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When we asked thousands of employees about their expectations from their managers, the results were telling. Employees expect their managers to build strong relationships within the team and with key stakeholders, including senior leadership. These expectations are not just about task completion—they are about the interpersonal dynamics that shape the work environment. 

Interestingly, our AI-powered models identified one of the most critical expectations: “Advocacy with senior management.” This shows that even technical experts are expected to act as people managers by advocating for their teams and fostering an open line of communication with senior leadership. It’s clear—no one is exempt from this responsibility.

The role of a people manager goes far beyond team morale—it is directly linked to key organizational outcomes. In fact, our “State of Managers Report 2024” highlights some staggering statistics: 

• Employee Retention: 71% of employees decide to stay or leave their organization based on their experience with their manager. Specifically, 51% choose to stay because of their manager’s effectiveness. 

• Team Effectiveness: Teams led by effective people managers are 5 times more likely to stay with the organization compared to those led by ineffective managers. 

• Leadership Development: Great managers groom future leaders. This creates a cascading effect, ensuring strong leadership across all levels of the organization. 

These insights underscore the fact that people management is a crucial lever for organizational success.

The key takeaway for CEOs, CHROs, and organizational leaders is that focusing on developing people managers at all levels should be a top priority. It’s no longer enough to just develop senior leaders. Effective people management must be ingrained at every level of the organization. 

Most importantly, the highest focus should be on managerial roles that traditionally weren’t associated with human resources. These are the roles that need a thorough assessment of people manager effectiveness. The shift from outdated leadership models to more inclusive, impact-driven leadership is essential. Whether it’s a senior executive or a manager of a small team, both need the tools, training, and support to excel as people managers. 

At Great Manager Institute®, we specialize in building, nurturing, and recognizing people managers who can transform their organizations. Our approach combines cutting-edge tools and deep insights to help organizations invest in their managers effectively. 

When you invest in people managers, you’re not just investing in individual performance. You’re investing in the future of your entire organization—its culture, its people, and its long-term success. 

Because, at the end of the day, great people managers drive great business results. 

While engagement surveys give us valuable insights, they are inherently reactive. They measure what employees feel but fail to address why they feel that way. Are employees engaged because of good leadership? Or is it the result of extrinsic factors like perks or external market conditions?

Here are some critical shortcomings of engagement surveys that leave a gap in understanding:

1. Surface-Level Insights: Engagement surveys tell us how employees feel, but they don’t answer the crucial question: why do they feel that way? For example, if employees report high engagement, engagement surveys don’t pinpoint whether this is due to effective leadership, team dynamics, or other non-managerial factors.
2. Lack of Actionability: A survey might tell you that employees feel engaged, but it often doesn’t reveal the specific actions that can make employees feel even more engaged or, conversely, what might be contributing to disengagement. It becomes hard to derive actionable insights that can directly drive improvements in leadership or performance.
3. One-Dimensional Focus: Engagement is a broad measure. It captures overall sentiment but doesn’t segment the drivers of engagement or explore the key role of people managers. It ignores how individual managers are directly influencing engagement levels within their teams.
4. No Clear Link to Business Outcomes: Engagement surveys measure feelings, but they don’t always show the link to tangible business outcomes like performance, retention, or sales growth. For CEOs and CXOs, this is a critical blind spot. Engagement is important, but without understanding the root causes of engagement, organizations struggle to translate engagement into sustained success.

The gap between engagement surveys and business performance lies in the managerial influence—the one factor that has the most direct impact on engagement, performance, and retention. 

The truth is, employees don’t engage with a company—they engage with their managers. According to the 2024 State of Managers Report, 70% of employees say their relationship with their direct manager is the primary reason they stay with or leave an organization. A great manager can inspire, motivate, and engage employees in a way that a generic engagement survey cannot. 

What organizations need isn’t just an engagement survey—it’s a tool to measure and enhance the effectiveness of their people managers. And that’s where PMES (People Manager Effectiveness Survey) fills the gap. 

The People Manager Effectiveness Survey (PMES) shifts the focus from measuring employee sentiment to understanding the behaviors, practices, and leadership styles that drive engagement and performance. It’s a powerful tool that does three things: 

1. It Measures Managerial Behaviors: PMES doesn’t just assess how employees feel—it evaluates how their managers’ behaviors impact those feelings. The survey looks at how well managers connect with, develop, and inspire their teams, providing data-backed insights into their leadership effectiveness. 

1. It Provides Actionable Insights: Unlike engagement surveys, which leave organizations with vague feedback, PMES provides specific, actionable insights. Managers receive customized feedback on their strengths and areas for growth, from communication styles to decision-making processes, to improve team engagement and performance. 

1. It Directly Links Leadership to Business Outcomes: PMES has been shown to have a direct correlation with critical business outcomes. According to the 2024 State of Managers Report, organizations with effective managers see: 

• 19% reduction in attrition 

• 3x increase in employee engagement 

• 22% increase in performance ratings 

• 14% higher sales growth 

• 15% increase in employee retention 

These numbers speak volumes. When managers are equipped to lead with empathy, clarity, and support, business outcomes improve significantly. By focusing on people manager effectiveness, organizations can achieve better employee satisfaction, improved performance, and a more productive workforce. 

For CEOs and CXOs, the importance of investing in people manager effectiveness cannot be overstated. When people managers are effective, they create a ripple effect across the entire organization. Their ability to connect with and develop their teams directly impacts retention, engagement, and ultimately, business performance. 

Here’s why this matters: 

• Improved Employee Retention: A key finding from the 2024 State of Managers Report is that employees who feel their managers are ineffective are 64% more likely to leave the company. By investing in developing effective people managers, organizations can drastically improve retention. 

• Better Succession Planning: PMES enables organizations to identify potential leaders early, ensuring that there is a strong leadership pipeline for the future. This leads to higher internal promotion rates—with companies seeing 28% higher internal promotions when they focus on leadership development. 

• Enhanced Organizational Culture: The 2024 State of Managers Report also emphasizes that organizations with highly effective managers are twice as likely to be recognized as the best places to work. This highlights the critical role of people managers in shaping the culture and driving employee satisfaction.
  

In conclusion, while engagement surveys serve as an important tool for gauging employee sentiment, they miss the mark when it comes to understanding the drivers of engagement. PMES fills this gap by focusing directly on managerial effectiveness, which is proven to have a direct impact on engagement, retention, performance, and sales growth. 

For CEOs, CXOs, and business leaders, adopting PMES is a strategic step toward sustaining growth, improving employee retention, and driving better business results. By investing in the development of effective people managers, organizations not only improve engagement but also align their leadership practices with long-term business objectives. 

The data is clear—organizations that prioritize managerial effectiveness will see a 22% improvement in performance ratings, a 14% increase in sales, and a 19% reduction in attrition. It’s time to go beyond engagement surveys and focus on the real drivers of organizational success: the people managers who lead the way. 

What Our Data Shows:
📌 CXOs who rank high in people management effectiveness tend to be highly competent, but many fall into the category of Silent Operators—executing well but not communicating their work extensively.
📌 This pattern is consistent across senior management, where clarity and visibility need more focus despite high competence levels. 

Key Takeaways for CXOs:
✔️ Execution alone isn’t enough- perception of leadership effectiveness depends on how well leaders communicate impact.
✔️ Silent Operators must be identified and coached—top performers who lack communication clarity can benefit from structured visibility strategies.
✔️ Leadership messaging should be intentional, ensuring that clarity of vision and execution aligns across the organization. 

🛠 How CXOs Can Apply This:
✅ Implement structured communication channels to ensure key decisions, progress, and strategic priorities are well-articulated.
✅ Build leadership programs that coach highly competent leaders in strategic visibility.
✅ Use people management effectiveness analytics to monitor communication gaps in leadership teams. 

What Our Data Shows:
📌 First-time managers display a very different pattern: many rank as Passive Sharers or Silent Operators—meaning that even those with high potential might not be fully prepared for leadership transparency.
📌 While execution and competence improve over time, the early-stage gap in communication skills can slow down decision-making and team alignment. 

Why This Matters for Business Leaders:
✔️ Frontline managers directly impact team productivity—their ability to execute AND communicate with reliability defines team clarity.
✔️ New managers need structured development—since they often excel in execution but lack leadership communication experience.
✔️ Investing in frontline leadership development reduces long-term communication inefficiencies, and enhances more reliability over time 

🛠 How Organisations Can Apply This:
✅ Design first-time manager training programs that integrate execution excellence with structured and reliable communication coaching.
✅ Create feedback loops where frontline leaders receive regular coaching on transparency and clarity in leadership messaging.
✅ Leverage data-driven leadership insights to track improvement in manager communication reliability and effectiveness over time.

 

4.Leadership Transparency as a Business Tool

People management effectiveness is not just about individual leadership skills—it is a business performance driver. Our research highlights how clarity in leadership communication can impact business decision-making: 

📌 High-performing organizations prioritize structured communication—ensuring that decisions, strategy, and execution plans are well understood across teams.
📌 People management effectiveness metrics help predict leadership success—companies that track these insights gain a competitive advantage in leadership planning.
📌 CXOs who bridge the gap between execution and transparency create stronger, more aligned leadership teams. 

How Business Leaders Can Leverage This Research:
✔️ Use data-driven leadership insights to track how different managerial styles impact communication clarity and decision-making.
✔️ Ensure high-potential leaders are not just competent but also visible and clear in their messaging.
✔️ Adopt structured coaching programs, especially for first time managers, that enhance leadership transparency without compromising execution efficiency. 

 

Final Thought: People Management as a Strategic Lever

 

Our findings reaffirm that leadership effectiveness is as much about clarity as it is about competence. Through structured leadership analytics, companies can identify and develop managers who are not just great at executing but also at driving transparency and trust. 

At Great Manager Institute®, we continue to push the boundaries of research in people management—helping businesses use leadership insights as a strategic advantage. 

💡 The future of leadership is data-driven. How is your organization leveraging leadership transparency to drive success? 

While these action areas by the great managers are the most appreciated, some of them are also seen in the other managers. Hence, we decided to decode what are the most differentiating action areas, as demonstrated by great managers while not being common amongst others.

If we identify these areas, managers can design various actions around how they work with their team members, by deriving inspirations from the same.

We realized actions that demonstrate consistency in their behaviors, along with activities that try to build a culture of innovation, are some of the biggest differentiating actions by the great managers

This analysis creates a template for various people managers, that they look at their superpowers and weaknesses in terms of their behavior, and design action plans to work on these behaviors, while enhancing these plans with the aforementioned  reas that are the most appreciated for great managers.

Mr Gaurav Terdal, CHRO, SMFG India Credit

Q1. How does SMFG India Credit’s dual-hub strategy align with the company’s broader goals?

SMFG India Credit has strategically positioned its operations across two vital hubs, Mumbai and Chennai. This model combines the skilled workforce offered by both these cities and build a future-ready organization. While Mumbai, being a financial and business hub, provides strategic leadership capabilities, Chennai, known for its cost-efficient operations, focuses primarily on executing key back-office and mid-office functions with precision and scalability.

Our dual-hub strategy is a key pillar in supporting us with our Business Continuity Plan, ensuring that critical business functions can continue uninterrupted in the face of unforeseen challenges. By aligning teams across both these hubs, we have enabled seamless collaboration, thus ensuring enhanced execution across various functions. This strategy not only drives operational efficiency but also strengthens our ability to adapt to market demands while fostering innovation and sustainable growth.

Q2. How is SMFG India Credit building a future-ready workforce, aided by this dual-hub strategy?

SMFG India Credit is focused on hiring professionals with advanced certifications and strong digital skills to meet industry demands. We are expanding technology and assurance functions across both locations, emphasizing roles in IT, cybersecurity, risk management, and compliance. This expansion strengthens the company’s risk management practices and boosts its technological capabilities to stay ahead of industry trends.

Our support for the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS), a government initiative, includes providing employment opportunities to fresh graduates. By inducting them into our Operations team in Chennai, we are committed to fostering young talent and contributing to the national objective of enhancing employability among the youth.

Moreover, our strong value system runs consistently across Mumbai and Chennai. Employees have access to wellness practices, talent engagement interventions, and continuous learning opportunities, ensuring employees can grow and advance in their careers.

Q3. Why does it make business sense to have SMFG India Credit’s headquarters and Centre of Excellence in Mumbai?

As a prominent non-banking finance company, positioning our leadership talent in Mumbai, India’s financial epicenter, significantly bolsters our ability to effectively liaise with regulatory bodies, key partners, rating agencies and lenders. Furthermore, Mumbai’s vibrant professional environment and top-tier educational institutions contribute to a strong leadership pipeline, ensuring effective succession planning and the continuous development of our leadership bench.

The company’s operation in Mumbai is supported by modern infrastructure designed to enhance teamwork and innovation. The corporate office at Maker Maxity in Bandra Kurla Complex hosts senior leadership, while the Centre of Excellence comprises over 2,300 employees situated in a sprawling 1.94 lakh square feet facility at Embassy 247 in Vikhroli. Equipped with advanced technology and collaborative workspaces, these offices enable efficient operations which helps us to drive growth and maintain our position as one of the leading companies in the NBFC space.

Q4. How does SMFG India Credit’s new Centre of Excellence in Chennai contribute to its operational excellence and growth strategy?

The Chennai Center for Operational Excellence plays a pivotal role in our operations. Located at Commerzone IT Park in Porur, this extensive 70,000 square foot facility houses over 700 employees. It specializes in critical back-office and mid-office functions including Operations, Contact Center, and Expense Processing Unit. The skilled workforce in Chennai excels in supporting these essential functions with remarkable precision and efficiency.

The Chennai hub also helps us meet our business needs by providing cost-efficient operations while maintaining high-quality standards.This allows the company to scale its support functions effectively. Additionally, the facility’s modern infrastructure and work environment foster productivity and innovation, helping the company deliver seamless services and keep pace with evolving industry demands.

Q5. How does SMFG India Credit support employee well-being and development while driving organizational success?

SMFG India Credit provides continuous learning opportunities, including training, certifications, and leadership development. We support career progression, helping employees enhance their skills and advance to leadership roles. To strengthen the portfolios of our leadership, we have executive development programs in partnership with premier institutes such as the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta and the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA). Our Accelerated Leadership Program provides a platform for mid-level managers to enhance strategic thinking and situational leadership, while our STEP – Great Manager Program has trained 1000+ managers so far, with 80% certified as ‘Great People Managers’. We also have targeted leadership programs to empower our women leaders, such as ‘1000 Women Leaders Program’ and XLRI’s ‘Upsurge’. Additionally, we leverage platforms like EDx for virtual learning and provide self-paced learning options for employees.

At SMFG India Credit, employee well-being is equally prioritized, supported by initiatives such as the Employee Assistance Program (EAP), mental health support, wellness workshops, and paid health check-ups. Additionally, we have a medical center in our Mumbai COE staffed with doctors and nurses from reputed hospitals in Mumbai, ensuring high-quality healthcare for our employees. Our facilities also include a gymnasium, promoting physical fitness and overall wellness.

We foster a strong culture of recognition through programs like the CEO Awards, STAR Awards, and SPARK Spot Recognition, honoring individual and team achievements.

The company’s commitment to creating a Great Place to Work is reflected in its six consecutive years of recognition, alongside accolades such as ET Future Ready Organization (FY24-25) and ET Awards for Best DEI Practices.

These holistic approaches ensure that employees feel valued and supported while contributing to the company’s long-term success.

Amit Srivastava, Group CEO, Remsons Industries Ltd. is a recognized Great Manager to Work WithTM and is exemplifying leadership development and people manager upskilling at Remsons. This interview reflects on his outlook on people manager effectiveness in a changing professional world.

People Development:

• How do you ensure that your people development efforts align with the overall strategy and goals of the company?

At Remsons, our culture is rooted in empowerment, transparency, and continuous growth. We emphasize a performance-driven approach that aligns with our strategy and goals.

Clear communication of our vision and strategic objectives is integral to our efforts. We begin by embedding our people development initiatives into the core of our strategic framework, ensuring that every initiative is purpose-driven and aligned with our long-term objectives.

To ensure alignment between our learning and development (L&D) initiatives and business priorities, we maintain an open dialogue with our leadership teams. This collaboration helps us identify the critical skills necessary to navigate the ever-evolving business landscape.

Additionally, we invest in leadership development to empower our leaders to effectively advance our strategic vision.

Measurable outcomes are key to our success. We establish Key Result Areas (KRAs) and monitor Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) on a quarterly basis, which are directly tied to our company’s objectives, ensuring that every effort contributes to tangible progress.

By fostering cross-departmental and interplant collaboration, we facilitate the sharing of insights and best practices, reinforcing our organizational objectives.

Through these initiatives, we foster a workforce that is adaptable, agile, and aligned with the company’s goals, positioning Remsons for long-term sustainability and success, driven by our people development effort to align with the company strategy.

Culture of Ownership:

• What steps have you taken to create a culture of ownership across the organization, and can you provide an example where this culture directly impacted business outcomes?

One of the key to this transformation was the introduction of Strategic Business Units (SBUs), which turned each plant into an independent profit centre, creating more ownership and accountability at all levels. The company also focused on building a culture of trust and transparency, with regular communication from leadership, such as town halls, which kept employees aligned with company goals. To make it attractive we introduced Performance Linked Incentives at all level of employees.

I personally, take mentoring sessions every quarter to guide the employees on long-term goals, business strategies and accelerate leadership development amongst them.

Role of CEO/Leaders in Culture:

• How do you ensure that company values are not just words on a wall, but are actively reflected in leadership behaviors and decision-making?

I firmly believe in “walk the talk” and leading by example. I ensure that our company values are reflected in leadership behaviors and decision-making by consistently demonstrating these values myself, setting the tone for the entire organization. I lead from the front, making sure our values are integrated into every aspect of our operations, from performance evaluations to recognition programs. By embedding these values in our hiring practices and leadership development, I ensure they are a core part of our culture and guide decision-making at all levels.

Transformation or Sustenance Journey

• Can you share an example of a time when your company underwent a major transformation, and what role you played in guiding that process?

In 2018, when I joined Remsons, I took on the challenge of transforming the family-driven business into a professionally managed organization. During the COVID pandemic, while many companies were struggling with cash flow issues, we boldly rebranded our 50-year-old legacy. This comprehensive rebranding effort involved revisiting our logo, vision, mission, and value statements. Furthermore, we advanced our expansion plans by acquiring Magal UK (now Remsons Automotive UK), which helped us increase our presence in the European market. We also invested in a state-of-the-art new plant in Pune Chakan, marking the transition from Remsons 1.0 to Remsons Avatar 2.0.

All these initiatives contributed to giving Remsons a fresh image that has been well received by our stakeholders.

• What is one piece of advice you have for young professionals aspiring to be leaders like you?

I advise young professionals aspiring to be leaders to embrace agility and innovation. We live in an age of unprecedented disruptions driven by technology as well as climate challenges. From COVID-19 and technological advancements like AI and robotics to issues such as global warming and geopolitical instability, these rapid changes demand leaders who can pivot quickly, learn continuously, and remain resilient in the face of uncertainty. Embrace change, be open to innovation, and cultivate the ability to adapt in real-time. The future of leadership will be defined by those who can navigate disruptions with a forward-thinking mindset and drive transformation while maintaining a strong sense of purpose. The twenty-first century presents unprecedented opportunities for anyone with the mentality of an explorer and the skill set of a change-maker.