Referring to his younger days, Mark Twain is said to have quipped: “I never let my schooling interfere with my education,” implying that all the knowledge and skills he had acquired were in spite of, rather than thanks to, his teachers. One wonders what wisecrack the famous humorist would have made about his superiors had he been employed in today’s workplaces.
In other words, instead of “teachers” substitute “managers”, and replace “education” with “work performance” or “ability to do my job.”
Instead of, through their leadership, inspiring and molding the people under them to maximize their productivity and to actualize their full potential value to their organization – which is presumably what managers are paid to do – many modern managers seem to be doing just the opposite.
New research by British consultancy Hay, for example, as reported on management-issues.com, reveals that two thirds of British managers actually create negative working climates that leave employees resentful and frustrated. In a damning indictment of British managers, Hay concludes that fully 20% of British workers are frustrated in their jobs. Why? Because rigid bureaucracy and poor management structures hamper innovation and creativity.
In a penetrating piece on our site, training consultant Dan Bobinski cites Dr William Glasser of Choice Theory fame: “Bosses put a damper on creativity. They know how the job should be done and there’s only one way: Their way.”
Glasser distinguishes between two types of managers: bosses (the managers of the above quotation, those who “boss” people around), and lead-managers, those who truly engage their employees. “Bossed” workers make no effort to nurture their creative talents because they know no one will listen to them anyway. Lead-managers, on the other hand, will go out of their way to look for creativity in their workers, because they know it brings the worker satisfaction to contribute to the workplace.
Interestingly, Bobinski points out that many of the highest-level managers he works with believe they fell into the lead-manager category; open to input and ideas, and making themselves available to anyone who wanted to talk. Then when he speaks to the second tier of mangers in the same organization, they also see themselves as falling into the same category.
But – and this is the crunch – when asked about the level above them, almost all of the second-tier managers saw their leaders as falling into the “boss” category. And amazingly enough, if there are several levels of management, exactly the same pattern repeats itself at every level!
Clearly, the issue here is one that, thankfully, is now beginning to receive the rather belated recognition it deserves. Technical expertise is just not enough. Communication and general interpersonal skills – the so-called “soft skills” – are also a vital ingredient in the complex mix that could turn you into good leadership material.
In the Hay study, half of the workers believed that they did not have the authority to make decisions crucial to their jobs, with the same proportion complaining of being discouraged from participating in decisions that directly affected their work.
The researchers argued that managers were failing to design jobs in such a way as to capitalize on the talents of their workers. More than a third of the respondents believed their job did not make best use of their skills and abilities.
Ben Hubbard, regional director at Hay’s employee survey division summed it all up: The frustrated employee phenomenon poses a major business risk.
And a significant missed opportunity.
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