People managers are disengaged, and it’s negatively affecting the entire workplace.

The effect? Poor engagement and employees toying with attrition. Despite the turbulent economic landscape, 46% of professionals still say they’re considering quitting in the year ahead, putting not just people managers’ success on the line but companies’ success, too.

“People managers are the most disengaged and burned out of any employee population … and their energy and outlook is contagious,” says Jacky Insinger, bestselling author, leadership consultant, and keynote speaker, in a recent podcast interview with Dr. Matt Poepsel, PhD, the vice president and Godfather of Talent Optimization at The Predictive Index (PI).

“Everybody has one foot out the door,” Insinger adds. She often hears people managers saying, “I’m not looking actively, but I’m open” or “I’m not actively looking, but I’ve updated my resume.”

Disengagement is a problem, but there are solutions. Below, we provide three from our expert duo’s conversation so you can avoid losing talent and engagement.

Tip 1: Give leaders a reason to engage.

Too many people managers can’t succeed because organizations don’t offer a way to calculate success. One-third of organizations do not have a formal way to measure the success of people leaders (i.e., a rubric), and nearly one-third of organizations do not consistently measure people leaders’ success, according to a recent survey by PI and HR Dive’s studioID.  

“When you don’t have a definition explicitly of what leadership success looks like, then you’re just fumbling around in the dark, overwhelmed, super busy, not knowing if you’re making a difference or not,” Poepsel explains.

At a time when disengagement is at a nine-year high, “The only thing that matters is that leader’s version of success,” Insinger adds. But if they don’t know what success looks like, how can you expect them to pursue it?

By formalizing what success looks like in your organization, you provide employees with a clear reason to engage, a boon at a time of mass disengagement. Plus, having a formal way to measure success enables the entire organization to succeed, with PI’s data showing that 94% of organizations with formal frameworks find them helpful. “A lot of people think being clear on expectations feels like micromanaging, and it’s not,” says Insinger.

Put this tip in practice:

• Establish a formal rubric. (See how PI Perform measures employee performance daily.)
• Use it consistently by going beyond annual reviews with a mix of formal and informal reviews.
• Update it regularly by aiming for an update every 11 months—at minimum.

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