In ACCEL: The Skills That Make a Winning Manager (hereafter, the Study), the Association for Talent Development (ATD) set out to examine the development of five specific skills—accountability, communication, collaboration, engagement, and listening and assessing—that are crucial to managerial success. Together, these five skills comprise the ACCEL model, which is a framework ATD developed. Based on a questionnaire administered to 847 talent development professionals, this Study primarily focused on identifying:

• the barriers that prevent managers from exhibiting ACCEL skills
• how ACCEL skills training is typically delivered
• what type of measurement is used to determine success in developing direct reports
• if success in exhibiting ACCEL skills is rewarded and recognized.

Frontline managers are at the very first level of management of other employees (“people managers”) across a company’s business operations and functions. Although these individuals manage others, they typically do not oversee the direction and strategy of the organization or entire department.