When Managers Build Community It’s Less Lonely at the Top
Although the title of “loneliest job” might conjure up images of presidents or CEOs, you don’t have to be at the very top to know that leadership can be isolating. Managers are expected to make difficult and sometimes unpopular decisions with little input, and maintain boundaries when socializing with employees. While employees can commiserate with each other, what do you do if you’re the boss and you need to vent or talk through a difficult decision? That’s where work communities come in, allowing managers to support each other and come up with company-wide strategies that benefit the organization as a whole.
At REVERB, we offer guidance for leadership because we believe in flexible and supportive company cultures where politics have no place there.. Assist your leaders in their intellectual and emotional development in the context of a professional setting.That’s key for successful leadership to take root at a company.
How To Support Managers and Create a Work Community
The first thing you should do is engage before executing. Before building business strategies or implementing training processes, you should bring your managers together and discuss ideas. And even more importantly, listen to their feedback. Managers have a lot of knowledge about their team and know what will work and what won’t.It’s important to include them in the work community and give them a voice.
Then it’s time to apply what you’ve learned. There should be a focus on helping managers as they implement new strategies and processes with their teams. This could be holding peer group sessions for managers to coordinate with each other or helping them implement projects that will encourage staff to learn new skills. You may even want to provide new technology to your managers, like project management or workflow tracking software.
You’ll then want to gather feedback from the managers. You want to encourage peer-to-peer communication, but also let their voices be heard by you. Share success stories and good news, but also give them time to discuss problems or bottlenecks they’ve been experiencing. Review ideas they have to better succeed next time.
Related: What Every Department Needs to Know About Internal Communication
These are just some of the benefits of creating a manager peer community:
- Allows managers to talk through sensitive strategies and challenges with someone other than a boss or subordinates.
- Creates camaraderie and an increased sense of community among managers.
- Contributes to a culture of continuous learning, helping develop managers’ interpersonal and communication skills.
- Helps managers improve coaching skills while coaching their peers.
- Improves cross-functional networks by connecting leaders from different teams.
Manager Work Communities Can be Informal and Inexpensive
If your business has more than a handful of people leaders, consider creating a peer group for managers to connect around their leadership roles. Programs that make managers feel connected don’t have to be expensive or difficult to implement. Community-building for managers can be as informal as brown bag lunches where managers take turns presenting on management topics or ask for input on problems. Manager communities can also be more structured; they might involve regularly scheduled sessions facilitated by HR or a leadership development specialist, or organized peer coaching between managers to help them achieve their goals.
What if You Only Have a Few Managers?
If you’re at a startup with few managers, supporting your managers to find community might mean looking outside the company. Invest in the growth and professional fulfillment of your leaders by sending them to management and leadership development trainings where they can learn from and network with managers from other organizations. Other options include sponsoring manager involvement in industry-specific or manager-focused professional groups.
Whether managers connect with peers within their organization or externally, companies have a lot to gain when managers know and support each other.
Looking for more ideas to develop and support your managers? Let us know how Reverb can help. Contact us to find out how our management and leadership development workshops can improve your organization today.
