It's the Manager: Moving From Boss to Coach

Who will lead your workforce during rapid change? Gallup research reveals: It’s the manager.

While the world’s workplace has been going through historic change, the practice of management has been stuck in time for decades. The new workforce — especially younger generations — wants their work to have deep mission and purpose. They don’t want old-style command-and-control bosses. They want coaches who inspire them, communicate with them frequently and develop their strengths.

Who is the most important person in your organization to lead your teams through these changes? Decades of global Gallup research reveal: It’s your managers. They are the ones who make or break your organization’s success.

Packed with 52 discoveries from Gallup’s largest study of the future of work, It’s the Manager shows leaders and managers how to adapt their organizations to rapid change — from new workplace demands to the challenges of managing remote employees, the rise of artificial intelligence, gig workers, and attracting and keeping today’s best employees.

Great managers maximize the potential of every team member and drive your organization’s growth. And they give every one of your employees what they want most: a great job and a great life. This is the future of work.

It’s the Manager includes a unique code to take the CliftonStrengths assessment, which reveals your top five strengths, as well as supplemental content available on Gallup’s online workplace platform.

Jim Clifton is Chairman of Gallup and bestselling author of Born to Build, The Coming Jobs War, Wellbeing at Work and the #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller It’s the Manager. He is the creator of The Gallup Path, a metric-based economic model that shows the role human nature plays in business outcomes. This model is used in performance management systems in more than 500 companies worldwide. His most recent innovation, the Gallup World Poll, is designed to give the world’s 7 billion citizens a voice on virtually all key global issues. Under his leadership, Gallup has expanded from a predominantly U.S.-based company to a worldwide organization with 40 offices in 30 countries and regions.

Jim Harter, Ph.D., is Chief Scientist, Workplace for Gallup and bestselling coauthor of Culture Shock, Wellbeing at Work, It’s the Manager, 12: The Elements of Great Managing and Wellbeing: The Five Essential Elements. His research is also featured in the groundbreaking New York Times bestseller, First, Break All the Rules. Dr. Harter has led more than 1,000 studies of workplace effectiveness, including the largest ongoing meta-analysis of human potential and business unit performance. His work has also appeared in many publications, including Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, and in many prominent academic journals.