



Don’t assume a top individual contributor will succeed as a manager.

We’ve probably all heard the story of the company that promoted its best sales person to a sales
management position, only to have the person fail miserably in the role and then leave the
company. Let’s face it, managing sales people to achieve a collective goal rather than directly
through individual efforts isn’t for everyone. Then there’s the administrative burden of overseeing
time and attendance, approving expense reports, interfacing with the muckety‐mucks in corporate
to implement a new policy that will go over with your team like a lead balloon, and of course, all of
the personal drama.

Although the prior example is a common one, the same situation often applies to creative,
technical and professional people as well. The best designer, programmer or attorney in your firm
will seldom make the best manager. Not everyone is cut out to do this job; nor does everyone want
to do this job. You need to identify these rare individuals and then have a clear plan for developing
them. Sadly, according to our research, two out of three organizations lack a process for doing this
(see AMPC follow‐up research).

Actions to identify employees with the capability and interest to be good managers:

• Use assessments to identify employees who demonstrate the behaviors and interests that will
make them successful managers.
• Help managers understand the core behaviors, capabilities and preferences of the people they
manage so that they can adapt their communication and management styles to get the most
from their people.
• Help managers develop the mindset that they will be more successful if the people they manage
succeed. This helps managers become invested in the success of each individual.



2. Help your managers understand their teams’ goals and roles

Think “big‐picture.”

Even a very willing and capable manager will not be successful unless she aligns her people and
efforts with the organization’s objectives. It is both difficult and frustrating for everyone to hit a
moving target.

One of the most productive steps you can take is to help your managers develop a clear
understanding of the results they need to achieve and how they’re going to achieve them. This
helps them align their people and activities with the outcomes most important to the
organization. It also creates a foundation for discussing resources, priorities and timing. When
everyone has a clear understanding of what is expected, then the manager can communicate this
and get everyone on the same page.

Whenever possible, work with your manager to set reasonable milestones and goals that are
leading indicators of her success. This too creates an effective starting point for progress and
performance discussions.

Actions to help your managers understand their teams’ goals and roles:

• Use these goals to create a personal “dashboard” that helps the manager set his own priorities
that drive results. Require the manager to update his goals weekly, and use his progress to
facilitate a coaching discussion. Finally, check back with the manager on a periodic basis to
ensure that his priorities and the individuals on his team are properly aligned.
• Create tools to help your managers communicate these requirements and track progress
toward these goals. Seek direct input from frontline employees in the form of employee
surveys and 360° management assessments to determine if the message is getting through.
Finally, encourage open communication between employees and their managers in order to
clarify job requirements and eliminate work that doesn’t add sufficient value.


3. Help your managers understand the people they manage

“No law or ordinance is mightier than understanding.” —Plato

Clearly defining goals and jobs is important, but people in those jobs need to perform if the
manager and the organization are to be successful. Each of us has our own style and
preferences, and this influences how we best respond to our managers. When a manager
understands his people, he can also be aware of potential conflict or “chemistry” issues
between himself and other members of the team. Thus the manager can be more aware of—
and proactive in—dealing with issues that may impact performance.

Additionally, nearly one in three people we surveyed did not believe that their organization
made good use of their abilities. This represents significant potential that the organization can
tap to improve productivity. When people feel valued and enjoy their work, they perform
better.

Actions to help your managers understand the people they manage:

• Human beings are complex creatures that can be very hard for the average manager to read,
especially in the early stages of the working relationship. Ironically, this is when the manager
needs the most help. A valid assessment process can be very helpful for an organization to
develop a deeper and more objective understanding of its people.
• Helping a manager to understand his people’s skills, behaviors and interests helps him build
on his people’s strengths and mitigate their weaknesses. It helps the manager communicate
better with the employee, zero in on the employee’s most critical developmental needs, and
focus both informal coaching dialogue and formal training and development investments in
the employee.



“A man is what he thinks all day long.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Self‐awareness is being conscious of what you're good at while acknowledging what you still
have yet to learn. This includes admitting when you don't have the answer and owning up to
mistakes. This is especially true when it comes to a manager’s leadership and communication
style. In many cases, managers don’t know what they don’t know. For example, if a manager
comes across as insensitive or aloof, point out the behavior and help him improve. It is
important for the manager to understand his natural management style and how it impacts
others both positively and negatively. The manager can’t be expected to improve if he never
receives concrete feedback.

Making a manager aware of his negative attitudes (“I am just another associate when I go on
the store floor,” and “My job is to make sure that tasks get done”) makes it easier for him to
accept change and develop the right skills and capabilities. By learning how to counter these
thoughts and adopt more positive ones (“I regularly provide my employees with constructive
feedback and tips,” and “My job is to ensure that tasks are complete and that customers are
served as well”), the manager can be aware of more appropriate behavior and thus improve his
performance.

Actions to help your managers understand themselves and how they impact their people:

• Management is all about people, and this requires a high degree of self‐awareness.
Managers should go through the same assessment process as their employees in order to
understand how their innate behaviors, interests and skills either complement or hinder
their personal interactions.
• It is also extremely valuable for managers to receive feedback from multiple constituents,
including their supervisors, peers and subordinates, to illuminate developmental needs,
misalignments and other issues that may be difficult to communicate openly under
challenging circumstances.



“Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence.” –Vince Lombardi

Managers often aren’t truly coaching the front line. At over 1000 companies we surveyed, only
half of the respondents agreed that their direct supervisor coached them to do their very best. A
McKinsey survey of retail district managers, for example, showed that much of the time they
spend on frontline employees actually involved auditing for compliance with standards or solving
immediate problems (Exhibit 2).

Don’t take for granted that your managers know how or when to coach –even if they are very
experienced in their jobs. Coaching is a skill that requires training and continuous improvement if
you want your managers to achieve and sustain a high level of effectiveness. When you develop
the fundamental coaching skills of your managers, you will also develop a culture of coaching.

Actions to help your managers know how or when to coach:

• Help your manager understand his leadership style and motivation. Many of us have a number
of key leadership qualities, but we still need feedback so that we can build on our strengths
and fortify our weaknesses. In some cases where it is clear that a manager really isn’t ready to
lead, the discovery process can help identify other career options that are better suited to his
style and abilities.
• Provide feedback from multiple constituents. It is extremely valuable for managers to receive
feedback from their supervisors, peers and subordinates to illuminate developmental needs,
misalignments and other issues that may be difficult to communicate openly under
challenging circumstances.
• Develop the fundamental coaching skills of your managers, and develop a culture of coaching.




Time is money, so maximize your return on investment

Time is a precious commodity, and time not spent managing must be kept to a bare minimum.

According to a recent study by management consulting firm McKinsey, across industries,
frontline managers spend 30 to 60 percent of their time on administrative work and meetings,
and 10 to 50 percent on non‐managerial tasks (traveling, participating in training, taking
breaks, conducting special projects, or undertaking direct customer service or sales
themselves). They spend only 10 to 40 percent actually managing frontline employees by, for
example, coaching them directly.

Poor time management is very unfortunate for the organization, the manager and employees.
Time spent developing people multiplies workforce productivity and sends the message that
every employee is respected and valued. And time not spent developing others places an
inordinate burden and stress on the manager who realizes that she will never be able to dig
herself out of the hole that has been created for her.

Actions to minimize administrative work to give managers more time to develop people:

• Think very carefully about the administrative tasks you assign to your frontline managers
and be sure that it adds sufficient value. Consider capturing fewer but more essential
indicators.
• Make the information easy to get so that they aren’t spending a whole lot of time
aggregating and formatting spreadsheets and making presentation decks look pretty.
Provide administrative support, and invest in tools or make the exercise so simple it can be
completed in a very short period of time.
• Then, minimize formal meeting times and interruptions that are administrative in nature.

Summary:

2. Help your managers clarify their teams’ goals and roles
3. Help your managers understand the people they manage


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©2010 Profiles International, Inc. All rights reserved. Six Keys to Unlocking the Potential of Frontline Managers | 11

Introducing Profiles International

How We Do It – Overview of our assessments and solutions

Your Business Objective Our Popular Solutions
High‐level Strategic Workforce Management
Identifying high‐potential employees and managers PXT CP360 PSA CSP
Strategic workforce and succession planning PXT PPI CP360 PSA CSP
Restructuring, reorganizing and downsizing PXT PPI PMF WES PSA CSP PLP
Post‐merger integration of organizations PXT PPI PMF WES PSA CSP PLP
Everyday Workforce Management
Basic pre‐employment screening SOS PST
Screening, interviewing and selecting job candidates PXT PST EBC PSA CSP
Onboarding new employees PXT PPI PMF
Improving employee productivity and work quality PXT PPI WES
Improving employee motivation and communication PPI PMF WES
Resolving conflict between co‐workers PPI
Selecting and managing teams PPI
Evaluating management effectiveness PXT PPI CP360 WES
Prioritizing management development needs CP360 WES
Sales and Customer‐facing Workforce Management
Screening, interviewing and selecting job candidates PST EBC PSA CSP
Retaining and growing customers and accounts PSA CSP PLP
Improving sales performance PPI CP360 PMF WES PSA PLP

Legend SOS Step One Survey PMF Profiles Managerial Fit
PXT ProfileXT WES Workplace Engagement Survey
PST Profiles Skills Tests PSA Profiles Sales Assessment
EBC Employee Background Checks CSP Customer Service Profile
PPI Profiles Performance Indicator PLP Profiles LoyaltyPro
CP360 CheckPoint 360



How We Do It – Assessment and solution descriptions

Step One Survey II® (SOSII)
The SOSII is a brief pre‐hire assessment that measures an individual’s basic work‐related values. It is
used primarily as a screening tool early in the candidate selection process.

This assessment provides valid insight into an applicant’s work ethic, reliability, integrity, propensity
for substance abuse, and attitudes toward theft — including property, data and time.

ProfileXT® (PXT)
The PXT assessment measures how well an individual fits specific jobs in your organization. The “job
matching” feature of the PXT is unique, and it enables you to evaluate an individual relative to the
qualities required to successfully perform in a specific job. It is used throughout the employee life
cycle for selection, on‐boarding, managing, and strategic workforce planning.

This assessment reveals consistent, in‐depth, objective insight into an individual's thinking and
reasoning style, relevant behavioral traits, occupational interests, and match to specific jobs in your
organization. It helps your managers interview and select people who have the highest probability
of being successful in a role, and provides practical recommendations for coaching them to
maximum performance. It also gives your organization consistent language and metrics to support
strategic workforce and succession planning, talent management and reorganization efforts.




Profiles Performance Indicator™ (PPI)
The Profiles Performance Indicator is a DISC‐type assessment that reveals aspects of an individual's
personality that could impact their fit with their manager, coworkers and team, and their job
performance. It is used primarily for motivating and coaching employees, and resolving post‐hire
conflict and performance issues.

The PPI specifically measures an individual's motivational intensity and behaviors related to
productivity, quality of work, initiative, teamwork, problem solving, and adapting to change, as well
as response to conflict, stress, and frustration. The output from this assessment serves as an
“operator's manual” for an employee, which helps managers better motivate, coach, and
communicate with the employee. It also helps to predict and minimize conflict among co‐workers,
and it provides crucial information for improving team selection and performance.

A powerful feature of the PPI is the Team Analysis Report, designed to help managers form new
teams, reduce team conflict, improve team communication, improve their ability to anticipate
problems, and enhance their team leadership skills.

It helps evaluate overall team balance, strengths, and weaknesses, as well as team members’
personality characteristics along 12 key factors: control, composure, social influence, analytical,
patience, results orientation, precision, expressiveness, ambition, teamwork, positive expectancy,
and quality of work. It also provides team leaders with practical recommendations and action steps
to take in order to succeed in their jobs.




CheckPoint 360°™
The CheckPoint Management System is a 360‐degree assessment. It is used primarily to evaluate the
effectiveness of your managers and leaders. This assessment combines feedback from direct reports,
peers, supervisors, and even customers, with a personalized program for developing specific
leadership skills based on that feedback. This process highlights a manager’s job performance in 8
universal management competencies: communication, leadership, adapting to change, relationships,
task management, production, development of others, and personal development.

The CheckPoint 360 helps managers identify and prioritize their own development opportunities. And
it helps the organization to better focus management training and development investments;
proactively uncover misaligned priorities between senior executives and front‐line managers; and
surface management issues that could lead to low employee productivity, morale, job‐satisfaction,
and increased turnover.

Profiles Managerial Fit ™ (PMF)
People typically don’t quit their companies, they quit their bosses. Profiles Managerial Fit (PMF)
measures critical aspects of compatibility between a manager and their employees. This report offers
an in‐depth look at one’s approach to learning, as well as six critical dimensions of compatibility with
their manager: self‐assurance, conformity, optimism, decisiveness, self‐reliance, and objectivity.

Managers use this information for adapting their styles in order to get the most from each employee;
improve communication; increase engagement, satisfaction, and productivity; and reduce employee
turnover.



Workplace Engagement Survey (WES)
Our Workplace Engagement Survey (WES) measures the degree to which your employees connect
with their work and feel committed to the organization and its goals. This gives you and your
management team a detailed view of what influences engagement across all of your workforce
segments and how your employees compare statistically to the overall working population.

In addition, the WES measures “satisfaction with employer” and “satisfaction with manager” across
your entire organization, and gives recommendations for your organization to improve.

Profiles Skills Tests (PST)
Profiles International provides comprehensive assessments to measure essential knowledge and
skills. We use powerful technologies, such as performance‐based testing, which simulates popular
software products like Microsoft Office, to ensure accurate, reliable, assessment of knowledge,
skills, and abilities. Our skills assessments cover Software Skills, Clerical Skills, Call Center Skills,
Accounting and Finance, Medical, Nursing, Legal, Industrial, Computer Literacy, Retail, Food
Services, Information Technology, Staffing, and Human Resources.

Employee Background Checks (EBC)
Profiles International provides comprehensive employee background checks for our clients. These
include Consumer Credit Reports, Criminal History Record, Drivers' History Report (DMV), Education
Verification, Employment History Verification, Foreign Nationals Terrorist Sanctions Search (OFAC,
CLFST & OSFI), Identity Verification Search, Incarceration Records Search, Military Service
Verification, Cursory Nationwide Criminal Index Database Search (CNID), and many more.


Who We Are
Profiles International helps organizations worldwide create high‐performing workforces.

Through our comprehensive employment assessments and innovative talent management solutions,
our clients gain a competitive advantage by selecting the right people and managing them to their
full potential.

Where We Are
Profiles serves 122 countries
around the globe and has
material in 32 languages.

Contact Us
Assessment Edge

(937) 550‐9580


Six Keys to Unlocking the Potential of Frontline Managers

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