As you can see, being a manager is both challenging and exciting! One thing we know for sure is that managers do matter to organizations. The Gallup Organization, which has polled millions of employees and tens of thousands of managers, has found that the single most important variable in employee productivity and loyalty isn’t pay or benefits or workplace environment; it’s the quality of the relationship between employees and their direct supervisors. Gallup also found that employees’ relationship with their manager is the largest factor in employee engagement—which is when employees are connected to, satisfied with, and enthusiastic about their jobs—accounting for at least 70 percent of an employee’s level of engagement.35 And Gallup found that when companies increase their number of talented managers and double the rate of engaged employees, their EPS (earnings per share) is 147 percent higher than their competitors.36 That’s significant! This same research also showed that talented managers contribute about 48 percent higher profit to their companies than do average managers.37 Finally, a different study found that when a poor manager was replaced with a great one, employee productivity increased by 12 percent.38 What can we conclude from such reports? That talented managers do matter and will continue to matter to organizations!