Managers, responsible for team performance and delivering board strategy, are caught between a rock and a hard place, it seems.

A recent survey by Microsoft found them ‘wedged between leadership and employee expectations’. Three quarters of managers said they lacked the influence or resources to make change for employees, and more than half said leadership was out of touch with employees.

These are really important members of an organisation with a 360 perspective their teams or leaders just don’t have. Managers drive performance, execute strategy on the ground, embed culture and manage risks. Their position ‘in the middle’ makes them vital to the success of their organisation. I often refer to it as the middle manager miracle, because if they’re supported, developed and connected with in the best possible way, they can be a transformational miracle in the middle of organisations, their influence is that great. 

So, how do we enable managers to have the confidence and capability to fulfil their main aim; building and sustaining a high performance culture?

I believe part of the answer lies in the different roles managers must play to maximise influence and impact. And from the research I conducted, I found there are five roles: prophet, storyteller, strategist, coach and pilot. Here’s a quick overview with a HR tip for each.

The Prophet
This is a highly emotive role with a requirement for visionary and inspirational attributes. It involves inspiring others, planting the vision of the future and what it will look like for the individual and team. In the role of Prophet, a manager imagines a bigger, better tomorrow and ignites emotions around how it will feel when reached. 

Prophet top tip – Remind your managers they too can be visionaries. What does the vision for their specific team look like? Encourage your people managers to set a vision they are confident about using with their team and remind them to keep it current.

The Storyteller
This is about sharing context, content, metaphors and examples to engage others. The Storyteller works with others to bring the vision, direction, change or purpose to life and helps them identify how their strengths can contribute.

Storyteller top tip – Consider how you tell the story of your organisation’s People Strategy or how you can change the way you work with the business and how you could strengthen it to lead by example.

The Strategist
This role is about identifying the approaches and building the plans to engage others. They turn intention to engage into a reality. As Strategist, a manager will engage through a strong talent strategy, centring on development for their people, will keep teams focused and pay attention to wider stakeholder engagement.

Strategist top tip – This is one of the lowest preferences for most managers so helping them to see the value of planning and making engagement work is critical. It starts with managers building stronger relationships with their team and exploring what makes each individual’s heart beat. With this insight, managers can then equip team members with the incentives and motivation that most engages them at a personal level and ultimately secure a clear engagement plan for every single person, regardless of their role or title.

The Coach
How does a manager get the best out of people? A manager has a responsibility to facilitate team members on a journey to full engagement, and being a proficient Coach will help them do this. Good coaches work with others to understand their passions and what makes their heart beat. They guide, build capacity in others and leave team members feeling highly valued as individuals. At a practical level, this starts with ‘asking’ rather than ‘telling’ during challenging times. This is difficult for most managers when their time is so precious but it is critical for sustained employee engagement. 

Coach top tip – Coaching managers to have better coaching-style conversations with their people can be really effective. Managers need to understand the importance of providing employees formal and informal feedback on an ongoing basis. Managers should work continuously – and take training as needed – to improve how they communicate, set goals, give feedback, develop employees, recognise and reward performance and build trust.

The Pilot
The Pilot is a respected role model – calm, measured and trusted. As a manager it’s important to be the one that can guide a team through troubled times, making them feel secure and in control. A Pilot is confident and an expert in galvanising teams into action. They’re always mindful of when to be inclusive and when to be authoritative.

Pilot top tip – Remind managers and leaders that employees will always look to them for clues on what is really happening and why. Their tone of voice is an important example of how people will ‘hear’ the message and decipher what it ‘really’ means.

To build a high performance culture, leader and managers need to be able to execute all five roles, dialling them up and down as needed and as appropriate. The roles are key to taking engagement to higher levels than the organisational engagement strategy can do alone. Helping senior leaders pay attention to practical ways of boosting manager engagement levels, competence and confidence is a good starting point. So too, is working with line manager communities to help them develop an appetite, confidence and competence in the five roles. 

Most leaders and managers are valued for being good Storytellers – it’s often the strongest of the five roles seen in most organisations today. This is where much investment, strategy and support is out in place at an organisational level, and communication teams do a great job in equipping, coaching and supporting leaders and managers.

However, a leader and manager needs to use all five roles and be proficient in each. In reality, there will be some that are natural preferences, but a successful manager-as-engager will intentionally play the appropriate role at the right time – inspiring, directing, listening, supporting and guiding appropriately to bring the best out of others. Get it right and they will work miracles.