The biggest area for development for most line managers is not how to manage low performers, but how to give praise.

Most don't do it nearly enough, with the result that in an article in Metro magazine, they reported that 41% of survey respondents said they felt underappreciated at work.

In another study, managers who don't give enough praise are regarded as less competent and their negative feedback is less impactful than managers who do give praise.

The reasons given by managers for not giving enough positive feedback was that they felt uncomfortable giving feedback of any kind (a training issue) and that they were simply too busy (a resourcing issue). Both are therefore areas for improvement for their own managers.

As for areas for improvement, what most managers don't do is define a clear path to progression. I've been on hiring panels with wildly overqualified candidates who have been trapped in roles, sometimes for years, with nowhere to go.

Undoubtedly, their managers would have struggled to find 3 things to improve each month - they have all the hard and soft skills for their job - but what junior/mid-level employees often lack are strategic and management skills.

As development is part of the line management role, it is the manager's job to guide them on that path, so the "thing to improve" might be job-shadowing or a work placement to impart those skills.