Times of change present many challenges for organizations, particularly for frontline managers whose people will be responsible for implementing the change.
Pressure to perform is high, as are emotions and everyone is expected to do more with less.
The effects of poor frontline management may be particularly damaging at service companies where researchers have consistently detected a causal 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 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.
This fact inspired us to identify six keys to unlock the potential of frontline managers.