What to do about this?

Hey, I'm not a management guru, I just report what I hear and try and make sense of it. Seems to me though that if we are getting these feelings from managers all over the place then there must be some sub- stance to the notion that we have a long way to go in getting people's needs and expectations even half met. If I was a CEO - and I am not - I would spend some time thinking through what these views mean. Then I'd try and get them solved by committing top management to take real, positive action that is visible to the rank and file.

If you want to engage your employees , the only way you are going to do that is if they offer you at least some passing respect. But be honest with yourselves, tell yourself the truth, not the version you'd like to hear. If people are your key asset, for goodness sake take them, their views and who they are (those people who want to be themselves at work) seriously and then act on their contribution. Otherwise you are going to miss out and you won't have the right people to make your business a success.

Next we take a look at some of the ideas and concepts that seem to be able to play a part in hiring and holding people, with an emphasis on the need for flexibility in the workplace. Today's worker is very different from even 10 years ago; our policies and actions in the workplace need to reflect that.

Good and bad management behaviour

Some of this - hopefully - will come as no surprise but research by UK-based management consulting firm Business Improvement Solutions (BIS) shows clearly that the most important thing good managers do well is COMMUNICATE. One of the things poor managers do badly is COMMUNICATE. Certainly in every employee survey over the years I have found that communication in one form or another tends to come at the top of the wish list.

However, BIS, in reporting their findings made a suggestion: why not ˜reflect upon your own behaviour' as a supervisor or manager ˜and consider which category you fall into.'

So here are BIS' good and bad manager behaviours. How do you think you would score with your people? Better still ask them to score you!

Behaviours that define the best managers

Open communicator 69%

Good team leader 55%

Positive personal qualities 55% ^{[2 ]}

Supportive 51% Coach/mentor 43%

Even-handed 35%

Provide recognition 33%

Effective delegator 31%

Valued my opinions 29%

Provides feedback 29%

Objective focused 24%

Motivator 18%

Demonstrated trust 16%

Respect for work/life balance 16%

Behaviours that define the worst managers

Poor team leader 69% ^{[3 ]}

Poor personal qualities 69% ^[4]

Poor communicator 65%

Unsupportive 47%

Poor delegator 33%

Unbalanced feedback 33%

Lack of objectives or vision 31%

Not even-handed 29%

Poor coach/mentor 26%

Non-motivator 22%

No recognition 18%

Lack of trust 16%

Devalued my opinions 14%

Mean, not generous 14%

 

^{[2 ]} All references in the Business Improvement Solutions study to managers being ˜polite,' ˜courteous', ˜demonstrating honesty and integrity' are under this category.

^{[3 ]} Poor team leader includes phrases such as ˜demoralising', ˜uses team members as a scapegoat', ˜treats staff like machines.'

^[4] Poor personal qualities includes phrases such as ˜rude and self-centred', ˜ publicly berates staff', ˜bullies people', ˜untrustworthy' and ˜lying.'