Workers are crying out for inspiration from their leaders and hitting a brick wall; according to a new report.
Research published by the Chartered Management Institute and the DTI shows that staff yearn for trust, conversation with the boss and praise. Only 40%, however, say they are getting this.
The report pinpoints a growing ‘inspiration gap’.
Less then one in four say they see inspiring leadership behaviours demonstrated in the workplace.
The three main characteristics desired in leaders include:
- Genuine shared vision (79%)
- Real confidence and trust in teams (77%)
- Respect for employees, colleagues and customers(73%)
Far from embracing the workforce, the findings show that heads of business are becoming increasingly isolated from them.
Six in 10 (62%) say their MD or CEO is out of touch with how staff feel with over half (60%) saying that their leader doesn’t even bother to chat to them.
A mere 19% say an open-door policy is part of their culture.
Listening skills were also found to be in short-supply amongst respondents workforces with 43% claiming their leaders talked more than they listened.
Inspiring fun and excitement topped the wish list for desirable characteristics for leaders for 93% of respondents but only one in three said they experienced this at work.
The majority of workers, nine out of 10 admitted their boss doesn’t trust them with only 8% having responsibility to sign-off projects and just 16 % given the flexibility to work from home.
Mary Chapman, chief executive of the Chartered Management Institute said:
“It is the relationships between people that result in actions. The research demonstrates that employees respond to leaders who let them know that what they do is important and that it makes a difference. Leaders who can show trust, respect and appreciation are more likely to keep employees motivated and if they can achieve that much, performance levels are also likely to increase.”
The Chartered Management Institute surveyed 568 individuals for this research with an additional 100 managers interviewed by NOP.
One Response
Look to the past…
I don’t recall who said the following, but it seems relevant here…
To explain today, look to the past.
To predict tomorrow, look to today.
(or something along these lines)
My point? A lack of inspirational leaders today must be in part (if not totally) due to selection and development practices and organisation cultures in the past. How is it that we have ended up with mediocre leaders running our organisations? Because we selected them – or more accurately perhaps, deselected others for what ever reasons (I suspect the wrong reasons) and just accepted what was left – the most grey (or beige, for you Billy Connelly fans!) people who don’t rock boats, don’t see beyond the narrow confines of a finance-only perspective, and whose strings are pulled often by the wrong interests.
Is anything different now, today, compared to yesteryear when we took the actions that led to the current crop of mediocrity?
Not really.
My evidence in part comes from the high CEO churn rate reported in several sources as the economy became a little unstuck. I guess its relatively easy to run an organisation when even the awful organisations are growing in near double digit rates as personified the 1990s. As soon as things get tricky, the heels come off. And how did these CEOs etc get to be CEOs? Where did they go for their professional learning?
The danger is that we swing too far the other way, and throw the baby out with the bath water.
But I think we need to start taking those tough decisions. The practice of promoting somebody because s/he is ‘safe’ (i.e. not made any cockups, therefore perhaps not learned any lessons), or of promoting because it is ‘their turn’ or because they have ‘done their time’ has got to stop.
Otherwise nothing much will change for the better.
In my humble opinion…!