Executive Guidance

The Connector
Manager
Performance
Advantage
And Why Other Approaches
Do More Harm Than Good

© 2019 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. CM_I_767015
Foreword by Jaime Roca and Sari Wilde

The Manager Coaching Crisis

There are millions of people managers in the world today — Take the instance of an auto insurance claims manager.
millions of diverse individuals working in different sectors In the past, this manager could have relied on personal
and industries around the globe with one commonality: Each must knowledge of claims to guide employees on how to resolve
drive outcomes with and through others. customer issues over the phone. Today, after the company’s
growth ushered in an increasingly young and diverse
Managing people has always been challenging. As one workforce, the manager has a team of millennial and Gen Z
executive client described it, “Managers are asked to employees who don’t just want answers — they want more
lead and advocate change, run business as usual, satisfy feedback and coaching to grow into their careers. Aside
increasing external regulation, and coach and develop their from employee preferences, the company’s claim reporting
teams. So, from a manager’s perspective, understanding channels have diversified, requiring claims staff to handle
how best to prioritize their time is increasingly difficult.” inbound claims from multiple digital platforms and build
technical capabilities beyond those the manager ever
As if it wasn’t hard enough to get this laundry list of needed to do the same job. The manager is now expected
activities done, the circumstances of people management to provide more coaching and feedback on skill areas in
have become more complex. Today the average manager which they have little experience or knowledge.
oversees nine direct reports; that’s nine people for whom
the manager must offer regular individualized coaching and It’s perhaps no surprise, then, that much of today’s coaching
feedback, onboarding support, career development and simply isn’t effective. Seventy percent of employees told us
more. That’s also nine people for whom work expectations they haven’t mastered the skills they need for their current
have shifted dramatically due to demographic change, jobs, and managers are becoming dubious about their own
business digitalization and shifting skill needs. coaching abilities. Forty-five percent say they lack confidence
to develop employees on the skills they need today.

The Connector Manager Performance Advantage 2

 Despite this self-reported concern about coaching abilities,
the average manager is expected to spend more time
Many Managers Lack Confidence in Their
coaching their employees than they currently do. In fact,
Coaching Abilities
HR leaders say managers should spend a full 30% of their
Managers’ confidence in their ability to coach and time on coaching and development in response to a range
develop employees on the skills they need today of needs — although managers themselves actually spend
less than 10% of their time on these activities.

When managers get it right, the benefits of good coaching

45% 55% are clear. Our research shows that employees who report
Not confident Confident to effective manager coaches are 40% more engaged,
exhibit 38% more discretionary effort and are 20% more
likely to stay at their organizations than those who report
to ineffective coaches.

Those dynamics can’t be ignored as you try to attract, retain

and develop critical talent and future-proof your workforce.
Bottom line, managers who are effective coaches are good
for your employees and your organization.

Knowing this, we embarked on a multiyear study of thousands

of employees, managers and senior leaders around a simple
question: “What are the best managers doing to develop
employees in today’s workplace?”

n = 7,309 employees Ultimately, our study tested the conventional wisdom of

Source: 2017 Gartner Manager Effectiveness Survey what it means to be a manager and found that the approach
to coaching and development that most organizations are
promoting today actually does more harm than good.
More importantly, we found an approach with an outsized
positive impact on employee performance: the Connector
manager approach.

The Connector Manager Performance Advantage 3

Contents

CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 3

05 08 11
Four Manager Types, The Myths Behind the Why the Connector
Not Created Equal Always-On Manager Manager Wins … By a Mile

06  very manager is one of

E 09  ow Always-On managers have
H 12  he outsized impact of
T
four types managed to endure Connector managers

07 One clear winner, one loser 09 Myth No. 1: The more time 13  mployee connection: (Really)
E
managers spend coaching and get to know your employees
providing feedback, the better
15 Team connection: Make
10  yth No. 2: Managers are
M development a team sport
expected to always know what’s
best for their employees 17  rganization connection:
O
Ensure better, not just
10  yth No. 3: Managers
M more, connections
are the best source of
coaching and feedback 19 Conclusion
for their employees
CHAPTER 1

Four Manager
Types, Not
Created Equal
 Four Manager Types, Not Created Equal

Every manager is one of four types approaches to coaching and development. Moreover, the
four manager profiles occur in almost perfect fourths across
In seeking to identify the best-performing managers, we industries, geographies and workplace demographics.
assessed manager approaches to staff development and
determined their impact on employee performance. Each type of manager is represented by many people you
know — and one of these types is you.
Our analysis yielded a startling conclusion: Every manager,
regardless of level, falls into one of four distinct natural

The Teacher Manager The Always-On Manager

• P
 rovides advice-oriented feedback and • P
 rovides frequent feedback and coaching
Always-On
directs employee development and drives employee development
• R
 elies on their own strong track record as an • R
 egularly goes the extra mile to give
individual contributor employees in-the-moment coaching
and feedback, even when they lack
• C
 onsiders their approach to be correct in part
personal experience
because of their experience and expertise
• E
 nsures they drive all employee development

The Cheerleader Manager The Connector Manager

• E
 mpowers employees to take development • C
 reates a positive team environment while
into their own hands providing targeted feedback to employees
• G
 ives positive feedback and shies away • F
 ocuses more on building quality relationships
from criticism than on the quantity of feedback they give
• D
 oesn’t obsess over details when giving • C
 onnects employees to others for
coaching and feedback development when they lack expertise
in a given area

Source: Gartner

The Connector Manager Performance Advantage 6

 Four Manager Types, Not Created Equal

One clear winner, one loser

One Clear Winner, One Loser
Most senior leaders and HR executives assume the
Always-On manager’s continuous and frequent coaching Maximum impact on employee performance given manager
approach is critical for driving employee performance. approaches to coaching and development
The Always-On approach seems especially fitting in
in today’s complex, fast-shifting and uncertain work
Improves employee performance
environment, where employees crave (and need at times)
frequent coaching and feedback.

But as we pitted the manager types against one another

to gauge their impact on employee performance, our
quantitative analysis yielded two conclusions that surprised Always-On
even us:
Teacher Cheerleader Connector
1. The Always-On manager tangibly degrades employee
performance.
Connector managers
2. Connector managers triple the likelihood that their Degrades employee performance
triple the likelihood
that their direct
direct reports are high performers. reports are high
performers

Number of respondents = 7,309 employees

Source: 2017 Gartner Manager Effectiveness Survey

The Connector Manager Performance Advantage 7

CHAPTER 2

The Myths
Behind the
Always-On
Manager
 The Myths Behind the Always-On Manager

How Always-On managers have

managed to endure Employee Performance Versus Hours of
Manager Coaching
If Always-On managers actually do more harm than
good — degrading employee performance by up to There is no significant
8% — how has this type of manager become so popular? relationship between
employee performance
and manager time spent
Our analysis identified three myths perpetuating the developing employees
belief that the Always-On manager approach to providing
continuous coaching and feedback is effective. As a leader,
debunking these myths can help you avoid steering your
manager population in the wrong direction.

Myth No. 1:
The more time managers spend
coaching and providing feedback,
the better
Our research finds that there is no significant correlation
between time spent coaching and employee performance.
Number of respondents = 7,309 employees
Source: 2017 Gartner Manager Effectiveness Survey

The Connector Manager Performance Advantage 9

 The Myths Behind the Always-On Manager

Ironically, Always-On managers are so committed to As a leader, rather than asking managers to drive the
guiding employees at every opportunity that it becomes development agenda in every coaching interaction, consider
hard for employees to focus on areas that need real asking managers to recalibrate their relationships with
improvement. One employee we interviewed, a sales employees by asking a series of probing questions about
representative in the pharmaceutical industry, wearily their motivators, preferences and work aspirations.
described his days being shadowed by an Always-On
manager, and said the marathon of manager coaching
was like “drinking from a feedback firehose.” He was left
disempowered and second-guessing himself.
Myth No. 3:
As a leader, you can help your managers do better:
Managers are the best source
Decouple the time spent coaching from the implied quality. of coaching and feedback for
their employees
Myth No. 2: Managers can’t be expected to know every answer, especially
in today’s fast-changing work environment. Unfortunately,
Managers are expected to always Always-On managers fall prey to the idea that some guidance
is unequivocally better than no guidance. As a result, they
know what’s best for their employees can provide the wrong advice, which can have considerable
Our research finds that only 18% of employees believe their negative business impact.
managers understand their work. A dismal statistic on its
As a leader, emphasize that managers should only directly
own, this challenge compounds when you consider that
coach on areas in which they have expertise or strength.
Always-On managers always set the agenda for development
Focus on enabling managers to build awareness of their
from the top down. If managers don’t even understand their
own strengths and development areas, so they know when
employees’ jobs, how can they provide relevant coaching
to lean in — and when to defer to others for coaching.
and feedback?

The Connector Manager Performance Advantage 10

CHAPTER 3

Why the
Connector
Manager Wins …
By a Mile
 The outsized impact of
Connector managers
Connector managers elicit Ensure better, not just more, connections
performance by connecting
employees to the right people and
resources at the right time. In doing
so, Connectors boost employee
performance by up to 26% and
more than triple the likelihood that
Make development a team sport
a coached employee will be a high
performer; their performance impact
is head and shoulders above any
other manager approach.

Connectors also boost employees’

discretionary effort, engagement and
intent to stay — all critical outcomes
for enterprise performance.

Interestingly, Connector managers (Really) get to know

perform the same core coaching your employees
activities as other managers and don’t
spend any more time coaching than
the other types. Rather, they prioritize
their coaching time differently.
Uniquely, Connectors make three
essential connections for the
employee, team and organization.

Source: Gartner

The Connector Manager Performance Advantage 12

 Why the Connector Manager Wins … By a Mile

Employee connection: The leader’s natural inclination was to offer feedback on

every project, interaction and activity, but she quickly
(Really) get to know your employees recognized it would be impossible to maintain that level
of oversight with 100+ people individually. She knew she
The employee connection involves all the individual would have to do the upfront work to understand their needs
interactions managers have with their employees, from and then find ways to empower them to be proactive about
providing direct feedback and coaching to sharing their development.
performance expectations. Establishing these relationships
with direct reports is not just basic to a manager’s job, Connectors anchor their time in active listening and
it’s also the foundational connection that Connector asking questions that build trust and help them understand
managers make. employee context. This upfront investment yields dividends,
ensuring that Connectors provide more targeted development
Connectors dedicate more time and energy here than at the right times and on the right skill needs.
anywhere else, building a deep and rich upfront relationship
with employees, helping them accurately identify needs,
interests and aspirations. But how can all managers do this
effectively and at scale? The Employee Connection

Consider the example that one leader divulged to us: As a • O

 verinvest in diagnosis.
director at a professional services firm, she had been asked • C
 oach the person, not the problem.
to manage onboarding and career development for over • B
 e positive, but be prepared to be tough.
100 new college graduate employees starting their first jobs.
Having started in the same position several years earlier, the
leader knew these employees would be “go-getters,” seeking
lots of feedback and hoping to advance quickly.

The Connector Manager Performance Advantage 13

 Why the Connector Manager Wins … By a Mile

The leader at the professional services firm began by holding As a leader, you can focus on helping managers master three
a day of in‑person office hours every month. Over time, key activities to begin building the employee connection:
she learned to target her inquiry during her interactions to
establish a deep-enough understanding of each employee.
Eventually, she found that these questions tended to yield
1. trust,
Overinvest in diagnosis. Connector managers build

ask context-specific questions and listen to
the most productive conversations: their direct reports to better understand their needs,
interests and aspirations.
• W
 hat do you find exciting and motivating about your role?

• What change(s) would make you happier about your role?

2. Coach

the person, not the problem. Connectors
flex their coaching approach based on an individual’s
development needs and receptivity.
• What motivates you in your life outside of work?

• If there’s one thing you want to walk away with from 3. Be

positive, but be prepared to be tough. Connectors
prioritize strengths-based feedback, but they are also
our conversation today, what is it? comfortable being critical when it’s needed most.
• W
 hat do you need most from me at this stage in
How to get started
your career?
• C
 reate question inventories and coaching guides for
managers to build their relationships with employees
through asking questions, not just giving guidance.

• H
 old peer consulting sessions for managers to practice
active listening and diagnosing on each other, in a
safe space.

The Connector Manager Performance Advantage 14

 Why the Connector Manager Wins … By a Mile

Team connection: teams regularly for skill sharing. Each person on the team,
including the manager, identifies a skill they are willing to
Make development a team sport teach to others. The manager creates transparency around
skill strengths and communicates the importance of peer
Our research finds that approximately one-quarter of development. Individuals are free to set up development
employees already count on teammates as a primary source sessions with anyone on the team who excels at skills they
of feedback. However, while most employees are willing to would like to develop.
share knowledge and discuss strengths with their peers, very
few are willing to openly share their skill gaps. This difference Perhaps it’s surprising, but making the team connection
is likely attributed to our natural desire to hide signs of relies less on a manager’s ability to explicitly match
vulnerability or weakness. There is significant progress still employees for coaching and more on their actions to craft
to be made in making development a team sport. an open environment for skill sharing to occur organically.

Consider the potential harmonizing power of your own Connector managers start building this team ecosystem
team. Let’s say you have five direct reports. With five by leveraging the intelligence they gathered during the
employees per team, there are nearly 25 connections employee connection. Their foundational understanding of
that can occur between teammates to help them improve what drives and motivates each employee helps them tailor
their skills. Most managers miss these opportunities, the broader team environment to match employees’ individual
focusing the team on getting things done, rather than motivators and create a productive and trusting space.
developing a finely tuned unit of high performers.
Connectors take a different approach, setting employees
up to more intentionally share skills and boost each other’s The Team Connection
performance within team interactions.
• U
 se motivators to tailor the team
In one company, we found an elegant example of this environment.
practice through an exercise dubbed Each One, Teach One. • I dentify and embrace individual
As part of Each One, Teach One, managers convene their differences.
• M
 ake peer skill sharing a ritual.

The Connector Manager Performance Advantage 15

 Why the Connector Manager Wins … By a Mile

To deliver greater value in team skill sharing, managers How to get started
can do the following:
• U
 nderstand what motivates your team individually

1. Use motivators to tailor the team environment.


Connectors work to understand what engages
and collectively to begin creating a highly motivating
team environment.
individuals and teams so they can create their
own personalized approaches to management • S
 ignal your own vulnerability and willingness to sharing
and ensure that individuals on their teams work skill gaps to make vulnerability a norm.
toward common goals.
• C
 reate rituals for skill sharing on the team (for example,

2. IConnectors
dentify and embrace individual differences. Each One, Teach One).
encourage individuals within their teams
to share their distinct opinions, backgrounds and
experiences, and they use these differences to build
team trust, develop new skills and improve outcomes.

3. Mit easier
ake peer skill sharing a ritual. Connectors make
for employees to develop their peers by
institutionalizing the sharing of information, strengths
and needs across the team.

The Connector Manager Performance Advantage 16

 Why the Connector Manager Wins … By a Mile

Organization connection: In the case of the retail company CEO, the manager
directed the employee to sources he refers to as
Ensure better, not just “benevolent outsiders,” including:

more, connections • P
 eer companies that shared either industry, geography,
orientation or growth stage
Sometimes the right development connections aren’t
available within an employee’s direct reporting lines, teams • A
 pp and technology partners that the company was already
or even within their known professional and social networks. paying for a service or product that would want to see the
Although larger organizations almost inevitably have highly company thrive
skilled pockets that employees could turn to for rapid skill
sharing, these skill pockets can be hard to identify in their • C
 ustomers with an emotional connection to the business
organization. Beyond mere visibility, this challenge can be
While external connections are one good option for best-fit
compounded for managers of smaller teams, in smaller
development, for most organizations, it’s equally possible
companies or in niche job areas.
to find these sources internally. Making these enterprise-
Take the example of a 15-employee retail company, in which level coaching connections requires seniority and budget
a digital marketing manager was asked to quickly learn the to do at scale; however, this connection is a particularly
ropes of e-commerce and help develop the company’s online ripe opportunity for senior leaders to take charge.
sales. After an outstanding first year of growth, the CEO
and founder (this employee’s manager) found the employee
plateauing in his role, with no peers to turn to for guidance The Organization Connection
or support. Instead of letting the employee struggle, the
• B
 ecome mapmakers.
CEO realized he needed to help him make a development
connection outside the company. • D
 evelop warm-up and cool-down routines.
• M
 odel best-fit connections.
Connector managers understand that best-fit development
connections are critically important in boosting employee
performance, and help their employees build bridges across
and outside of the enterprise to make the best (not just the
most) connections. But how?

The Connector Manager Performance Advantage 17

 Why the Connector Manager Wins … By a Mile

Consider how you can contribute your leadership How to get started
to help managers forge these components of the
organization connection: • Brainstorm connection sources for your function
or business unit, or even conduct organizational

1.  Become
 mapmakers. Connector managers help
employees understand where the best-fit connections
network analysis to source lists of informal leaders
or strong influencers.
might be within or outside the organization. This doesn’t
require managers to build a literal organization chart but
rather to leverage key points of contact to help identify
where skills may be prevalent.

2. Develop

warm-up and cool-down routines. Connector
managers play the role of an “activist coach,” holding
one-on-one meetings with employees to help them
prepare to extract the most value from their connections
and reflect on lessons learned after the fact.

3. Model

best-fit connections. While Connector
managers connect their employees with individuals
across and outside the organization for development,
they themselves also serve as connections.

The Connector Manager Performance Advantage 18

Conclusion

The role of the manager in coaching and • Connectors make three core development connections
for their employees: The employee connection, the team
developing people has rightfully become a high
connection and the organization connection.
priority for organizations today. In an environment
of heightened change and complexity, managers • To make the employee connection, managers should
prioritize getting to know their employees better, using
serve as the key conduit between an organization diagnostic conversations to ask more questions. The
and its staff, helping employees continuously employee connection helps managers personalize their
align to changing performance standards, learn approach to coaching and feedback and serves as a
foundation for the other two connections.
new skills, grow in their careers and much more.
The quality of manager coaching varies widely, and many • To develop the team connection, Connector managers should
organizations could pay dearly by betting on the wrong build an open and highly motivating team environment that
approach. As you consider your business’s approach to recognizes and encourages peer-to-peer skill sharing. The
people management, take note of these realities: team connection serves as a highly productive, self-contained
ecosystem for learning.
• M
 ost organizations today prioritize building Always-On
managers who coach frequently across a variety • To forge the organization connection, Connector managers
of employee skills and activities. This type of manager don’t need to physically introduce employees to best-fit
actually degrades employee performance by up to 8%. development connections across the business. Rather,
managers should help employees source high-quality
• By contrast, the Connector manager approach drives connections by giving them visibility into skills across the
positive employee outcomes across the board. Regardless organization and helping them prepare to extract value
of industry, function or region, Connector managers from each exchange.
can improve employee performance by up to 26%, can
increase employees’ discretionary effort by up to 38%
and can improve employee engagement by up to 40%,
to name just a few outcomes.

The Connector Manager Performance Advantage 19

A Leader’s Guide to Developing Employees Across the Enterprise
Discover insights, tools and templates to support employee coaching and development efforts.
Visit gtnr.it/connector-manager-ebook to access resources for your function.

HR Leaders R&D Leaders

Research: See how HR can build Connector managers who are in tune with Research: Discover how to help leaders cultivate innovative behaviors across
employee needs teams to improve performance

Article: Learn how to improve performance by enabling ongoing, but not constant,
employee feedback
Sales Leaders
Insight Hub: Identify and develop the most effective sales manager approach to
Article: See why a “connected learner” approach is more effective than continuous employee coaching
learning at helping employees reskill for the digital age

Article: Understand budget-friendly manager development approaches that Service Leaders

improve employee performance Digest: Learn different management approaches to coaching and which is best for
service leaders
Finance Leaders
Research: Learn how to increase cross-functional learning interactions to develop Strategy Leaders
the next-generation workforce Research: See the most hyped workforce trends for 2019 that strategists should
know about
Case Study: Learn how one company creates “action learning groups” that group
high-potential employees (HIPOs) together to tackle CEO and CFO priorities
Supply Chain Leaders
Research: Discover how to help your staff identify and pursue work that
Information Technology Leaders motivates them
E-Book: Develop the right skills and competencies within your IT workforce to
successfully execute your digital business strategy Article: Build an organization that is ready to cope with the continuous change
of a digital world
Article: Learn how leading CIOs are reimagining apprenticeships to develop the
talent needed for digital business

On-Demand Webinar: View market trends and best practices for planning, acquiring
and developing the talent and skills needed to support digital business

Legal & Compliance Leaders

Article: Understand four critical skill gaps that emerge from shifts in the legal
department’s role, delivery model and resources

Article: Build data analytics skills on your compliance and ethics team with
these six steps

The Connector Manager Performance Advantage 20

To learn more about how Take our
Gartner can support you quiz to find
out your
on this journey, contact our manager
type.
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As a senior leader, your role and reach go well beyond the

frontline manager role, so your own impact as a Connector
also has the potential to ripple outward across the managers
you manage. Do you know what kind of manager you are?

© 2019 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. CM_I_767015