1. Info-Tech Research Group1McLean & Company1 McLean & Company is a research and advisory firm that provides practical solutions to human resources challenges with executable research, tools, and advice that will have a clear and measurable impact on your business. © 1997-2015 McLean & Company. McLean & Company is a division of Info-Tech Research Group Inc. Train Managers to Strengthen Employee Relationships to Improve Engagement Transfer the ownership of employee engagement from HR to team managers. McLean & Company is a research and advisory firm providing practical solutions to human resources challenges via executable research, tools and advice that have a clear and measurable impact on your business. © 1997 - 2016 McLean & Company. McLean & Company is a division of Info-Tech Research Group.

2. Info-Tech Research Group2McLean & Company2 This Research is Designed For:This Research Will Help You: This Research Will Assist:This Research Will Help You: This Research Is Designed For:This Research Will Help You: This Research Will Also Assist:This Research Will Help Them: Our understanding of the problem IT leaders who are supporting their managers in improving relationships with employees. Understand the role of manager relationships in improving engagement and its importance. Prepare to deliver training to managers on how they can take ownership of strengthening their relationships with employees. Set metrics for tracking the impact of the training. Managers who received low scores on the manager relationships driver on their engagement survey. Managers who are interested in increasing trust and openness with employees. Understand the role of manager relationships in improving engagement and its importance. Re-think trust and openness and re-frame their approach to improving both.

3. Info-Tech Research Group3McLean & Company3 McLean & Co. Insight Make significant improvements on the manager relationships driver to increase employee engagement overall The responsibility of employee engagement has been on the shoulders of HR and the executive team for years, but managers, not HR or executives, should be primarily responsible for employee engagement. Managers often fail to take steps to improve this driver due to the following reasons: 1.They don’t understand the impact they can have on engagement. 2.They don’t understand the value of an engaged workforce. 3.They don’t feel that they are responsible for engagement. 4.They don’t know what steps they can personally take to improve engagement levels. When an organization focuses on strengthening manager relationships with employees, managers should be the owner and HR the facilitator. We recommend starting with the three most important actions to improve employee trust and therefore engagement: inform employees of the why behind decisions, interact with them on a personal level, and involve them in decisions that affect them (also known as the “3 I’s”). Use this deck to prepare to train managers on how to apply the 3 I principles and improve the score on this engagement driver. 1.Managers have a large impact on employee engagement and retention. According to McLean & Company’s engagement data, every 10% increase in the category “my manager inspires me to improve” resulted in a 3.6% increase in an employee’s intent to stay. (N=14,085, 2015) 2.In order to improve the manager relationship driver, managers cannot abdicate the responsibility of strengthening relationships with employees to HR – they must take the ownership role. Resolution Complication ? Situation !

4. Info-Tech Research Group4McLean & Company4 Consulting “Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project.” Guided Implementation “Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track.” DIY Toolkit “Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful.” Workshop “We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place.” Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options Info-Tech offers various levels of support to best suit your needs

5. Info-Tech Research Group5McLean & Company5 Activities 1.1: Practice the training exercise on informing employees. 1.2: Practice the training exercise on interacting with employees. 1.3: Practice the training exercise on involving employees. 2.1: Consider your audience. 2.2: Plan out logistics for the training session – the who, where, and when. 3.1: Determine how IT Leadership can support managers in strengthening employee relationships. Tools and Templates Step 1 Tools and Templates:Step 2 Tools and Templates:Step 3 Tools and Templates: Guided Implementations Call 1: Gain advice on the 3 I’s and how they can be applied by managers. Call 1: Gain advice on setting the logistics for the training and modifying the deck with your own engagement data. Call 1: Discuss how to track the impact the training has on employee engagement. Step 1 Outcome: An understanding of the key principles and activities in the manager training deck. Advice for dealing with pushback from managers. Actions that you can put in place to adopt the 3 I’s principle and act as a role model. Step 2 Outcome: Planned the logistics for your training session. Made your case more powerful by adding your own engagement data to the training deck slides. Step 3 Outcome: Determined ways to track the impact the training has on employee engagement. Step 1: Prepare for the training session by understanding key concepts and your role Step 2: Plan the training session and customize the materials Step 3: Track training success metrics and follow up Training Deck: Train Managers to Build Trusting Relationships to Improve Engagement Participant Notebook: Take Ownership of Manager Relationships Training Evaluation: Manager Relationships Train your managers to take ownership of employee relationships

6. Info-Tech Research Group6McLean & Company6 Employee Engagement Engaged employees do what’s best for the organization: they come up with product/service improvements, provide exceptional service to customers, consistently exceed performance expectations, and make efficient use of their time and resources. The result is happy customers, better products/services, and saved costs. Three Reasons Why CIOs Need to Care About Engagement: 1 2 3 Engaged employees are 3.4X more productive than disengaged. 1 Sub-optimized productivity can have huge impacts on IT’s ability to execute to SLAs, complete projects on time, and maintain operations effectively. 66% of CIOs are concerned about losing top IT professionals to other opportunities. 2 The cost of losing an employee is estimated to be 150% their annual salary. 3 Can you afford to not engage your staff? 65% of IT employees are not engaged. 1 Engaged employees are 55% more likely to agree they regularly accomplish more than what’s expected of them, and 500% more likely to agree they are committed to the organization. 1 Sources: 1 - McLean & Company, 2 - Robert Half Technology 3 - Inc.Inc.

7. Info-Tech Research Group7McLean & Company7 Engaged employees report significantly higher commitment to the organization, performance, and willingness to innovate Higher willingness and openness to innovate. Higher intention to stay at the organization. IT employee engagement has a clear ROI, particularly when you look at costs associated with barriers to innovation, real costs of talent loss, and overall employee performance. Performance, retention, and innovation in turn drive increased revenue, decreased costs, and improved overall IT reputation and value. Higher performance and increased likelihood to work harder and longer hours. 30%39%29% ENGAGED EMPLOYEES REPORT:

8. Info-Tech Research Group8McLean & Company8 Manager relationships reflects the degree to which an employee believes their manager is trustworthy, transparent, and not only values, but also acts on employee feedback and input. Manager relationships is a driver of employee engagement, specifically impacting job engagement Employee engagement will not thrive when it’s handled like an event. But when it is vigilantly cultivated and purposefully spread through the interactions between managers and employees, it becomes a way of working. It becomes part of a company’s culture. Source: Shawn Murphy For more information on Info-Tech’s engagement program methodology and the benefits of an engaged workforce, see Increase IT Productivity by 25% by Actively Focusing on Employee Engagement

9. Info-Tech Research Group9McLean & Company9 Although the manager relationships driver usually scores moderately, there is a lot of room for improvement The statements in the graph below are all part of the manager relationship engagement driver. On average, less than 60% of respondents agree to these positive statements about their managers. On average, these scores have not seen improvement, year over year. According to a 2014 survey by Interaction Associates Inc. “Individuals report that a high level of trust in bosses and senior leadership is necessary to be effective in their jobs.” However, many trust their bosses and senior leadership less than in 2013 – at least 25% report a lower level of trust in these two groups. The percentages represent the percentage of employees who responded “agree” or “strongly agree” to the above statements. Source: McLean & Company, n = 18,229 to 28,059, 2015

10. Info-Tech Research Group10McLean & Company10 Engagement is actually not very complicated at all. The first step is to talk to your employees about what can be done to improve their engagement on the team. The key to improving the manager relationship driver is developing trust with your employees through informing them, interacting with them on a personal and professional level, and involving them in decision-making. This storyboard and accompanying manager training deck provides specific advice for managers on how to follow through on the 3 I’s. Engagement is actually not very complicated at all. The first step is to talk to your employees about what can be done to improve their engagement on the team. The key to improving the manager relationship driver is developing trust with your employees through informing them, interacting with them on a personal and professional level, and involving them in decision-making. This storyboard and accompanying manager training deck provides specific advice for managers on how to follow through on the 3 I’s. No, engagement is a manager thing – HR is there as a support mechanism. HR may be involved in facilitating the feedback through a survey and help managers with next steps; however, managers have the greatest impact on their team's engagement due to the closeness of the working relationship. No, engagement is a manager thing – HR is there as a support mechanism. HR may be involved in facilitating the feedback through a survey and help managers with next steps; however, managers have the greatest impact on their team's engagement due to the closeness of the working relationship. So, why aren’t managers making this a priority? They may have several objections and concerns that must be addressed “Engagement is an HR thing. Why should I be responsible for it?” “Having an impact on my team’s engagement seems overwhelming. I don’t know where to start.” It should be – engagement impacts pretty much every aspect of employment. Remaining engaged will help your team in achieving other goals and targets, such as increased levels of productivity and performance. You don’t need formal initiatives to keep your employees engaged. As a manager, your biggest impact on engagement comes from having employees’ trust and building positive relationships with them. You can achieve these outcomes through everyday interactions with your team. It should be – engagement impacts pretty much every aspect of employment. Remaining engaged will help your team in achieving other goals and targets, such as increased levels of productivity and performance. You don’t need formal initiatives to keep your employees engaged. As a manager, your biggest impact on engagement comes from having employees’ trust and building positive relationships with them. You can achieve these outcomes through everyday interactions with your team. “ I have a lot of things on my plate and engagement is not one of them.” MANAGER OBJECTIONS: YOUR RESPONSE:

11. Info-Tech Research Group11McLean & Company11 Every manager's actions should be aligned with the overall organizational mission and vision. Keep this in mind when interacting with your team. However, also keep in mind that every manager has a different relationship with their team. As long as you don’t do something outside of the cultural norms, it’s all right to do something different from your peers. It’s about meeting the unique needs and concerns of your team. Every manager's actions should be aligned with the overall organizational mission and vision. Keep this in mind when interacting with your team. However, also keep in mind that every manager has a different relationship with their team. As long as you don’t do something outside of the cultural norms, it’s all right to do something different from your peers. It’s about meeting the unique needs and concerns of your team. Engagement is a relationship, not a project, and an employee’s relationship with their immediate manager is among the most important factors affecting engagement. Focus on building trust, getting to know your employees, and empowering them to succeed instead of worrying about things that you can’t control. Engagement is a relationship, not a project, and an employee’s relationship with their immediate manager is among the most important factors affecting engagement. Focus on building trust, getting to know your employees, and empowering them to succeed instead of worrying about things that you can’t control. So, why aren’t managers making this a priority? They may have several objections and concerns that must be addressed MANAGER OBJECTIONS: YOUR RESPONSE: “I don’t have control over the factors affecting my team’s engagement.” “If I do something different with my team that no one else does with their team, it will be perceived as unfair.” Start by identifying why you're disengaged and asking yourself if this is something that you have control over. As a leader, it is important to be proactive about your disengagement so that it does not impact your team. Take your concerns as well as ideas for solutions to your manager. You will not be an effective team leader if you are disengaged, so this is your top priority. Start by identifying why you're disengaged and asking yourself if this is something that you have control over. As a leader, it is important to be proactive about your disengagement so that it does not impact your team. Take your concerns as well as ideas for solutions to your manager. You will not be an effective team leader if you are disengaged, so this is your top priority. “How can I keep my employees engaged when I’m feeling disengaged myself?”

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