Talent Tools For Managers

Managers or Supervisors live in the middle of the organizational hierarchy. Sandwiched directly below the Leaders of an organization who cascade the vision and strategy, and above the Individual Contributors whom they must ensure execute appropriately. This organizational level comes with some of the most challenging requirements needed to thrive. The Knowledge, Skills, and Attributes (KSAs) that allow one to succeed as an Individual Contributor simply do not work anymore as a Manager. What Roles does a Manager need to focus on fulfilling? What Practices and Behaviors must a Manager express that delivers success? How can a Manager develop toward increased effectiveness? Our Talent Tools for Managers answer all of the questions and more.

KSAM (Knowledge, Skills and Attributes of Manager/Supervisors) uses a framework that is evidence based, and experience tested to ensure practitioners have reliable tools to select, develop, deploy, promote, provide feedback, and support teamwork for Managers or Supervisors.

To upskill your career, and gain access to use and purchase the tools below, register for our Virtual Certification Workshops on our Events Calendar.

Manager and Supervisor Development Guides

Manager DIY Development Guide: Develop It Yourself

DDIY is available as a printed guide, or as a digital experience via DIY Digital, designed specifically to be the “go-to guide” for Managers to develop in the 11 Roles and 30 Practices that increase effectiveness.

Roles and Practices will vary in importance from organization to organization, so having a guide that allows rapid access to what matters is vital. This guide includes: The Domain of the Practice, Why the Practice is Important, Behaviors of the Practice, Where the Practice fits in the work of the Manager, How to measure performance in the Practice, What can happen when the Practice is done poorly, Brain insights from recent neuroscience to help develop the Practice, and Development Tips.

Hello! Interview Flip Book for Managers

Designed to stand on your desk, this flipbook has the essential questions and probes and the scorecard for each Role and Practice of the KSAM library.

While KSAM Hello! provides all of the developmental background on each of the Roles and Practices, the Flipbook is to provide the prompts to aid an interview on those Roles and Practices for which talent is sought.

Hello! Interview Guide for Managers

Everyone wants to recruit and hire Managers that add immediate value. However, successfully recruiting and hiring winning Managers is not easy!

KSAM Hello! provides you with a comprehensive and easy to use interview guide with all the tools you need to increase your probability of hiring winners every time. These tools support your ability to conduct four effective interviews that focus on Culture Fit, Functional and Technical Skills, Candidate Potential, and a primary focus on the candidate’s ability to fulfill the needed Roles, Practices, and Behaviors of effective Managers in your organization.

Manager 360 Assessment

We have developed a comprehensive suite of assessment tools to facilitate Manager development including our 360 Assessments to provide well-rounded development feedback that fuels performance.

  • The Placemat Highlight Report – The highest and lowest overall ratings of the selected Practices and Roles
  • The KSAM Summary Report – Summary of the highest and lowest ratings of the Roles and Practices
  • The KSAM Roles and Practices Detail Report – View all of the data with the exception of the written comments. Each Role and Practice selected for the assessment is presented with all of the averages across groups
  • The KSAM Written Comments Report – View of the written comments verbatim, without reference to source or position in the organization
  • The KSAM Combination Report – Combination of all of the four reports into one

We can be your vendor for implementing 360 Surveys from our KSA (Knowledge, Skills, and Attributes) Libraries, complete with managing the survey, reporting, and coaching. We can also certify your development staff to have full access to the suite of tools for operational control as well as interpret and deliver feedback on reports.

Manager Development Tools

Manager Diagnostic Placemats

Placemats allow the user to have rapid access to an overview of the KSAM information in easy to access format. Placemats have been designed in several ways to meet your needs and come in both color and black and white versions.

SIDE A/B – Accessible Overview of the library of Roles and Practices and a Review of Developmental Difficulty of all Practices
SIDE C/D – User friendly view of how each Role connects to the Practices and identification of the mission critical Practices for success
SIDE E/F – At a glance view of how all Practices can be leveraged to build your career through assignments accompanied with definitions of Career Assignment

Manager Performance Library Sort Cards

Practices will vary in importance from organization to organization. Sort cards immerse decision-makers into exercises that put the science directly in their hands in order to determine what is most important in the organizational context.

What Practices are most important to your role/job/function/organization today? What are the Practices that will be needed to support the organization’s future state? These common questions can be answered with the tangible use of sorting cards. The outcome? Solid plans that can be implemented throughout a talent system.

Mergers and Acquisitions Analytical Map

Mergers and Acquisitions Analytical Map provides solutions for leading and managing for success. Most Mergers or Acquisitions fail to achieve their desired outcomes because of issues in the financial analysis and cultural integration that needs to occur to maximize the goal of the purchase.

This analytical map provides sequential definitions of roles and tasks for successful Mergers and Acquisitions. The link to the specific Practices of Leaders and Managers means that an assessment, alignment, and development plan can be used. With the use of DIY: Develop It Your Self, action tips for the specific critical Practices are available. The Hello! Interview Guide means you can methodically select those most suited for this kind of work.

Tally Sheets and Posters: Manager Performance Library

Let’s be honest. Your desk can get messy. When engaging with our sort cards exercises, Tally Sheets provide a clean framework for recording the insights that you discover. Tally Sheets allow decision-makers to jump from sorting exercises to analysis, to action planning and come in both Role Tally Sheets and Practice Tally Sheets.