Improving People-Management Effectiveness
Introduction
The Trendicators research division of Engage2Excel is proud to present this review of The Employee-Centric Manager, by Dr. Jack Wiley, our chief scientific officer.
Few variables have greater influence over employee performance and retention than the relationship between employees and their immediate supervisor. However, until now, what employees want most from their managers has not been the subject of rigorous scientific analysis. The Employee-Centric Manager, by the world-renowned organizational psychologist, author and consultant Dr. Jack Wiley, presents the results and actionable takeaways from a decade-long investigation.
Based on a survey of 80,000 employees representing 27 countries, all major job titles and three generations across all major industries, The Employee-Centric Manager reveals the five behaviors, two values and one skill that any manager at any level within any organization can adopt to improve managerial effectiveness and ultimately create great career experiences.
What’s Inside the Book?
How Will You Address Today’s Most Pressing People-Management Challenges?
Milton Friedman said that, “Only a crisis, real or perceived, produces real change.” The COVID-19 pandemic has forever changed the world of work. While experts have talked about the importance of the employee experience for years, a vital catalyst in the workplace equation—the relationship between a manager and their employees—has largely been ignored. Most managers have little or no training in people management, and learning retention rates for those that have been trained decline by as much as 75% after just six days. The COVID crisis has been accompanied by acute labor shortages, significant increases involuntary turnover, increased hesitancy around returning to the workplace and heightened stress among essential onsite personnel. How is your organization dealing with these challenges?
What Do Employees Want and Need Most From Their Managers Today?
Based on survey research involving 80,000 employees in 27 countries, The Employee-Centric Manager reveals eight attributes that employees want and need from their manager. While HR experts and leaders will benefit greatly, the book was written for managers at all levels to use as a quick reference handbook in improving their daily interactions with employees to boost engagement, performance and retention.
“The Employee-Centric Manager is a practical roadmap any manager can follow to improve people management skills.”
STUART C. HARVEY, JR., SENIOR ADVISOR
THE BLACKSTONE GROUP
Former Chairman, CEO and President of Ceridian HCM
The Definitive Guide for People Management in the Modern Workplace
Significant disparities exist between what employees want from their managers and what managers think they want. The Employee-Centric Manager fills this void by serving as a handbook managers can refer to again and again for practical, easy-to-follow insights and guidance on dealing with daily people management challenges. It is the first evidence-based book on people management derived from the voice of the employee that offers a clear path toward improved outcomes for employees, teams and managers.
“It not only helps managers get their arms around what to do, it provides powerful evidence of how employee-centric managers outperform all others.”
ELAINE PULAKOS, CEO, PDRI
Author and speaker on organizational agility, resilience, and performance
What Difference Do Employee-Centric Managers Make?
Born out of a decade of research, The Employee-Centric Manager is not a book about research. Rather, it is a how-to manual designed to help managers understand and demonstrate employee-centricity to achieve significant improvements in employee engagement, team chemistry and team productivity. Dr. Wiley explains his findings in terms anyone can understand, and documents his methodologies and findings in detail in the appendices.
“Most books on management are theoretical. This one isn’t. Every page contains practical advice you can incorporate into your interactions to become the leader everyone wants to follow.”
DAVID HAIST, CHAIRMAN, PARKVIEW HEALTH
9 Reasons Why Every People Manager Should Own The Handbook
In theory, individuals who achieve managerial status have done so because of their ability to positively influence workplace outcomes. However, this is often not the case. All managers are under pressure to improve results, and this focus on outcomes can create adverse experiences for the very people managers depend on to produce results.
People don’t change unless it makes a difference for them to do so. In Chapter 1 of The Employee-Centric Manager, Dr. Wiley presents nine benefits, listed below, for managers who embrace the principles of employee-centric management. Each benefit includes a brief summary of the research that supports it, and deeper research is found later in the book.
“When you understand and nurture what employees want and need to succeed,
you create a powerful competitive advantage. Dr. Wiley’s book mirrors the values our company
holds dear. That’s why I ordered copies for every manager in our organization.”
JOHN DREYER, PRESIDENT AND CEO, THE SHELBY GROUP
Employee-Centric Managers Who Are Transforming the Modern Workplace
The primary function of a manager is to get people to work together for the attainment of an organization’s goals and objectives. What sets employee-centric managers apart is their ability to understand the needs and interests of individuals in motivating higher levels of engagement and performance. The Employee-Centric Manager features interviews with eight individuals who excel at demonstrating what employees want from a supervisor. The Q&A profiles bring the principles of employee-centricity to life with personal stories, anecdotes and descriptions of career-changing circumstances.
About the Author
What do employees most want and what organizational design factors best promote employee engagement, performance confidence and business success? These are the two questions that Dr. Wiley has focused on for more than three decades. As a keynote speaker at conferences around the world, Dr. Wiley is often quoted in the human resource trades and national media, on topics including employee engagement, leadership effectiveness and business performance.
Dr. Wiley is the president & CEO of Jack Wiley Consulting, LLC, and Employee Centricity LLC. In addition to his business ventures, he’s the chief scientific officer at Engage2Excel where he educates top leadership teams on how their employees currently view their organizational leadership and employee experience, and the actions leaders must take to build higher performing organizations.
As an author, Dr. Wiley’s latest release (2021), The Employee Centric Manager: 8 Keys to People Management Effectiveness, is described as the definitive handbook for managing people in the modern workforce. His previous book, RESPECT: Delivering Results by Giving Employees What They Really Want, is based on compelling evidence that when organizations satisfy seven core employee “wants” they are rewarded with stronger employee engagement, higher customer satisfaction and superior financial results.
In 2014, Dr. Wiley was awarded SIOP’s (Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology) prestigious Professional Practice award, a lifetime achievement award for outstanding contributions to the practice of industrial-organizational psychology. In addition to being elected to Fellow status in SIOP, he is also a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science.
How to Order
Engage2Excel is proud to offer special pricing on pre-release editions of The Employee-Centric Manager by Dr. Jack Wiley, our Chief Scientific Officer.
For special offers on single- and multiple-copy purchases:
Visit Engage2Excel.com/ECM