Sorting Through 7 Effective Tips to Improve Managers’ Performance and Skill

Need some tips to improve your managers’ performance at work so your organization can start the year on a high note? Helping managers thrive is in every company’s best interest and happy managers mean happy workers overall.

Managers play a key role in any employee’s experience on the job. A manager who is able to explain tasks properly or provide appropriate guidance to employees can ultimately provide the workers with the basic tools they need to get the job right. Managers who are unsure of the tasks themselves are rarely in a position to provide support or even basic instructions to other workers. 

Boosting manager effectiveness gives the entire workforce a chance to improve itself, ensuring that pressing concerns are acknowledged and addressed. Want to know how to improve the managerial skills at your organization? Let’s investigate.

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Tips to Improve Your Manager’s Abilities and Skills at Work

In many work setups, managers are only seen as organizers rather than the backbone of the support system available at the company. These workers don’t just schedule tasks and meetings, but their role extends to being mentors, decision-makers, and advocates for the rest of the workers. 

When managers don’t provide regular feedback to employees, their performance suffers. When managers are cruel or extremely harsh with employees, these workers quit and move to organizations that have a better work culture. On the other hand, when employees find a good manager, they are likely to continue working for the organization even if the work is difficult or they find other opportunities.

Tracking skills improvements at the managerial level is something that employers need to take charge of, as there is only so much self-growth that managers can be in charge of while they handle their own workload. Helping managers thrive will help the organization thrive in turn. 

We have some strategies to improve manager effectiveness so you can get a headstart on this mission for 2025.

1. Identify Key Characteristics That Are Relevant to the Organization

When it comes to hiring managers, organizations need to create a list of key skills that are relevant to their particular organization. Someone with 10 years of experience may be a great manager at their previous job, but your business may need someone with business acumen or exceptional creativity in order to truly make an impact at your company. 

Create a list of 5-10 skills that are essential and specific to your organization, and look for these while hiring or while providing training to your managers.

2. Collect Feedback from Employees

One of the best ways to understand a manager’s abilities and effectiveness is to ask those who work with them directly. Employees can provide significant insight into the managers’ strengths and weaknesses and point out specific areas for improvement. They can also offer information on what support they need to do their own jobs better. 

Collecting employee feedback every few months can help ensure managers are held accountable for their tasks while also making small improvements. 

3. Work with Managers on Goal Setting and Planning Ahead

It is important to keep managers in the loop about key business decisions and upcoming changes that will reshape the organization so they can also plan ahead and prep the employees they manage. 

In many instances, central company goals are not shared with managers, leaving them to scramble last minute when the changes are eventually made, putting a strain on their relationship with other employees. Regularly meet with managers to review and reset goals and set a course toward necessary changes.

4. Boosting Manager Effectiveness Is Easier When They Know the Boundaries of Their Authority

Managers are decision-makers who have to help other employees choose the best path forward. This becomes difficult when they have to wait to hear back from their own seniors on all matters, delaying work as a result. Managers are expected to be an extension of the leader’s authority but they are often penalized for overstepping their boundaries, making them apprehensive about ever making an independent decision. 

These supervisors need to know the extent of their authority and where they are or are not allowed to make decisions. This will make it easier for them to take action when needed, or escalate it to the right authorities instead. Managers can also work easily knowing they are collaborators and not just followers at the company.

5. Look Into Internal Promotions as a Part of Your Many Strategies to Guarantee Manager Effectiveness

Hiring from within an organization is always better than looking for talent outside, particularly when it comes to leaders. Employees who have proven themselves at work and shown an aptitude for leadership can be more efficient at understanding the needs of the organization and employees, and then providing what is necessary. 

Their familiarity with the ins and outs of the work can come in handy, and employers can spend time building important skills rather than introducing them to the organization. 

6. Invest in Training Managers to Meet their Full Potential

One of our top tips to improve your managers’ skills is to understand their strengths and weaknesses and give them relevant and regular training to improve. Both technical skills and soft skills are integral to their performance at work, and a good refresher on some essential tips and tricks never hurts. 

Managers likely have their own ideas on areas where they may like to improve, and giving them access to these courses and training rewards their desire for growth. Work with your managers to know how to improve their managerial skills rather than working against their interests.

7. Provide Managers with the Time and Resources they need to Perform their Duties

While envisioning your strategies on manager effectiveness, remember to reward your managers with the time and resources they need to do their jobs. When an organization is understaffed or short on resources, managers have to pull together and make it work regardless of the situation. This puts undue pressure on them and the team and leads to entirely avoidable conflict.

This is why it is helpful to give managers an opportunity to set and present their timelines, along with the resources they need to make it possible. Not all requirements may be met all at once, but this opens the door to some essential strategizing. 

Boosting manager effectiveness at work is a very necessary investment that organizations need to look into if they hope to prosper. Happy and engaged managers mean happy and engaged workers, and remember, leaders who lead by example are always rewarded with results.

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