In a recent survey of Good Hire, 83% of the respondents responded that they were against having managers. Out of these, 89% were from finance, 88% were in healthcare, and even 82% were ready to quit because of their managers. Even HBR (Harvard Business Review) mentioned that managers are a huge tax for a company and slow down the growth of the company.
This got us thinking, “Are they actually that not required?” despite being a strategically valued company asset. Let’s figure this out: Is your manager truly a burden on a company, or is this entire discussion just another charlatan thing?
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What Type Of Managers Are Not Required?
As we have mentioned before, managers are strategically important for the company in setting goals, conflict resolution, team coordination, and other important things. Yet, they are often accused of being a burden and useless. The question is, why? What we found out in our research is that generally, people assume managers are involved in “micro-managing.” Also, managers are facing backlash nowadays because of the selection process and the training they are imparted. CEO of Good Hire mentioned, “ People are sort of self-taught when it comes to being a manager in many cases, so it’s not surprising that they would replicate behaviours that have been modelled for them in other organizations, and often those aren’t the best practices” and he further added, “The other reason is that probably a lot of people got promoted into management positions because they were very self-interested—they have been pursuing their own goals and ambitions—so it rewards folks who may not be as empathetic.”
Do you know that the number one reason people think, “Why are they good without their managers?” is that their managers “lack empathy.” Having someone with good emotional intelligence in leadership is paramount for reducing employee turnover and improving team productivity. So, at the drop of a hat, it is important that you take necessary actions against all the managers who are not that empathetic.
What Differs A Good Manager From A Bad Manager?
Let’s now see what attributes of a manager set him apart from bad managers.
Emotionally Intelligent Managers
This is the point that you might have already seen coming. At the same time, managers are often promoted on a purely merit basis because of which their interpersonal skills hardly used to matter. But now, the dynamics have changed a lot. The manager’s ability to demonstrate empathy at the workplace has become drastically important. It is not just us who are saying this; according to research from EY Consulting, 90% of workers in America believe that having highly emotionally intelligent leaders improves their job satisfaction and productivity. 88% believed it made them more loyal to the company, and 79% said it reduced employee turnover.
Companies are now shifting their focus towards managers who don’t work like robots but show more of their human side at the workplace. As per Brian Kropp, chief of research for Gartner’s HR practice, “We’re going from someone who manages the tasks of their employees to someone who has to be almost like a social worker or school counsellor to support their employees as they confront challenges, both at work and in their personal lives,” he even adds further, “If you don’t want your employees talking to you about their personal situations, their personal needs, and if you’re not going to be there to support them, odds are you shouldn’t be a manager.”
Managers Who Are There For Their Teammates
Traditionally, managers were hired because they excelled at their jobs and trained their subordinates. But over time, this changed. Now, managers are rarely seen guiding their teammates because of the drastic increase in their responsibilities. In the last 15 years, the responsibilities of the managers grew by 70%. It has become quite difficult for them to provide hands-on assistance to team members. As per Gartner’s survey, 70% of midsized HR leaders reported that their managers are overwhelmed by their responsibilities.
Because of this, employees generally turn to their colleagues for guidance and help, which can be a good thing and a bad thing. This may foster team trust and strengthen peer relations but hamper the manager-employee relationship. If your managers are dexterous enough to deal with the workload and can guide their teammates, it is a big win for you.
Managers Who Can Detoxify The Workplace Environment
“Leaders play a disproportionate role in shaping toxic cultures and specifically toxic micro-cultures.”— Charles Sull, co-founder of CultureX
Managers have now become the major source of toxicity in the workplace, and as a result, the employee attrition rate has increased drastically. According to a report from Culture X, employees are 10 times more likely to leave the company because of a toxic work culture than low compensation.
As Sull, the Co-founder of CultureX, points out, a toxic work culture is the main driver of disrespectful behaviour, discrimination, and inequity. This is not only detrimental to your business’s performance but also will decrepitude your employees’ mental health. He further elaborated that this toxicity is scarcely spread universally across the company. These toxic cultures are generally found in a patch or in a team that is led by a toxic manager.
Leadership plays such an important role in creating a work culture that it is very difficult to detangle it from it. If you have a manager who is good at developing a culture promoting a healthy work environment, your team is in good hands.
What Can Be Done About Their Hiring?
The biggest reason people vote against the requirement of managers is the toxicity of the workplace. This has inspired organisations to adopt different methodologies when selecting their managers. Sull points out that technology has made some major breakthroughs, with the introduction of technologies like predictive modelling, etc., that can help us crunch big data on employee feedback on their managers. This gives us a more systematic and accurate sense of what traits a leader exhibits while hiring them.
