Go beyond traditional training by building an ‘ecosystem’ for manager development

Why a culture of continuous learning, support, and connection is the new strategic imperative

In today's fast-paced, always-on business environment, one truth holds steady: Managers make or break the employee experience. According to Gallup, they account for over 70% of employee engagement, and that engagement directly impacts productivity, retention, and culture. Employees who are engaged are two times more productive than non-engaged employees and they drive 23% more profitability. So, the question isn’t if we should invest in managers — it’s how.

The answer lies in building a manager development ecosystem — one that goes beyond traditional training and instead creates a culture of continuous learning, support, and connection.

The ecosystem starts with getting clear on what is expected of managers and helping them to assess their competence and confidence. Then  it moves to creating meaningful moments of learning, followed by encouraging practice and real-world application, and rounded out by enabling a thriving manager community.

Let’s break that down.

Start with assessment: Every development journey begins with awareness — and for managers, that means understanding both how they see themselves and how their teams experience them.

Managers often overestimate how trusted or effective they are — by up to 40%. This gap is where meaningful growth begins. (Leadership IQ)

Think about assessment in two ways:

• Manager self-assessment: What is their level of confidence and competence in the key moments we expect them to take action?
• Team Assessment: How supported do their teams feel in the moments that matter for them?

Learning assessments bring clarity. They surface blind spots, highlight areas of strength, and provide a baseline to measure growth. They should be used as a development tool to help build a plan and track progress, not as a yardstick by which to measure one against another. They give managers a starting point to track their progress.

Create meaningful learning moments: Focus on building needed skills in the flow of work. Once you know what to focus on, the next step is providing the learning. Provide clarity on what the expectation looks like and what skills and behaviors are needed to excel. Provide the learning in a way that fits the manager, their role, and their environment.

Think about the amount of time a manager can devote to learning given their role constraints, for example:

• 60–90-minute skill lab delivered virtually focused on one topic
• Multi-day immersive experience focused on two-three topics
• Self-paced micro-learning, 10 minutes a day over 30 days focused on multiple topics

When it comes to learning methods, a one-size-fits-all approach ends up fitting no one. Get clear on what their day-to-day reality is, then design something that fits into their schedule. Be intentional about the experience you want your managers to have – seamless integration, a step outside the day job, or an unplug and deep focus. 

Encourage practice and application: We learn by doing and reflecting and then doing again and reflecting and doing... A question at the core of your learning philosophy should be, "How do we help our managers practice and apply what they have learned to drive meaningful change in their behavior?"

The important thing here is we know that managers are busy. Time away from day-to-day work is limited. This is where daily micro-learning comes in. Managers need a way to practice the learning in action and build a habit around it. Micro-learning and habit-building promote reinforcement and extend the learning beyond the moment to drive a new way of doing things for managers.

People forget up to 40% of new information within 20 minutes of learning it. (Herman Ebbinghaus, 1885)  

Micro-learning keeps skills top of mind long after the learning ends. It helps reduce the "forgetting curve."

Enable a thriving community: Learning is social. Even the best-designed learning intervention falls short without one essential ingredient: connection. People learn better when they do it together. That’s why your ecosystem must include manager communities — peer-led spaces where managers share best practices, bring challenges, swap strategies, and learn from each other.

Manager communities:

• Boost manager engagement
• Build a support network beyond the organization chart
• Decrease reliance on HR by encouraging peer-led problem solving
• Scale knowledge-sharing and keep momentum going long after training

Managers are 25% more engaged when they are part of an active peer community. (Gallup)

Best-practice organizations see the benefits of manager communities: Google, Cisco, eBay, and many more are leveraging the collective experience of their managers to raise confidence and capability across their entire manager populations.

Data makes everything better: Data is essential in a manager ecosystem because it turns development from guesswork into strategy. By capturing insights throughout the learning cycle, you can pinpoint skill gaps, track progress, and measure impact over time.

Data enables managers to understand how they're truly showing up—versus how they think they are—and helps organizations prioritize the right interventions. Without data, you can’t personalize learning, scale what works, or prove return on investment. With it, you create accountability, transparency, and momentum. Simply put: Data makes growth visible, actionable, and sustainable—fueling smarter decisions and better leadership at every level.

In summary:

The world of work is evolving fast. Constant change, hybrid teams, shifting expectations, the rise of loneliness, and increasing burnout are the new reality. Managers sit at the intersection of it all — culture, performance, engagement, and wellbeing.

Nearly three-quarters of employers acknowledge the need to redefine the role of managers, yet only 7% say they are making meaningful progress toward addressing the issue. (Deloitte Human Capital Trends Report)

A manager development ecosystem — one that meets managers where they are and grows with them — is no longer a "nice to have." It’s a strategic imperative.

Ready to build your own manager ecosystem? Explore how The Manager Lab powered by our thought leader partners at 1st90 can support your organization with an innovative and interactive manager ecosystem focused on building essential manager skills in the flow of work. Contact us or talk to your Advantage partner!