Research Drop: Understanding and Encouraging Effective Manager Behaviors
Research Drop in Brief: Manager effectiveness is critical to team success, but only 1 in 5 managers report performing key manager behaviors on a consistent basis. Consistent 1:1 meetings are the most challenging to regularly prioritize. When looking at differences in managerial priorities, we found that C-Level Executives focus more on coaching and mentoring, Directors and VPs dedicate more time to building cohesion, and Managers concentrate more on facilitating high performance. Managers need organizational support to be their best, where practices and resources are in place to foster manager engagement, reduce burnout, and support development. Managers are the backbone of any organization, playing a pivotal role in driving team performance and fostering a positive work environment. Their ability to coach, mentor, and support their direct reports enhances productivity and contributes to employee satisfaction and retention. Employees at organizations with highly effective managers are 2.5x as likely to describe their company as “highly innovative” and 1.6x as likely to be engaged¹. But managers are often stuck between their requirements and expectations as both a “manager with a manager” and a “manager with direct reports.” They must contribute to both high-level strategy conversations and to personal development chats², while still finding the time to execute their own tasks. With all these demands, how likely are managers to actually feel fully effective? When asked, only 1 in 5 managers report consistently performing critical manager behaviors such as helping their team prioritize their work³. For this month’s Research Drop, we take a closer look at what behaviors contribute to effective management practices, how attainable it feels to perform these behaviors consistently, and how to create a work environment that supports managers. What constitutes effective manager behavior? With the wide variety of responsibilities that fall under a manager’s remit, it may be challenging for managers to know how to focus their time. An extensive review of existing literature and research allowed us to pinpoint three main themes of effective manager behaviors: Coach & Mentor, Build Cohesion, and Facilitate High Performance. Within these three themes, we outlined 10 distinct behaviors that managers can perform to support their team members. Coach & Mentor Helping direct reports to excel not only in their role but also in their career is a vital part of people management. Managers can be a key piece in helping their team members see what future roles they may want to pursue, what skills they may need to cultivate, and how they can position themselves to excel in their career. They can provide guidance and stretch assignments in their 1:1 conversations and also leverage team meetings to connect the dots from the company’s strategy to their team’s daily work. Build Cohesion Managers with multiple direct reports can also be a conduit to effective collaboration between team members and with broader organizational stakeholders. Organizations and teams within them are composed of employees with a variety of perspectives and skills. Employees thrive when they feel comfortable expressing themselves and are recognized for their hard work. These factors contribute to a sense of psychological safety where employees are empowered to ask questions, share their thoughts, and acknowledge mistakes. When psychological safety is high, employees see higher productivity, reduced turnover, and less stress⁴. Managers also build strength across teams when they share information from leadership by ensuring that direct reports have the knowledge needed to make decisions and feel connected throughout the organization. Facilitate High Performance Employee productivity and performance are critical success factors and managers are often looked at to facilitate this output from their team. Managers support their team members’ focus when they help them to prioritize their projects and clarify what is expected from them. They can be pivotal in helping their team succeed by removing potential barriers to their progress, such as resolving conflicts or securing resources. Supporting innovation is a pillar of high performance⁵, so managers who give their team the space to experiment and think outside the box can enable novel ideas that push the boundaries. Consistently performing these behaviors is challenging When we asked managers how frequently they conducted the behaviors listed underneath the three behavioral themes, we found that while each of these behaviors are conducted at least “often” by an average of 84% of managers, they are only conducted “always” by an average of 32% of managers. Now, we recognize that managers can’t be expected to perform at their best 100% of the time – they have a lot on their plates. To understand what sets top-performing managers apart, we analyzed how consistently they report engaging in the 10 research-backed behaviors of effective managers. We grouped managers into Effective Managers, who report consistently demonstrating at least 6 of the 10 behaviors, and Typical Managers, who engage in them with varying levels of consistency (a similar methodology used to categorize High Performing Organizations and Typical Organizations in our HPO report). Through this we found that only 1 in 5 managers fell into the Effective Manager group. The difference in how consistently Effective and Typical Managers engage in key behaviors is clear, with variations up to 68% across the ten behaviors. For example, just 22% of Typical Managers report always welcoming diverse perspectives, while 90% of Effective Managers consistently do so. Interestingly, the most challenging behavior for both groups was to hold consistent 1:1s. Calendars can be tricky to manage, especially with many direct reports or a globally dispersed team. Managers may also not feel a need to engage their team members individually on a recurring basis. By not engaging in 1:1 meetings, managers miss out on opportunities to create alignment with their team and to provide the necessary guidance and support needed for their direct reports to thrive. 1:1s also positively impact engagement and retention - important outcomes for any manager to monitor⁶. Top-of-mind managerial behaviors vary across job levels Beyond a base understanding of the frequency of effective behaviors, we found that certain levels of managers are focused on executing different sets of behaviors. Within our data, we split by C-Level Executives, Directors/VPs, and Managers and each job level was more consistently focusing on a different bucket of behaviors. C-Level Executives were more highly focused on Coach & Mentor behaviors, especially connecting daily work to the bigger picture and company strategy – 30% more managers at this job level “always” perform this behavior as compared to the other two levels. C-Level Executives are in a prime position to be able to cascade this support to their teams and beyond, helping sharpen the line of understanding between strategy and tasks. Directors and VPs prioritized more Build Cohesion behaviors, where they bring together siloed teams, share successes across departments, and communicate important information. Directors and VPs are likely to host Town Halls and functional meetings, as well as create connections between groups to better drive organizational success. Managers most often engaged in Facilitate High Performance behaviors, directly supporting their teams to execute tasks. Managers are the first line of support for Individual Contributors, helping them manage their bandwidth, focus their time, and align their goals. While we found that job level did relate to differences in behavioral frequency likely due to the nature of the job levels themselves, it is important for managers to be flexible in how they balance their time. Depending on organizational strategy and team goals, direct reports at all levels may need more targeted (or more well-rounded) support from their managers to be successful. This level of situational awareness enables managers to focus on the most effective behaviors for their team, not just the ones that may be most top-of-mind based on their level. Contexts that can enable effective manager behaviors There are components of an organization’s culture, practices, and norms that impact whether a manager has the tools, skills, and motivation that they need to be effective and impactful. In our research, we discovered three contexts that were related to consistently performing effective manager behaviors: engagement, burnout, and manager tenure. Feeling engaged provides energy and motivation to balance manager demands Ninety-three percent of Effective Managers were also engaged, as compared to 76% of Typical Managers. When managers are thriving, they likely feel excited and passionate about their people manager duties – enabling them to be available and supportive for their direct reports. Feeling engaged brings energy, focus, and positive emotions to work. These feelings can be contagious to the manager’s team members⁷, driving a reinforcing flywheel of engagement. When organizations create an environment where managers can thrive, it can cascade throughout the entire company. Burnout causes strain that can limit managers abilities to support their team Effective Managers are less likely to report burnout indicators (e.g., overwhelming workload, conflict between home and work demands) than Typical Managers. While 40% of Effective Managers show at least one sign of burnout, the number rises to 59% among Typical Managers. Without the additional stress and strain of burnout, managers have more capacity to engage in a wide variety of responsibilities. Manager burnout is prevalent and is found to be higher than employee burnout⁸, making it critical that organizations focus burnout prevention not just at the employee level but by creating initiatives to directly mitigate manager burnout. Manager tenure can come with multiple developmental and learning opportunities When comparing time spent in a manager position, we found that managers with 11+ years of manager tenure were 2x as likely to be Effective Managers than Typical Managers. Those with more experience as a manager have likely spent more time improving their managerial skills and practices, being involved in learning and developing programming, and learning from their experiences than those newer to management. It may also be that long-standing managers generate blind spots where they have consistently done a practice for so long that they overestimate how often they actually perform these behaviors. Regardless of tenure, managers get value from expanding their leadership skills, as a growth mindset approach empowers managers to continuously refine and gain leadership competencies. Development opportunities help new and early managers get ahead and help long-standing managers reinforce good techniques (and learn a few new ones in the process!). Research shows that 86% of leaders who engaged in a leadership program saw significant improvements to their overall leadership effectiveness⁹. Directly targeting some of these essential skills through organization-sponsored growth opportunities, mentoring programs, and learning courses, managers are likely to feel more prepared and equipped to lead. Effective managerial behaviors are crucial for driving team performance and fostering a positive work environment. By consistently engaging in coaching, building cohesion, and facilitating high performance, managers can significantly impact their team's success. As manager responsibilities continue to develop and evolve, it is essential to create a supportive environment that enables managers to thrive and get the resources they need to lead their teams effectively. Stay tuned for our March Research Drop to keep up with what the Viva People Science team is learning! 1 MIT Sloan Management Review. (January 11, 2023). What’s Holding Back Manager Effectiveness, and How to Fix It. 2 Culture Amp (2023). State of the Manager Report. 3 Viva People Science Manager Action Taking survey from July 2024 using an Online Panel Vendor commissioned by Microsoft, which studied 500 US-based people managers across 10+ industries who have at least 5 direct reports. 4 Microsoft Viva Blog. (November 15, 2024). 3 Steps to Build Psychological Safety on Your Team. 5 Viva People Science. (October 2023). Redefining High Performance in the New Era of Work. 6 Rogelberg, S. G. (2024). Glad We Met: The Art and Science of 1: 1 Meetings. Oxford University Press. 7 Yun, M., & Beehr, T. (2024). Work engagement contagion from leader to follower through cognitive and affective mechanisms. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 45(1), 153-166. 8 Harvard Business Review. (May 18, 2023). More Than 50% of Managers Feel Burned Out. 9 Center for Creative Leadership. Why is Leadership Development Important? 4 Reasons to Invest.Research Drop: Investing in HR & IT Collaboration to Drive Successful AI Transformation
Research Drop in Brief: The percentage of organizations piloting or deploying AI solutions has risen by 20% since 2023. It’s time to focus on strong HR and IT collaboration to drive holistic AI integration and successful workforce transformation. HR is in the best spot to help IT bring employees along on the AI journey. HR needs resourcing to play “catch up” to IT, such as greater access to organization-sponsored AI tools, involvement in training/upskilling, and partaking in cross-functional experimentation. AI continues to be ubiquitous. We see massive growth in AI adoption across industries, with the percentage of organizations piloting or deploying AI solutions up by 20% since 2023 1 . With this exponential growth comes rapid change. New strategies, recommendations, use cases, and best practices are discovered and shared on what feels like a daily basis. In 2025, we are seeing organizations strengthening functional partnerships to help organizational AI transformation succeed. Multiple departments exist in organizations to bring unique skills sets, expertise, and perspectives, and these diverse perspectives should be included when thinking about AI at your organization. To date, IT has been leading the charge for AI transformation, but more and more we see high-performing organizations involving HR in their strategy and implementation. IT brings the tech; HR brings the people. HR and IT are both critical to AI transformation – and shouldn’t be operating in silos. HR is set up to lead the charge in reskilling, upskilling, and talent management in the era of AI, while IT is orchestrating and managing the tools and systems 2 . A benefit of including HR is that it deepens the connection to employees, increasing the involvement of employees in the transformation and reducing their fear of the unknown. When these functions are aligned, they accelerate AI implementation and workforce integration by deepening adoption, increasing ROI, and strengthening data governance. Our data shows that 73% of HR employees and 82% of IT employees believe AI will transform work for the better 3 . While this majority is encouraging, what can we learn about HR employees’ AI experience to explain an almost 10 percentage point difference between functions? And how can these functions be better positioned to collaborate and work in tandem? For this month’s Research Drop, we explore the different AI perceptions and experiences between HR and IT and how organizations can better align these critical functions to drive a more holistic AI transformation. IT employees’ advanced AI engagement reflects their central role in organizational technology As AI is inherently a technology, it makes sense that IT employees might be the first functional group to learn about it and work with it. Technology is engrained in their day-to-day work and their identity; 81% of IT employees agree that it’s important for them to be among the first to use new technologies. This natural inclination and excitement for technology innovation places IT in a key position for AI transformation. IT leaders are looking to shift the function of the IT department from building and maintaining to orchestrating and innovating, further expanding its scope to streamline transformation efforts across business facets 4 . This key role has fast-tracked IT employees’ perceived value of integrating AI at work – 79% of IT employees are excited about a future where everyone uses AI at work. For HR employees, their experience with AI at work is slowly growing, taking a bit more time to catch up with their IT peers. While 68% of IT employees (and 77% of IT leaders) believe that AI in their workplace will boost revenue and financial success, only 55% of HR employees (and 63% of HR leaders) feel the same. As more HR departments get involved with their organization’s AI transformation, we expect this vision to crystallize and more HR use cases and applications to become tangible. For example, the Employee Self-Service Agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot (ESS) enhances HR efficiency and employee satisfaction by streamlining processes, automating routine tasks, reducing support tickets, and providing customizable, user-friendly solutions. Integrated AI solutions such as ESS are changing HR functionality by reducing transactional tasks and creating space to focus more on relational tasks (e.g., mental health support), which are core to HR’s mission 5 . When planning HR and IT collaboration, focus on the common goals between the groups and how to use their unique perspectives and skillsets to achieve these goals. For example, a shared priority for both groups is data security. When asked about the biggest challenges of AI implementation, 28% of HR leaders mentioned compliance with data protection laws (e.g., HIPAA) and 25% mentioned ethical concerns about AI use 6 . HR is responsible for protecting and managing employees. When combined with IT’s expertise in security and protection, these challenges remain a priority and are effectively managed throughout large-scale AI rollouts. Another shared bet is skilling. IT is positioned to provide user guides and technical walkthroughs for new technology. HR provides support from a skills perspective, providing deep expertise in learning motivation and efficacy, along with resources for large-scale development programs. By leveraging the unique strengths of both HR and IT, organizations effectively address challenges and drive successful AI transformation. Know, however, that success for this partnership requires equitable access to AI tools and resources for both business units. Access to organization-sponsored AI tools continues to be a differentiator for value realization While the majority of HR and IT employees use AI at least once a week (66% of HR and 75% of IT), organization-sponsored access to AI tools and technologies isn’t equal. When asked how many of the AI tools they use at work are sponsored by their organization, 72% of IT employees reported that their organization provides all or most of the AI tools they use. Only 59% of HR employees reported the same. With half of HR employees having to BYOAI (bring your own AI) to work, this doesn’t allow organizations to capitalize on the benefits of strategic AI adoption at scale 7 , such as ROI tracking and centralized training programs. HR employees also report seeing less success stories circulated around their function. While 77% of IT employees feel inspired by stories of people successfully using AI at work, only 68% of HR employees feel the same. When employees are given the space and resources to experiment, it fuels a virtuous loop where more experimentation creates more realized value, which in turn leads to more experimentation, etc 8 . Access is a propellant of adoption and realized value. We researched a set of positive outcomes of AI adoption, called RIVA, or Realized Individual Value of AI. RIVA encapsulates various ways that an employee can see a direct impact of AI use in their day-to-day work. When we break out HR and IT employees with “all or most” of their AI tools provided by their organization versus “some or none” of their AI tools provided by their organization, the difference in RIVA is clear. For both HR and IT employees with high access to organization-sponsored AI tools, more than 75% report all six RIVA outcomes, ranging from stress reduction to faster task completion. When that access is low, reported RIVA drops by up to 17%. Organization-sponsored tools likely come with leadership support, training, scenario libraries, and other resources that help employees capture value sooner. But without those scaled rollout benefits, employees are left on their own to navigate the changing workplace and to not get left behind. To drive a strong collaboration between HR & IT, AI access for both functions should be a foundational step. We see across these groups that while the direct benefits of using AI are easiest to realize (e.g. AI helps complete tasks faster), the more subtle benefits are the hardest to achieve (e.g. AI helps make better decisions or reduces overall work stress). For example, we see high reported task speed improvement for employees even with low access, likely due to BYOAI tools being simple to apply to direct situations. However, for true AI transformation, the goal is to tackle those transformative use cases, where day-to-day no longer looks the same as it did a few years ago (or even last week). The greater the organization-sponsored access, the better the chance of creating impact for both HR & IT employees, which positions them to be a driving force of organization-wide transformation. Lean into HR and IT collaboration to accelerate AI transformation Bringing together HR and IT for AI transformation strengthens the impact and value that your organization gets from investing in AI technologies and tools. Their skillsets are ideal to work in tandem to ensure that the proper systems in place and the workforce is ready to adopt them. We offer three recommendations on how to lean into this partnership: ensure equitable resources, increase experimentation and sharing, and leverage HR to get closer to employees. Ensure equitable cross-functional training and resourcing Training and development are key to learning any new technology. According to the World Economic Forum, only 35% of employees are trained and knowledgeable in AI 9 . Within our sample, while 73% of HR employees and 80% of IT employees reported that they were adequately trained in AI and understand how to use it in their work, only 22% and 31% strongly agreed to this, respectively. We may see discrepancies in how much training an employee thinks they need, versus how much more they could have when training is invested in and centralized. As IT is front and center in the AI transformation, their educational opportunities are likely the highest. For HR, however, 40% of HR leaders say a lack of resources (e.g., time, money, staff) is the biggest barrier to AI implementation 6 . This holds HR back from evolving beyond tactical use cases into strategic use cases, where they need investment in AI-based data and technology competences 10 . With the right resources, HR can take the lead role in a partnership with IT to identify organization-wide skill gaps and training needs. Increase experimentation and sharing between peers, teams, and business units The more opportunities employees have to experiment with AI, the better they get and the more value they see. As we’ve seen, however, some departments are better set up to lean into these processes. Large differences in AI adoption can create in-group/out-group mentalities that drive business silos and create limitations in data and information sharing, scaling AI technology, and cross-functional collaboration 11 . These are critical components of a successful AI transformation, where AI is optimized throughout the organization. In addition to finding balance in AI opportunities cross-functionally, seek to improve the effectiveness of collaboration and the culture of sharing. Design inclusive, common languages between functional teams that help bridge the gap between tech and non-tech teams 11 . Create communities or forums where employees across the organization can share quick tips, prompts, or use cases that helped them realize deeper value in AI 12 . Spin up a HR and IT taskforce dedicated to cross-pollination of resources focused on AI adoption. All these initiatives can help bring your teams closer together. Leverage HR to bring employees closer to and more invested in AI transformation With AI advancements moving quicker than any previous technology at work, it can be overwhelming to keep up and employees may feel this snowball effect of being "prepared enough.” Employees may feel uncertain about how to get involved and upskilled with AI and may feel anxious about their future. HR is uniquely positioned to help employees feel grounded and informed. Organizations at the forefront of AI adoption are 2.5x as likely to have HR involve employees in identifying tasks, roles, and processes suitable for automation 13 . HR provides a direct line to the employee voice and employee input. Not only can HR directly influence IT’s implementation strategy and priorities but it can strengthen employees’ adoption tendencies. HR and IT can collaborate on measuring AI transformation success through employee technology behaviors and employee sentiment feedback. Bringing these functions together maximizes AI implementation and ROI measurement capabilities. Learn more about how HR and IT can measure readiness, adoption, and impact of AI solutions (like Copilot) throught our Copilot Measurement Playbook. A dynamic collaboration between HR and IT departments drives successful AI transformation. IT's central role in technology and HR's focus on your people creates a powerful synergy, leading to effective AI implementation and workforce integration. By fostering cross-functional training, experimentation, and collaboration, organizations can unlock the full potential of AI, enhancing both employee adoption and realized value of AI. Stay tuned for our April Research Drop to keep up with what the People Science team is learning! 1 MIT Sloan Management Review. (November 11, 2024). Learning to manage uncertainty, with AI. 2 Forbes. (February 11, 2025). IT isn't the new HR, and AI shouldn't be leading your team. 3 Microsoft People Science Research analyzing 413 global employees in HR & IT based on our larger April 2024 AI Readiness Study dataset. Note: participants were asked to respond to questions around “generative artificial intelligence” which has been shortened to “AI” for the sake of this blog. 4 Deloitte. (December 11, 2024). IT, amplified: AI elevates the reach (and remit) of the tech function. 5 Mercer. (2025). Generative AI will transform three key HR roles. 6 SHRM. (January 9, 2025). There's still time to revolutionize HR with AI. 7 Microsoft WorkLab. (May 2024). 2024 Work Trend Index Annual Report. 8 Microsoft People Science. (April 2024). The state of AI change readiness: Accelerating AI transformation through employee experience. 9 World Economic Forum. (January 16, 2025). Unlocking human potential: Building a responsible AI-ready workforce for the future. 10 Forbes. (January 22, 2025). 3 ways HR leaders can look inward to prepare for upheaval in 2025. 11 Harvard Business Review. (May-June 2024). For success with AI, bring everyone on board. 12 Microsoft WorkLab. (February 2025). When it comes to AI, don’t build ‘Island of Intelligence.’ 13 i4cp. (January 23, 2025). Report: Workforce readiness in the era of AI.
