FROM BUD HANEY'S DESK Are you maximizing the potential of your

frontline managers?

Frontline managers have difficult jobs. They have to

know the business (better than their staff). They are

expected to supervise and coach their employees not

only on how to do their jobs, but how to do so with

their right attitude and behaviors. And they have to

be able to step into the breach in that inevitable

moment when a disgruntled customer utters the

words ―I’d like to speak to your manager.‖

Most businesses have gotten so large that there is a

considerable divide between the executive team and

frontline. Frontline staff perform different functions

depending on the industry: in retail they’re cashiers

and sales clerks; in healthcare, they’re triage nurses

and doctors and administrative staff; in travel

they’re flight attendants and reservationists; and in

the service sector, they’re call center staff.

Customers are demanding, and why shouldn’t they

be? If they’re willing to spend their money on your

product or service instead of patronizing your

competitors, they should have a pleasant experience

(or at least not have an unpleasant experience). And

if something goes wrong, the best companies have

frontline staff and managers who are trained and

skilled at fixing the situation, which can make or

break a customer for life.

Imagine being in the unfortunate position of being a

frontline manager at the stadium earlier this month

whose staff had to tell 400 ticket holders that they

couldn’t sit in seats they had paid for to watch the

Super Bowl. This situation is ripe as a case study in

so many things, but for a moment, consider the

skills and attributes needed to successfully weather

a similar situation in your business: empathetic and

understanding; confident, but not arrogant (or

panicky); informed and empowered.

Coach your frontline managers. Instill in them the

company’s values and remind them of the pivotal

role they play in representing the company to its

customers. Help them to be as efficient as possible

while empowering them with the flexibility to resolve

customer issues quickly and to their satisfaction.

Take a look at how your customers interact with

your business, especially your frontline staff and

managers. Are they an asset or a liability? This

month’s newsletter highlights the importance of

frontline managers and offers advice on developing

those in your organization.

Sincerely,

Bud Haney, President

Profiles International

From Bud Haney: Are you maximizing the

potential of your frontline managers?

Feature Article: Six Keys to Unlocking the

Potential of Frontline Managers

Feature Products: ProfileXT® and Profiles

Managerial Fit™

Case Study: Developing Successful Leaders

Announcements

Did You Know?

The effects of poor frontline management may be

particularly damaging at service companies, where

researchers have consistently detected a relationship

between the attitudes and behaviors of customer-

facing employees on the one hand, and customer

perception of service quality on the other.

In service industries, research has found that three

factors drive performance:

the work climate;

the ways teams act together and the ways that

things are done; and

the engagement, commitment, and satisfaction of

employees.

Leadership—particularly the quality of supervision

and the nature of the relationships between

supervisors and their teams—is crucial to

performance in each of these areas.

We have identified Six Keys to Unlocking the

Potential of Frontline Managers

1. Identify employees with the capability and

interest to be good managers by:

Using assessments to identify employees who

demonstrate the behaviors and interests that will

make them successful managers.

Helping managers understand the core behaviors,

capabilities, and preferences of the people they

manage so that they can adapt their

communication and management styles to get the

most from their people.

Helping managers develop the mindset that they

will be more successful if the people they manage

succeed. This helps managers become invested in

the success of each individual.

2. Help managers clarify their teams’ goals and

roles by:

Using these goals to create a personal

―dashboard‖ that helps the manager set his own

priorities that drive results. Require the manager

to update his goals weekly, and use his progress

to facilitate a coaching discussion. Finally, check

back with the manager on a periodic basis to

ensure that his priorities and the individuals on

his team are properly aligned.

Creating tools to help your managers

communicate these requirements and track

progress toward these goals. Seek direct input

from frontline employees in the form of employee

surveys and 360° management assessments to

determine if the message is getting through.

Finally, encourage open communication between

employees and their managers in order to clarify

job requirements and eliminate work that doesn’t

add sufficient value.

3. When helping managers better understand

the people they manage, consider these

points:

Human beings are complex creatures that can be

very hard for the average manager to read,

especially in the early stages of the working

relationship. Ironically, this is when the manager

needs the most help. A valid assessment process

can be very helpful for an organization to develop

a deeper and more objective understanding of its

people.

Helping a manager to understand his people’s

skills, behaviors, and interests helps him build on

his people’s strengths and mitigate their

weaknesses. It helps the manager communicate

better with the employee, zero in on the

employee’s most critical developmental needs,

and focus both informal coaching dialogue and

formal training and development investments in

the employee.

4. Help your managers understand themselves

and how they impact their people.

Management is all about people, and this requires

a high degree of self-awareness. Managers should

go through the same assessment process as their

employees in order to understand how their

innate behaviors, interests, and skills either

complement or hinder their personal interactions.

It is also extremely valuable for managers to

receive feedback from multiple constituents,

including their supervisors, peers, and

subordinates, to illuminate developmental needs,

misalignments, and other issues that may be

difficult to communicate openly under challenging

circumstances.

5. Don’t assume your managers know how or

even when to coach. These two action

steps can help:

Develop the fundamental coaching skills of your

managers, and develop a culture of coaching.

Help your manager understand his leadership

style and motivation. Many of us have a number

of key leadership qualities, but we still need

feedback so that we can build on our strengths

and fortify our weaknesses. In some cases where

it is clear that a manager really isn’t ready to

lead, the discovery process can help identify other

career options that are better suited to his style

and abilities.

FEATURE ARTICLE: Six Keys to Unlocking the Potential of Frontline Managers

FEATURE PRODUCTS: PROFILEXT® AND PROFILES MANAGERIAL FIT™

While the ProfileXT® (PXT) assessment is a

superior tool for measuring how well an individual

fits specific jobs in your organization and offers

many reports to assist with hiring, coaching, and

training your managers, we have other solutions to

help you get the most from your frontline

managers.

Profiles Managerial Fit™ (PMF) measures critical

aspects of compatibility between managers and

their employees. This report offers and in-depth

look at one’s approach to learning, as well as six

dimensions of compatibility with their manager: self

-assurance, conformity, optimism, decisiveness, self

-reliance, and objectivity.

Managers use this information for adapting their

styles in order to get the most from each employee;

improve communication; increase engagement,

satisfaction, and productivity; and reduce employee

turnover.

CASE STUDY

A large credit union system changed from a command control, tactical organization to one that develops

leaders at all levels with help from assessments. Making that change was difficult, not because managers did

not want it to work, but because they feared stirring the pot. ―There was a huge fear of the unknown,‖ the

recruiter said. They wanted to know what would come of seeking more information and involvement from

workers. Click here to read the full case study.*

* The case study file is available only through the HTML version of the newsletter.

6. Minimize administrative work to give

managers more time to develop their

people by:

Thinking very carefully about the administrative

tasks you assign to your frontline managers and

be sure that they add sufficient value. Consider

capturing fewer but more essential indicators.

Making the information easy to obtain so that

they aren’t spending too much time aggregating

and formatting spreadsheets and making

presentation decks look pretty.

Providing administrative support and either

investing in tools or simplifying the exercise so

that it can be completed in a very short period

of time.

Minimizing formal meeting times and

interruptions that are administrative in nature.

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According to the Corporate Executive Board, nearly

60% of frontline managers underperform during

their first two years and more than 50% would

rather not manage people. Let us help you identify

the right people for your managerial positions, and

develop them to their full potential.

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DID YOU KNOW?