110 that an alarming number of people don’t know if they are succeeding in their roles because their manager has not made ex- pectations clear or provided meaningful feedback about how they are doing. If you believe that most people actually want to do good and meaningful work in their jobs, you'll have no trouble seeing that this is the recipe for lack of engagement. Job descriptions and once-a-year performance reviews are not enough. Great managers translate objectives on job descriptions to monthly, weekly, and even daily activities. They work with their people collaborative- ly and provide frequent and informal feed- back that useful to help them succeed in the role. Employees who work for effec- tive managers know how they're doing and that provides the fuel for them to grow and achieve. Nothing is more frustrating than not knowing how to do a good job. If you are a company executive, you should make certain you are hiring and developing managers who can create employee engage- ment. You should also know that the char- acteristics of great managers apply to you as well. Managers need to be engaged too. Managers and execs need to think about how they can strengthen relationships, focus on talents, individualize their approaches, and make their expectations clearer. It will pay off with increased levels of employee en- gagement, and now we know that soft mea- sures carry hard economic implications. • They individualize their approach. Pow- erful managers know there are common standards in the workplace, but they are very good at seeing and treating each of their direct reports as individuals because each of them is different. They each bring a unique set of talents to the job and they accomplish things by using their strongest talents. Even a work group of ten sales- people, for example, with essentially the same job description has ten individuals who approach the job differently depend- ing on their innate behaviors. Great man- agers know this which allows them focus on strengths, not weakness. Some sales- people are naturally innovative, with an idea a minute. Others are not, but have great strength in overcoming obstacles that slow down the sales process. The work effective managers do with each of these individuals is different and focuses on natural strengths. They also find work- arounds for talents not as strong instead of harping on weaknesses for which the individual has no effective response. Individualizing goes beyond focusing on talent. Great managers also know that each of their people has their own set of expectations for the job – how they like to be coached, why do the job at all, what kind of recognition they want, or even who they want knowing about their suc- cesses-and they use this knowledge to develop their people one by one. Instru- ments like an Individualized Manage- ment Questionnaire can help managers learn what drives each of their people and they can change their own behavior in managing each of their people. • They make their own expectations clear. How do people know when they are do- ing a good job? Employee surveys show Jim Hopes Managing Partner The Center for Sales Strategy