Managers Overestimating Staff's Love

If you're a manager, you may have great ideas and a good opinion of the ways in which you communicate them to staff. If you're one of those staff members, your opinion may differ slightly, or so says a study conducted by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the professional body for human resources managers in Britain.

Referring to a "reality gap," the CIPD found that "eight out of ten managers said they thought their staff were satisfied or very satisfied with them in their role, but only 58 percent of employees agreed with that," according to the Financial Times. CIPD head of public policy, Ben Willmott, described leadership and management capability as both "skills for growth essentials" and "an Achilles heel for UK plc," adding that "too many employees were promoted into people management roles because they had good technical skills, but then received inadequate training and had little idea of how their behavior affected others."

Amongst 2000 participants, the FT went on, "61 percent of managers claimed they met every one of their staff at least twice a month to talk about their workload, meeting objectives and other work issues, while only 24 percent of employees said they met their managers with such frequency." Discrepancies also appeared in opinions on frequency of coaching and discussions of development and career progress.

Not "tapping into ... ideas and creativity ... means spending more time dealing with stressed staff, absence or conflict, and the associated disciplinary and grievance issues," according to Mr. Willmott. He advised that staff should be valued and time with them prioritized in order to get the most from them through a combination of "low-cost and no-cost interventions."

According to The Daily Telegraph, the Employee Outlook study concludes that "lack of self awareness is so bad it is undermining attempts to boost the country's economic growth," with more than three quarters of managers believing staff are satisfied while barely half of staff concur. One conclusion reached is that increasing satisfaction would likely inspire employees to "go the extra mile" for their employers. Perhaps something on which everyone can agree?

• Employee Outlook: Spring 2012 - Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
• New research finds 'reality gap' in the capability of UK plc's 8 million managers, undermining attempts to boost economic growth - Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
• Bad managers seen as threat to growth - Financial Times
• The David Brent effect - managers think they are better than they are - Daily Telegraph