Dive Brief:

• Manager training has become particularly important as the pandemic forced a new way of working on many teams, and managers have said they lack the tools to do it right. Culture Amp and LifeLabs Learning rolled out new content aimed at filling this gap for managers, the companies announced May 19.
• LifeLabs focuses on "tipping point skills," or skills that "are most impactful within organizations in the shortest time frame." Of those skills, coaching, feedback, prioritization and effective one-on-ones will be the first to be integrated into Culture Amp’s Skill Coach tool, according to the announcement.
• The tool will allow managers to learn new skills and then quickly apply them in practice "to effect lasting behavior change," the announcement said.  

Dive Insight:

Manager training has come to the forefront of employee development, particularly as the pandemic forced a new way of working on many teams. Many managers, however, do not feel they have the right tools to do their jobs effectively — and employees are noticing, a 15Five report from November revealed.

Less than half of employees surveyed by 15Five said their one-on-ones with their managers are helpful, despite nearly three-quarters of managers saying the same. This gap in perception could blunt the effectiveness of managers who often serve as coaches to their direct reports, experts have said. Companies that don’t invest in manager training could accidentally create a ripple effect, pushing out good employees and managers and reducing the effectiveness of company learning programs overall, since managers are often the point person for such programs.

The pandemic also highlighted why specific manager training matters. Women who work from home at least part-time are 27% less likely to have been promoted in the past year compared to men, a Perceptyx report from March noted. To combat that situation, managers may need to be specifically trained on managing in a hybrid or remote environment and taught to "intentionally" recognize employees who do not work in the office.