89 traits in the hiring process. Sometimes, disen- gagement is the result of the fact that the values of the company and the employee were never a match. "I often tell clients, 'You don't have an engagement issue, you have a selection issue,'" Kelleher says. The importance of the hiring and selection pro- cess also applies to managers, Gallup's Harter says. Many who become managers don't yet have the skills and training to be effective. "A lot of people are put into the role because they are successful in a previous position, but that position was not a managerial one," he says. "Or, they are selected because they have been around a long time in the organization, so it be- comes a rite of passage." Indeed, based on his decades-long study of en- gagement and the U.S. workplace, Harter says that sound manager selection is one of the three most effective ways an organization can increase engagement. The other two ways are mana- gerial practices—a focus on building employee strengths, and a sustained two-way coaching di- alogue between managers and employees. These last two ways are effective in part because theyarebeingdrivenfrombelow,Harterexplains. Newer workers, the 20- and early 30-somethings who are members of the millennial generation, "want a coach type of manager who focuses on strength-based development, as opposed to a manager who is an expert in their weaknesses," he says. In a strengths-based workplace culture, employ- ees often learn their roles more quickly, produce better work and are more engaged, he adds. In its own recent research, Gallup found that 67 percent of employees, who say that their man- ager focuses on their strengths, are engaged, compared with only 31 percent of the employ- ees who say that their manager focuses on their weaknesses. Continual Conversation Besides a strength-based approach, young- er workers are also asking for a managerial ap- proach that does not focus on a once-a-year performance review, but features a continuous two-way conversation in a coaching manner, Harter says. Other experts agree. Zinger, who consults on em- ployee engagement around the world, says that one commonality he has noticed is that employ- ees in virtually every country want their manag- ers to care about them. Kelleher also stresses this. "Empathy is a significant leadership competen- cy—especially in 2017," Kelleher says. "Employ- ees who think their employers care about them as people are more likely to give above and be- yond." A 2016 Gallup report, What Great Managers Do to Engage Employees, drew the same conclusion. "A productive workplace is one in which people feel safe…enough to experiment, to challenge, to share information, and to support one another," the study finds. "In this type of workplace, team members are prepared to give the manager and their organization the benefit of the doubt. But none of this can happen if employees do not feel cared about." This feeling of being cared about is built through regular conversation, during which the manager learns about the values, goals, and passions of the employee. "Conversations are in many ways the lifeblood of the organization," Zinger says. But they do not have to take up hours every week. Some days, brief check-ins are fine, and help maintain en- gagement. "Some managers may think, 'Oh my gosh, I have so much on my plate. Now you want me to have these conversations?' But it can be as quick as