May 10, 2012
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
BrainTrust
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Discussion Questions
Discussion Questions: Are U.S. store managers likewise delusional about their working relationship with staff? Is it natural to expect such a wide discrepancy in views between managers and staff? What impact does it have and what, if anything, can be done to change it?
Poll
It has been like this — the chasm between manager and subordinate — since the beginning of time. If you’ve got only a “gap” you should be thrilled!
Just after the beginning of time when I was heavily into organizational research, we found this ‘disconnect’ in every industry we tested. Not only that, but the gap widens as you go up the org chart. Between a store manager and a regional manager, between regional manager and corporate, etc. This is like having half the bulbs burned out on your old Christmas tree string. Not pretty.
This gets to my old song and dance…the power is in alignment, not in the value of each piece.
There is a truism that goes like this: “How we are managed is how we serve.” I will treat the customer the way my manager treats me. If my manager can’t see what is really going on and doesn’t connect, neither will I. Unfortunately what this means is the biggest of ‘gap’ of all comes between the store and the customer.
Ian’s comments above are absolutely correct. There’s a gap between perception and reality in most stores (and all businesses). Ask retailers if they provide good service and everyone says they do. But, ask customers if they always get good service and they say rarely. Someone’s lying!
The reason we, and others, put into place Balanced Scorecards and other ‘measuring and coaching’ systems is to add an element of objectivity to store operations. The moment expectations are clarified and measured, compliance on standards, systems and overall performance all goes up.
It’s not that store managers are delusional or incompetent. Quite the contrary. Most are outstanding individuals. But, they need a better system for running their stores. That’s the responsibility of the retailer.
As a former supermarket store manager, I can relate personally to this subject. Managing finances, conditions, inventory, and even refrigeration equipment often takes priority over nurturing the mood and satisfaction of store employees.
I know I fancied myself as being very good in the area of engaging my employees, and conveying that I cared both about them and their ideas. But more than once, I was surprised to find out among some of my employees that they did not share that sentiment.
This gap can be particularly evident in large stores with hundreds of employees. Even with good store and department managers, the process of running the store often supersedes the the satisfaction and development of employees.
Systematic weekly department or store meetings, employee evaluations, and other planned interactions can be very helpful to bridge the gaps of workplace satisfaction between manager and team member. But in the final analysis it takes both good processes and good people-centric managers to create the best workplace environment. Managers that possess sincerity and consistency in dealing with their employees make the difference, a difference that translates into a consumer friendly, productive, team-oriented workplace.
That 58% of workers are satisfied with their manager may be the norm for an office, perhaps a factory or workshop, but I seriously doubt that stat would pertain to a FDM store. Store managers have one of the most thankless jobs in the US economy in that their workforce does not necessarily want to be there, isn’t well paid, may not be receiving benefits and has to work odd hours. Turnover alone in a supermarket or drug store would suggest that 58% is a rather high number. One of the great challenges of retailing is how to successfully motivate store associates.
The challenge won’t be solved until more resources are put against it in terms of pay and training, or, management develops some innovative and imaginative ideas to reach store associates. Aeropostale did so, for example, by building a communications network to store associates via mobile devices — and it worked. The associates were engaged.
Our mantra was “if you want good people, treat people good”. This included frequent communication. That being said I can understand the “gap” in perception the researchers found. Having participated in 360 evaluations I found that while I and others thought we were doing a good job, our subordinates did not always have the same perception. What we discovered is some of that was due to the perception of what constitutes communication. A quick conversation may often be perceived by the initiator as sufficient but not so for the recipient.
My classic example is I once gave the largest raise to an individual he ever received in his career only to find that he had complained to HR that the meeting with me was not satisfying. When we discussed it further it was not the praise or the size of the raise that bothered him, it was that it wasn’t a long enough conversation. Lesson learned.
The bigger the retail store, the worse the relationship becomes, in my humble opinion. It is tough to try and make workers all happy, and when one of them is disgruntled they tell other employees how they are being screwed by upper management. Not easy, but working in retail is difficult for most front liners, and it will always be a struggle to keep the 15-20K year employee happy, as they struggle to make it in the world.
Building loyalty and trust takes time and continuous interaction between leaders, managers and associates. The turnover rate in retail works against these elements. That makes both leader and associate efforts to work on these relationships more difficult.
Ongoing communication among associates at all levels is vitally important to retailers who have an interest in retaining associates. That takes ongoing training and re-enforcement at all levels. This is not a shining source of success for most retailers.
But, working at providing store managers with the tools and building their skills in this area consistently pays off. As a partner in a string of 28 QSR restaurants, we worked with managers to build their human and conceptual skills with associates. Top performing stores consistently had managers who had lower associate turnover, happier and more productive employees, and top line sales that were 10% to 15% higher than national averages.
I can’t imagine a more difficult job than being a store manager in this economic environment. Employees feel stuck in their jobs because the job market in general is downbeat. Consumers are arriving armed with internet research that not only makes them feel like subject experts but makes them eager to challenge prices. And the online channel is creating a whole new business model that does not depend on the presence of stores. As the local personification of the retailer, stores must often take the brunt of failures generated by other services such as manufacturers or even online sales channels of the retailer. Throughout all this, the store manager must motivate both mid level managers who are experiencing high levels of change and greater demands for productivity and the junior level employees who may be in their first or job or are fitting a part time commitment into an already over filled life.
I skimmed some of the detail statistics in the survey. I am not surprised there is a difference between the managers’ perception of themselves and the employee’s. Some would call that “self confidence”. The fact that you believe in your own capabilities is important in any situation as long as it does not become delusional and the differences in the survey do not seem too great. I think one of the major challenges is the difference between the younger and older employees. The survey seems to indicate more satisfaction within the older employees, I don’t know if this coincides with greater longevity on the job. With a stagnant job market I think there are a lot of younger employees who think they should be advancing faster. It will be difficult for store managers to address this situation.
I think the key for the manager is to focus on the mid-level supervisory personnel to make sure they understand the banner’s objectives and the values the supervisors should be using when dealing with employees and customers. While they must be aware of everything, the key is making sure that supervisors have ownership of their departments. Finally, the manager has to have their backs. Both supervisors and employees must know that the manager is going to support them.
I would think that US store managers are even more disillusioned about their relationship with their staff. For example a recent Gallup poll says that over 70% of American workers say they have received no recognition at work in the last year. Interesting to note that similar research shows that only about 30% of American workers are fully engaged at work.
The impact is simple. “Employees join companies and they leave managers.”
Solution is to train managers.
I am not sure that I would characterize it as “delusional.” I would say that there is a misalignment of expectations (as has been pointed out by the examples above). Management thinks that contact (any contact) is representative of a strong relationship because it accomplishes THEIR goals:
1) acknowledged the employee
2) provided direction
3) offered constructive criticism/feedback
4) etc.
The employee seeks something else in those exchanges of substance (so that even though the topics above are covered — they are comprised of wholly different content).
One observation alone beyond my rabid agreement with Ian.
Haven’t most of us been subordinates at least once in our lives? And, when we were, were we totally forward, forthcoming and open about those who managed us?
Memory is a tricky thing, but those disconnect numbers only surprise me because they are relatively low.
Ian’s right, it’s all about alignment, but the problem is most managers believe — incorrectly — that that’s exactly what they have achieved.
To understand the manager-staff relationship, I think it’s important to understand what managers are primarily expected to do — execute directives and guidelines from above, and keep payroll within budget.
This doesn’t leave a lot of room for developing give-and-take relationships with staff. The manager is not typically given a lot of discretion in how things get executed, and the staff typically turns over pretty quickly. As a result, managers and staff often have diverging agendas, priories and perceptions. It’s not a big surprise.
Bottom line, few retail employees are happy to be with the company, let alone the manager that they have. I’m not certain this is even worth spending too much time on, actually. Of course, good training of store managers is lacking in most companies, as I can attest that myself, having been a store manager in the ’80s. However, leadership need not be loved in order to run the most profitable stores.
This “gap” is nothing new. It has been there for generations. I am surprised when the gap we see is small. If we are talking about a large corporate structure the gap is wider. The lower one is on the corporate heirarchy the wider the gap appears to them.
For most retailers (and most businesses in general), the gap in perception is caused by the expectations put on front line managers and how they are trained. Most are trained on and required to focus on financial results — regardless of how those results are achieved. Without guidance, most inexperienced managers lack the competencies in leadership and focus on directive, non-inclusive styles. On the other hand, winning retailers focus their training and expectation on talent development and employee engagement, and view financial results as the outcome of excellence talent management.
If you want your staff to love you and deliver for you, you must love and deliver for them.
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It has been like this — the chasm between manager and subordinate — since the beginning of time. If you’ve got only a “gap” you should be thrilled!
Just after the beginning of time when I was heavily into organizational research, we found this ‘disconnect’ in every industry we tested. Not only that, but the gap widens as you go up the org chart. Between a store manager and a regional manager, between regional manager and corporate, etc. This is like having half the bulbs burned out on your old Christmas tree string. Not pretty.
This gets to my old song and dance…the power is in alignment, not in the value of each piece.
There is a truism that goes like this: “How we are managed is how we serve.” I will treat the customer the way my manager treats me. If my manager can’t see what is really going on and doesn’t connect, neither will I. Unfortunately what this means is the biggest of ‘gap’ of all comes between the store and the customer.
Ian’s comments above are absolutely correct. There’s a gap between perception and reality in most stores (and all businesses). Ask retailers if they provide good service and everyone says they do. But, ask customers if they always get good service and they say rarely. Someone’s lying!
The reason we, and others, put into place Balanced Scorecards and other ‘measuring and coaching’ systems is to add an element of objectivity to store operations. The moment expectations are clarified and measured, compliance on standards, systems and overall performance all goes up.
It’s not that store managers are delusional or incompetent. Quite the contrary. Most are outstanding individuals. But, they need a better system for running their stores. That’s the responsibility of the retailer.
As a former supermarket store manager, I can relate personally to this subject. Managing finances, conditions, inventory, and even refrigeration equipment often takes priority over nurturing the mood and satisfaction of store employees.
I know I fancied myself as being very good in the area of engaging my employees, and conveying that I cared both about them and their ideas. But more than once, I was surprised to find out among some of my employees that they did not share that sentiment.
This gap can be particularly evident in large stores with hundreds of employees. Even with good store and department managers, the process of running the store often supersedes the the satisfaction and development of employees.
Systematic weekly department or store meetings, employee evaluations, and other planned interactions can be very helpful to bridge the gaps of workplace satisfaction between manager and team member. But in the final analysis it takes both good processes and good people-centric managers to create the best workplace environment. Managers that possess sincerity and consistency in dealing with their employees make the difference, a difference that translates into a consumer friendly, productive, team-oriented workplace.
That 58% of workers are satisfied with their manager may be the norm for an office, perhaps a factory or workshop, but I seriously doubt that stat would pertain to a FDM store. Store managers have one of the most thankless jobs in the US economy in that their workforce does not necessarily want to be there, isn’t well paid, may not be receiving benefits and has to work odd hours. Turnover alone in a supermarket or drug store would suggest that 58% is a rather high number. One of the great challenges of retailing is how to successfully motivate store associates.
The challenge won’t be solved until more resources are put against it in terms of pay and training, or, management develops some innovative and imaginative ideas to reach store associates. Aeropostale did so, for example, by building a communications network to store associates via mobile devices — and it worked. The associates were engaged.
Our mantra was “if you want good people, treat people good”. This included frequent communication. That being said I can understand the “gap” in perception the researchers found. Having participated in 360 evaluations I found that while I and others thought we were doing a good job, our subordinates did not always have the same perception. What we discovered is some of that was due to the perception of what constitutes communication. A quick conversation may often be perceived by the initiator as sufficient but not so for the recipient.
My classic example is I once gave the largest raise to an individual he ever received in his career only to find that he had complained to HR that the meeting with me was not satisfying. When we discussed it further it was not the praise or the size of the raise that bothered him, it was that it wasn’t a long enough conversation. Lesson learned.
The bigger the retail store, the worse the relationship becomes, in my humble opinion. It is tough to try and make workers all happy, and when one of them is disgruntled they tell other employees how they are being screwed by upper management. Not easy, but working in retail is difficult for most front liners, and it will always be a struggle to keep the 15-20K year employee happy, as they struggle to make it in the world.
Building loyalty and trust takes time and continuous interaction between leaders, managers and associates. The turnover rate in retail works against these elements. That makes both leader and associate efforts to work on these relationships more difficult.
Ongoing communication among associates at all levels is vitally important to retailers who have an interest in retaining associates. That takes ongoing training and re-enforcement at all levels. This is not a shining source of success for most retailers.
But, working at providing store managers with the tools and building their skills in this area consistently pays off. As a partner in a string of 28 QSR restaurants, we worked with managers to build their human and conceptual skills with associates. Top performing stores consistently had managers who had lower associate turnover, happier and more productive employees, and top line sales that were 10% to 15% higher than national averages.
I can’t imagine a more difficult job than being a store manager in this economic environment. Employees feel stuck in their jobs because the job market in general is downbeat. Consumers are arriving armed with internet research that not only makes them feel like subject experts but makes them eager to challenge prices. And the online channel is creating a whole new business model that does not depend on the presence of stores. As the local personification of the retailer, stores must often take the brunt of failures generated by other services such as manufacturers or even online sales channels of the retailer. Throughout all this, the store manager must motivate both mid level managers who are experiencing high levels of change and greater demands for productivity and the junior level employees who may be in their first or job or are fitting a part time commitment into an already over filled life.
I skimmed some of the detail statistics in the survey. I am not surprised there is a difference between the managers’ perception of themselves and the employee’s. Some would call that “self confidence”. The fact that you believe in your own capabilities is important in any situation as long as it does not become delusional and the differences in the survey do not seem too great. I think one of the major challenges is the difference between the younger and older employees. The survey seems to indicate more satisfaction within the older employees, I don’t know if this coincides with greater longevity on the job. With a stagnant job market I think there are a lot of younger employees who think they should be advancing faster. It will be difficult for store managers to address this situation.
I think the key for the manager is to focus on the mid-level supervisory personnel to make sure they understand the banner’s objectives and the values the supervisors should be using when dealing with employees and customers. While they must be aware of everything, the key is making sure that supervisors have ownership of their departments. Finally, the manager has to have their backs. Both supervisors and employees must know that the manager is going to support them.
I would think that US store managers are even more disillusioned about their relationship with their staff. For example a recent Gallup poll says that over 70% of American workers say they have received no recognition at work in the last year. Interesting to note that similar research shows that only about 30% of American workers are fully engaged at work.
The impact is simple. “Employees join companies and they leave managers.”
Solution is to train managers.
I am not sure that I would characterize it as “delusional.” I would say that there is a misalignment of expectations (as has been pointed out by the examples above). Management thinks that contact (any contact) is representative of a strong relationship because it accomplishes THEIR goals:
1) acknowledged the employee
2) provided direction
3) offered constructive criticism/feedback
4) etc.
The employee seeks something else in those exchanges of substance (so that even though the topics above are covered — they are comprised of wholly different content).
One observation alone beyond my rabid agreement with Ian.
Haven’t most of us been subordinates at least once in our lives? And, when we were, were we totally forward, forthcoming and open about those who managed us?
Memory is a tricky thing, but those disconnect numbers only surprise me because they are relatively low.
Ian’s right, it’s all about alignment, but the problem is most managers believe — incorrectly — that that’s exactly what they have achieved.
To understand the manager-staff relationship, I think it’s important to understand what managers are primarily expected to do — execute directives and guidelines from above, and keep payroll within budget.
This doesn’t leave a lot of room for developing give-and-take relationships with staff. The manager is not typically given a lot of discretion in how things get executed, and the staff typically turns over pretty quickly. As a result, managers and staff often have diverging agendas, priories and perceptions. It’s not a big surprise.
Bottom line, few retail employees are happy to be with the company, let alone the manager that they have. I’m not certain this is even worth spending too much time on, actually. Of course, good training of store managers is lacking in most companies, as I can attest that myself, having been a store manager in the ’80s. However, leadership need not be loved in order to run the most profitable stores.
This “gap” is nothing new. It has been there for generations. I am surprised when the gap we see is small. If we are talking about a large corporate structure the gap is wider. The lower one is on the corporate heirarchy the wider the gap appears to them.
For most retailers (and most businesses in general), the gap in perception is caused by the expectations put on front line managers and how they are trained. Most are trained on and required to focus on financial results — regardless of how those results are achieved. Without guidance, most inexperienced managers lack the competencies in leadership and focus on directive, non-inclusive styles. On the other hand, winning retailers focus their training and expectation on talent development and employee engagement, and view financial results as the outcome of excellence talent management.
If you want your staff to love you and deliver for you, you must love and deliver for them.