TODAY’S NEWS. TOMORROW’S INSIGHTS.A daily newsletter from McKinsey & Company
Brought to you by Liz Hilton Segel, chief client officer and managing partner, global industry practices, & Homayoun Hatami, managing partner, global client capabilities
Coaching with tech. Employees—especially those who began their roles in a remote environment—crave coaching from managers, but a recent survey found that an increase in supervisory and training responsibilities makes leaders 520% likelier to burn out. Tech tools can help ease the burden of delivering personalized feedback. For example, one sales company uses AI to analyze live conversations between agents and potential customers. The digital platform provides real-time coaching while new sales reps make their pitches, so that managers don’t have to spend hours listening in on calls. [HBR]
A dearth of diversity. Many corporate DEI pledges that came out of the racial unrest of 2020 have not translated into meaningful gains for women and people of color, a 2023 study finds. An analysis of roughly 800 US public firms by researchers from Columbia Business School and the London Business School found that women comprise 39% of the workforce of those companies, whereas minorities constitute 36%. Among middle managers, only 6% are Hispanic and 4% are Black. Organizations become more racially homogenous at higher levels, the research also found. [Fortune]
The power of the middle. Organizations with top-performing managers yield stronger shareholder returns than those that don’t, research by McKinsey partner Emily Field and colleagues reveals. But far from being the relationship builders they want to be, middle managers spend much of their time bogged down with administrative tasks. Only 20% of those surveyed strongly agree that their organizations help them to become better people managers, even though strong managers can reduce attrition, support talent acquisition, and bolster employee well-being and psychological safety.
Charting a (middle) course to success. Successful middle managers aren’t just nice to have; they are key contributors to both organizational health and financial performance. As such, organizations have an immense opportunity to invest in these vital roles. Leaders can, for instance, reset manager roles to remove unnecessary bureaucracy, investing in technologies to help automate tasks and reduce meetings so that managers can focus their energies on developing others. Consider five actions leaders can take to help their middle managers (and organizations) succeed.
— Edited by Gwyn Herbein, editor, Atlanta
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