Few would argue that managers play a large role in attracting the best employees and keeping them engaged and productive. An effective manager keeps the team strong. The trick is learning how to improve managers and figuring out whether, or even if, the human resources department has any control over manager effectiveness. 
Pete Smith, a coach, trainer, and president of SmithImpact, thinks he has a system that can produce what he calls “rock star managers,” and, while the managers have to take steps on their own to improve, HR can help along the way.
Smith conducted a webinar recently in which he outlined his “kicks, keeps, and karats” system. The “kicks” are the reasons employees leave an employer, “keeps” are the reasons people stay, and “karats” are ways managers show employees they’re appreciated. Identifying an organization’s “kicks, keeps, and karats” helps managers make tangible improvements, he says.
Results are important, but they aren’t everything
Earlier in his career, Smith was a manager concerned about nothing but results. He owns up to being “the poster child for how not to manage.” What made him so bad? “I was ruthless when it came to achieving results. I didn’t care how he did it; I didn’t care who I needed to upset in the process. I was really just completely outcome-driven.”
Fortunately, he was surrounded by people who helped him improve his leadership skills. “I learned the hard way that, as a manager, results are important, but how you achieve those results is also important,” Smith says. So he made changes and concentrated on learning how to motivate staff.
Smith’s efforts at first produced inconsistent results, and he found that his employees fit in three categories. Some bought in to what he was trying to do, and their performance improved. Another category made no progress at all. They didn’t get worse, but they also didn’t get better. “Nothing I did made a difference,” he says. But the third group was really confounding. His efforts to motivate them actually made them worse.
That experience made Smith search for a framework for motivation, and he found that the foundation for motivation lies with the manager. Employee motivation is a management responsibility, not HR’s, he says, although HR can play a supporting role.
Credibility is essential managerial tool
To be their most effective, Smith says managers need to be personable and find some connection to the individuals making up their staff. Managers also need to be credible. To determine whether a manager is credible, Smith says to look at how he or she achieves results. A manager’s employees know exactly what the manager did to be effective, Smith says. They know if the manager achieved results by being collaborative, encouraging, and supportive. They also know if there was intimidation, micromanaging, or unfair claiming of credit.
Employees also need to be able to believe managers. A manager might praise an employee and promise a promotion, but if that doesn’t happen, the manager isn’t believable.
Smith suggests a 360-degree feedback study as a first action item to assess the foundation. It’s not necessary to spend a lot of money on a study. He says employers can research and create a form on their own to learn what they need to know.
What’s bothering employees
Then Smith says to figure out the “kicks” in an organization, the reasons employees leave. He says HR needs to commit to identifying, exposing, and addressing employee kicks before they show up in an exit interview when it’s too late to do anything about them. Addressing kicks doesn’t always mean solving every problem.
“Some issues are going to be at levels above you. Sometimes resolving an issue doesn’t mean that you need to make it go away. Sometimes what’s really needed is just a new perspective on how to deal with that issue,” Smith says. “And if you can help change your employees’ perspective about something, you can elevate them out of that chain of negativity.”
Sometimes people just want to voice what’s bothering them. So it’s worth asking employees what their issues are even though there may not be a quick solution. “If a problem doesn’t have a solution, it’s not a problem, it’s a fact,” Smith says. “Help [employees] change their perspective.”
It’s important to look for the “kicks” because until they’re addressed, it won’t matter what an employer offers as motivation, Smith says. Giving an employee a gift card is great unless she has to go back to working for an unreasonable boss. “Employees become demotivated not by what management doesn’t provide as much as they become demotivated by what management doesn’t address,” he says.
What “keeps” employees around
Employers also need to examine the “keeps” they offer. It’s important to determine what employees value and not just rely on what management thinks employees want. Smith cites surveys in which employees and managers are given a list of 10 motivating factors and asked to name which ones are most important. The results show a disconnect between what managers thought was important to employees and what the employees said they valued most.
It’s also important to identify the motivators – the “karats” – such as praise and recognition. Many employers hand out gift cards, days off, free food, special parking places, and names on wall plaques. Those expressions of thanks can be good, Smith says, but his favorite way to praise and express appreciation is a hand-written thank-you note. Although it seems archaic, it’s more memorable than a meeting where food was served, a day off, or any of the other popular ways managers express thanks.