The Best Managers Are “Connectors”

Some managers are like teachers, sharing their skills and experience with their teams. Others are more like cheerleaders who encourage their direct reports to learn on their own. But Sari Wilde explains that the best managers are “connectors” who facilitate peer-to-peer coaching to help their people learn and grow.

Wilde is part of a team at Gartner Research that surveyed 5,000 managers around the world to understand how management style affects the success of a team. And they found that employee performance improves when you have a connector manager, she tells IdeaCast host Curt Nickisch.

Wilde explains what the best connector managers do, how to be one, and how to work for one. With Jaime Roca, Wilde wrote the book The Connector Manager: Why Some Leaders Build Exceptional Talent — and Others Don’t.

 Key episode topics include: leadership, developing employees, managing people, teams, building trust, networking.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

• Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: Why “Connector” Managers Build Better Talent (2019).
• Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast.
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