Managers account for at least 70% of variance in employee engagement scores across business units, Gallup estimates. For achieving great results, companies should systematically demand that every team in their workforce have a great manager. 

However, according to Gallup reports, companies fail to choose the candidate with the right talent for the job more often than not: 82% of the time. “Bad managers cost businesses billions of dollars each year, and having too many of them can bring down a company. The only defense against this problem is a good offense, because when companies get these decisions wrong, nothing fixes it.”, Gallup’s Randall J. Beck and Jim Harter wrote for Harvard Business Review.

To clarify the best way forward, the researchers gathered what they found after analyzing the performance of hundreds of organizations and measured the engagement of 27 million employees and more than 2.5 million work units over the past two decades. Gallup found that great managers have the following talents:

• They motivate every single employee to take action and engage employees with a compelling mission and vision.
• They have the assertiveness to drive outcomes and the ability to overcome adversity and resistance.
• They create a culture of clear accountability.
• They build relationships that create trust, open dialogue, and full transparency.
• They make decisions based on productivity, not politics.

“Businesses that get it right and hire managers based on talent will thrive and gain a significant competitive advantage.”, Beck and Harter added.

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Source: Gallup