More than 50 percent of front-line managers would rather not manage people, according to the Corpoarte Executive Board. A new study issued by the CEB's Learning and Development Roundtable finds that "informal managers" -- those not formally designated as managers -- actually do most of the day-to-day management of frontline teams. This has big implications for people-management training and other productivity improvement programs.

Learning and Development Roundtable Managing Director Todd Safferstone explains, “While frontline management has become more informal, most management-development strategies have remained focused on formal managers. Our findings help explain why efforts to improve frontline performance that focus solely on the formal manager have limited success. Organizations need to pull forward key development efforts to support the informal manager ranks. In so doing, they can have an immediate and significant impact on day-to-day management and performance.”

Road map

Roundtable research reveals that nearly 60% of frontline managers underperform during their first two years in seat, driving performance gaps and employee turnover across the entire frontline. Three essential phases identified in this study for maximizing performance and retention include:

1. Isolating Frontline Management Development Priorities. Only 19% of informal managers report being satisfied with the people-management training offered by their organizations. Furthermore, only one-third of informal managers find their direct managers and peers effective at helping them understand the challenges of supervising people. The most progressive organizations overcome these challenges by focusing their development investments on critical management needs, rather than exclusively focusing on individuals who carry a managerial title.

2. Uncovering the Profiles of Informal Managers. Roundtable research reveals that, in most organizations, informal frontline managers outnumber formal frontline managers by a ratio of 4 to 1. By identifying informal managers and discerning how those managers spend their time, organizations can extend their training programs and focus on building the five critical people-management competencies that can contribute to as much as a 25% increase in performance.

3. Pushing Development Beyond the Classroom. The Roundtable profiles examples from leading organizations that push development beyond the classroom through experiences, peer networks, and upward management. By emulating these approaches, organizations can deliver high quality, low-cost development opportunities to a larger population, while also improving their selection processes.

About this study

The CEB's Learning and Development Roundtable 2007 research study and road map help organizations improve the effectiveness of frontline management, drive employee performance, and increase retention. The Road Map for Targeting Frontline Management Investments is part of a complete step-by-step plan designed to help organizations boost the effectiveness of frontline management without adding significant cost. As part of this study, the Roundtable also demonstrates how organizations can optimally extend their development efforts to include informal managers.

The Learning and Development Roundtable is a leading provider of best practices research, executive education, and decision-support services for Chief Learning Officers, learning and development executives and their staff.

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