How Small Shifts Can Improve Manager Effectiveness

Jan 10

Managers, whenever your packed calendar allows you to take a breather, how often are you able to really assess how your workload and chronic busyness impact your mental state and effectiveness at work?

Across industries, there’s one thing that nearly all workplace leaders have in common right now: They’re exhausted. Whether feeling unable to get their employees to take full ownership of their work in hybrid environments or having to take on more responsibility in light of ongoing layoffs, the collective mental load of managers has grown burdensome due to both defined and undefined responsibilities––so much so that "the average manager's workweek is half a day longer than the average individual contributor's."

Biggest Contributors To Managers’ Growing Mental Load

As a seasoned leadership development coach who’s helped managers of all backgrounds get a handle on their mental load at work, I’m here to help you identify today’s biggest blockers of manager effectiveness and the one tool you can leverage to dismantle them for good.

Over-Empathizing

In recent years, promising new leadership theory has ushered in empathy as one of the key facets of effective management, and for good reason. Empathy is integral to forging authentic connections in the workplace, practicing open communication and supporting employee well-being and development.

However, when restrained by the very human desire of wanting to be liked by their employees, managers can just as easily over-empathize and fail to set clear expectations, boundaries and systems for accountability. Especially with timely narratives of quiet quitting, rampant burnout and toxic workplaces spreading across social media and news headlines, some managers are not just over-empathizing in the workplace, they’re also flat-out intimidated. While there’s so much discourse around the benchmarks of good leadership, there aren’t nearly as many standards set for employees, so it’s up to managers to set and enforce them.

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Canceling Your 1:1 Meetings

While unclear expectations are directly tied to employee inefficiency and, therefore, managers’ burdensome mental loads, the second greatest culprit may come as a surprise to weary leaders. You might think that a handful of weekly one-on-ones with direct reports is a time-consuming obligation in every manager’s work week and that giving employees their time back so that you can catch up on your own laundry list of to-dos is actually a mutually beneficial decision. However, getting too comfortable with cutting out this designated catch-up time is one of the main drivers of disconnection between you and your team, which in turn costs you vital opportunities to keep them engaged and accountable for their work.

If either of these habits resonate with you, know that you’re not alone. In the face of a growing workload and little bandwidth, it can feel incredibly easy to resort to over-empathizing or reclaiming more time in your already busy schedule. Luckily, workplace leaders can dedicate more time and energy to developing their manager effectiveness with one key strategy.

Making Meaningful Conversations The Focal Point

If you’re already running on fumes, forging meaningful connections with your employees may feel like too steep of an ask; but when we learn how to facilitate them consistently, frequently and authentically, we radically transform our workplace culture for the better. If we’re able to have at least one meaningful conversation with members of our teams each week, we open a line of transparent communication where we can hold them accountable, motivate urgency for them to do their best work and come to a point of mutual agreement on next steps––ultimately empowering them to do their part.

When managers prioritize meaningful conversations, they empower their team members to take ownership of their work and contribute to the decision-making process. This allows for greater ease during one-on-ones. In these meetings, they can serve as accountability partners, gather lessons learned in the face of losses and give authentic recognition for employees’ wins. Carving out time to coach employees toward success on a weekly basis also inherently reinforces the connection we share with them, creating space and psychological safety.

Whether these check-ins are conversations around unmet expectations, clear delegation or offering recognition or redirection, showing a vested interest in an employee’s performance and growth empowers them to engage more deeply with their work, take ownership and aim higher. Ultimately, this often leaves them with a marked and measurable increase in engagement and a felt sense of pride about their impact. In turn, the energy that was once spent on ensuring your employees are on track can return to where it really belongs: becoming the leader they need you to be.

How Small Shifts Can Cultivate Big Cultural Changes

While managers may understand the impact of meaningful check-ins in the workplace, many are intimidated by facilitating them—even if it means minimizing the mental load for themselves and their employees. The truth is, even the smallest shifts in intention can make a huge difference.

One of those changes lies in our word choice, particularly in how we engage our employees through feedback conversations. Questions like “How can I support you to successfully achieve this goal?” automatically put the responsibility for the employee’s growth back on the manager. Instead, leaders can support their employees in a way that also empowers them to take ownership of their own trajectory with a simple rephrasing: “What do you need to successfully achieve this goal?” By discussing growth and goal-setting in a more action-oriented way, we cultivate safe spaces for our teams to advocate for what they need to do their job well while eliminating the potential for additional mental load on managers.

And though it may sound counterintuitive, decreasing the length of weekly check-ins with employees actually warrants greater intention and, therefore, efficiency when we do have them. Managers are often under the impression that in order to facilitate a meaningful conversation, it has to take a lot of time; but in reality, a 15-minute chat about strengths, struggles and next steps can help employees and managers alike stay aligned and mindful of what’s energizing, draining and prioritized each and every week.

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