Are you sure that you're a good boss?
By Andrea Kay
You might think you're doing a stellar job managing your staff. But the people who work for you may beg to differ. Just ask.
That's what a recent Hudson survey did, finding that only 67 percent of employees rate their managers favorably, while 92 percent of managers consider themselves to be an excellent or good boss.
Part of the reason managers don't know how folks really feel is that only 26 percent of the work force is ever given the chance to formally review their managers' performance, the survey found. And unless there is a way to keep their manager from knowing who said what, most workers I know aren't going to take the risk of telling their managers what they really think.
One of the biggest criticisms I hear from workers about their managers is that their managers don't tell them what's really going on in their division and the company overall. Even the ones who have bosses who do communicate about major changes at the company, say what's missing is an explanation of how the change affects them.
"Everyone has a need to know what is going on," say Lorin B. Belker and Gary S. Topchik, authors of "The First-Time Manager." They cite employee surveys that say the information most desired is "a need to know of changes that affect me."
People also need to know about things that may not affect them. "If they know nothing, they assume something. Often that assumption is wrong and too often it isn't even close," they say.
"The most powerful managers are those who share information with their direct reports," the authors say. "People don't act upon the facts; they act upon the perception of the facts. It is one of the manager's key duties to see that the facts and the perceptions are basically the same."
The general rule: You're better off communicating too much than too little.
Another area in which workers say managers miss the boat is showing appreciation. Many managers tell me, "I pay them well to do a good job — that's enough." But if you praised them, might they perform even better? the authors ask.
It's a new skill for many managers. The authors offer these pointers when showing appreciation:
An example is of the worker who was asked to drive 50 miles to a facility to make an important repair. At 10:30 p.m., he had just returned home when the phone rang. It was his manager who called "to make sure that you got home OK. It's kind of a bad night out there."
It goes to show that when it comes to what's most important to workers, "a need to be appreciated for what I do" is what employees continue to rank first.
Interestingly, none of the managers said they were doing a poor job in the survey. But a lot admitted they could use some help. Not being stingy in giving praise where it's due is an easy place to start that doesn't cost you a dime.
