EXCLUSIVE: My manager doesn't understand me

Monday, August 03, 2009

Do senior managers really not know their staff well and can this lead to them making poor decisions? Blair McPherson, himself a senior manager, says there may be cause for concern in the public sector

More than a third of workers in the public sector feel their managers don't understand them. That is the finding of a survey undertaken by OPP Business Psychology Consultancy. What is even more disconcerting is that a confident 97 per cent of public sector managers say they know their people well!

The study revealed that employees felt that managers did not understand their skills, preferences and motivation and therefore did not make the best use of them. This seemed to be confirmed by managers who reported that they relied on gut instincts to make decisions such as appointing new staff, promoting staff, or identifying individuals to lead on projects.

Perhaps it is not surprising then that seven out of ten of this group of managers said they would change past decisions if they had the chance.

The study highlighted a culture of decisions based on subjective information and inconsistent criteria resulting in missed opportunities and costly bad decisions.

Of course the authors of this report have their own agenda – they want to sell a range of expensive tools based around psychometric testing which identify the strengths, preferences and suitability of candidates thus improving the quality of decision making by making it less subjective. But is it true that managers know so little about their staff? Well here is a quick, easy to use, inexpensive way to find out.

Ask yourself of those people you directly manage do you know their partners' name? Do you know the names and ages of their children, whether they are at university or currently in an important exam year? Are they caring for an elderly parent? Do they go on activity holidays or do they prefer sightseeing and culture, chilling out on the beach or an adventure to an exotic location? Do they speak another language?

Can this survey be right in identifying that the majority of managers, particularly senior managers, are blissfully ignorant of what staff really think yet have convinced themselves they are in tune with the shop floor? Well speaking as a senior manager I can confirm that I do think I know what my staff are thinking.

It is also true that I don't put this to the test very often but when I or my colleagues on the senior management team do we are frequently surprised at how misunderstood our polices are, how so much info could have by-passed so many and how so few know who the deputy director is!

Blair McPherson is a senior manager for a large local authority and is author of UnLearning Management- short stories on modern management. Published by www.russellhouse.co.uk