The Core Characteristics of Knowing What Great Managers Know: Part 1

by Philip Jay LeNoble, Ph.D.
In searching for some of the answers to what helps make great managers, we consulted
the research of Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman of the Gallup Organization, who presented their remarkable findings in their massive indepth study of great managers across a wide a variety of situations in First Break All The Rules. As a review, Buckingham and Coffman were the lead researchers in Gallup’s twenty year effort to identify the core characteristics of great managers and great workplaces based on interviews of over 80,000 managers in 400 companies, the largest study of its kind ever undertaken. Because we are all traveling at breakneck speed, accomplishing personal, professional and company objectives, we will save you time and help identify some of the prime observations of their study to give managers a first-hand glimpse of their findings in capsule form.

The Core Characteristics of Knowing What Great Managers Know: Part 1
In the measurement of the four different kinds of business outcome, productivity, profitability, employee retention, and customer satisfaction, while some companies had difficulty gathering the data, 2,500 companies provided a significant prospectus enabling a more de-tailed explanation or statistical technique that cuts through the different performance measures.
This allowed for a real link between employee opinion and business unit performance across many different companies. When the data was gathered, the strength of a workplace can be simplified to twelve questions that measure the core elements needed for managers to attract, focus, and keep the most talented employees and thus become great managers. Today more than ever before, if a company is bleeding people, it is bleeding value, states Buckingham and Coffman. While Gallup’s twelve questions are the simplest, they are the most accurate way to measure the strength of a workplace and as a result produce great managers.
1. Do I know what is expected of me at work?
2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
4. In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?
5. Does my supervisor (sales manager, general manager, ad manager) seem to care about me as a person?
6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
7. At work, do my opinions seem to count?
8. Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel my job is important?
9. Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?
10. Do I have a best friend at work?
11. In the last six months, has someone at work talked to me about my progress?
12. This last year, have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow?
Whether in a bank, restaurant, radio station, multi-system cable operator, TV station, ad agency, P.R. firm or newspaper, ten of the questions allowed for Gallup to measure productivity since people always believe there is a direct link between the employee’s opinion and his/her work group’s productivity.
Eight of the twelve questions showed a link to the profitability measure, while questions 1-3, 5and 7 (above) revealed a link to retention. The most powerful combination of the strongest links to the most business outcomes was 1-6. If a manager were to rate employee responses to questions 1 through 6 on a scale of “1” to “5,” “1” being strongly disagree, “5” being strongly agree, managers must focus on securing 5s from their employees as an excellent place to start. If you notice, there are no questions dealing with pay, benefits, management, or organizational structure. They are indeed important factors and are issues that help managers play the game; they can’t help you win the game. In the Gallup analysis it was discovered that the manager, not the commission, pay, benefits, perks or a charismatic corporate leader was the critical player in building a strong workplace. It’s not that the employee focused initiatives such as vacation, benefits, profit sharing, 401K plans or company training is unimportant, it’s the immediate manager that’s more important. He/she defines the work environment, sets clear expectations, knows you, trusts you and invests in you. If you don’t have a good relationship with your manager, nothing else much matters. Questions 1-6 help managers know where they stand and help them decide what to do next. The key to getting 5s to these twelve questions and engage employees is first to know where to start.
Of the twelve, the two most fundamental employee questions that will get a manager started are:
1. Do I know what is expected of me?
2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
As an employee’s perspective begins to change they may ask themselves, “Am I in a role I can excel?” If not what might they think of you the manager? At this point of attainment in an employee’s perception they are interested in knowing their individual contribution and what other people think of their work. The next four questions 3-6, help an employee know if they feel they are doing well in their role (question 3), and if other people value their individual performance (question 4), and them individually as a person (quesiton 5), and if the manager is investing in their growth (question 6). All of these questions deal with an individual’s self-worth
and as Abraham Maslow would say, self-esteem. Buckingham and Coffman know
that if a manager cannot feel the employee(s) can give a 5 rating, “strongly agree” answer to the questions, or the questions remain unanswered, their perceptions of their feelings of belonging, of being a part of the team, learning and innovating will be undermined.
Having the employee move up to their perceived success rung on the ladder with positive answers to those questions, a manager can feel the employee is gaining their strength and so are you on the road to becoming a great manager.
The next questions, 7-10 zero in on letting the employee sense they fit well within the company and have that sense of urgency that you do in accomplishing objectives.
The most advanced stage of management is to provide the employee the sense or feeling they are not just valued and are making a contribution and their opinions are important but, with that sense of urgency we stated, the impatience you the manager may feel
for everyone to improve by asking, “How can we all grow?” You as a manager want to make things better, to grow, to innovate to speed the company to their objectives so they can see you as a valuable asset so you can take the next step up the rung along with the employees. You as a manager cannot innovate if questions 7-10 are not answered positively. While innovation is a novelty that can be applied, if all the earlier questions are not answered positively, it will become most difficult to apply any of your new ideas or concepts as an effective and great manager
The last two questions indicate you as a manager are at the peak of your performance to gain credibility that you are becoming a great manager and the employees have that same sense of professional achievement. Here they are:
11. In the last six months, has someone at work talked to me about my
progress?
12. This last year, have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow?
Based on the answers you get along the way, sometimes you have to go back a few steps to go forward again.
Management is about doing things right. Leadership is doing the right things. Don’t get the two confused. If the employees have you at their side, and the best of you is being shown each day, and you are pulling out the best of what’s in each employee, and
they are feeling a thrill in the challenge of coming to work each day, the winds are with you. Don’t focus on the future, just concentrate on what is expected of each employee each day, including yourself. As Buckingham and Coffman found from the insights echoed by tens of thousands of great managers interviewed:
People don’t change that much.
Don’t waste time trying to put in what was left out.
Try to draw out what as left in.
That is hard enough.
The insight of “What Great Managers Know” from the Gallup research
(Buckingham and Coffman, 1999) is the source of their wisdom, as it explains everything they do with and for their people. As stated in their text, First, Break All the Rules, it is the foundation for their success as managers.

The essay was written to help remind and coach management teams throughout the world during these chaotic times. Your employees are the most valuable asset you have. They are the link to yours and the company's success. Treat them with respect and honor them...make them feel important and they will assure yours and the company's success.