Author: Mandar

Managers, not companies are the new talent magnets

Posted on by Mandar

Past few years have had a significant impact on the job market. It is constantly evolving, bringing many disruptions and paving way for trends like remote and hybrid work. People’s priorities have also changed and they are not hesitant to switch careers and jobs that are better aligned with their needs. LinkedIn in their recent study reported that despite the decline in hiring levels, four of five, or 80% of professionals are considering changing jobs in 2023. The report also says that the job change sentiment is largely led by Gen Z, a big part of the workforce. This indicates that the competition for talent will remain fierce, compelling organizations to figure out what will it take to attract and retain the best and brightest talent.

There are myriad of reasons for the job switch- desiring better perks and pay, seeking healthier work/life balance or aspiring better development opportunities. Many studies point to the fact that one of the prime reasons people quit their jobs is bad manager and not necessarily the position, the role or the organization.

Are your Managers- Talent Magnets or Talent Repellents?

Managers exercise immense influence on the team members as well as on the entire spectrum of employee life cycle. They have the prowess to either become a talent magnet or talent repellent. Becoming a talent magnet means possessing the ability to attract the top talent, making them a part of the team and bringing out the best from them. Employees, clients, vendors, customers and peers across different functions prefer to engage with them. In today’s scenario, individuals are more drawn to work for or with specific managers rather than being solely attracted to the reputation or brand of the company itself. This brings out the importance of ‘effective leadership’ and the impact that a manager can have on an employee’s decision to join or stay with a particular organization. Talent magnets are often high impact individuals delivering great results and adding immensely to the organizational brand. Their importance cannot be undermined in today’s volatile environment where changes are rapid and continuous.

Talent repellents, on the other hand, are managers who discourage talented individuals from joining or staying with an organization. Essentially, it refers to the characteristics of an individual that have a negative impact on talent attraction and retention. They may be highly efficient and competent with their work, but they exhibit many red flags owing to which team members and other stakeholders tend to avoid interactions with them. Such managers create toxic work environments which act as a deterrent for others. They believe in micromanaging everything and don’t hesitate to pull others down in case of any slipups. They are disrespectful towards others and don’t stand with their team during the tough times.

To attract and retain top talent, organizations and individuals should be aware of potential talent repellents and take steps to address and mitigate them. Creating a positive, inclusive, and growth-oriented environment while offering competitive compensation and benefits is essential to become a talent magnet and avoid talent repellents.

Becoming a Talent Magnet

Some managers are predisposed to become talent magnets as they are capable of exhibiting certain desirable behavioural traits. Let’s have a look at some of the right behaviours and guidelines that managers can adopt to become talent magnets:

Demonstrate a clear vision and mission

Managers needs to communicate a compelling and inspiring vision of their organization and need to align their values with that of vision. It is also important to ensure that their vision and mission resonates with the talent they wish to attract and retain.

Build a strong organizational brand

In order to become talent magnets, managers need to create an impactful and compelling personal/ organizational brand which clearly communicates values, mission and vision. Managers may further showcase their expertise, achievements and credibility by leveraging online social platforms.

Create a challenging yet conducive work-environment

Managers who want to attract and retain top talent need to create an engaging and meaningful work environment that offers opportunities for growth and skill development. Talented individuals seek challenges and opportunities to learn so that they may add greater value to their organizations.

Offer a positive and inclusive work environment

Managers who are talent magnets foster positive workplace culture which is diverse and inclusive. People are drawn to organizations that promote equality and inclusivity and when managers act as the flagbearers of all the desired behaviours, people are bound to get attracted towards such organizations. This also encourages a sense of belonging and facilitate collaboration among team members.

Treat others with respect and fairness

Talent magnet managers are emotionally intelligent leaders who treat their team members and others with respect. They stay away from politics and ensure just and fair play of work. They don’t play favourites and provide equal opportunities to all their team members.

Use reliable and valid assessments and tools

Some leadership assessments and tools are designed to identify blindspots. These tools can help you gain insights into your leadership strengths and weaknesses, making it easier to spot areas where your leaders might have blindspots.

High on ethics and integrity

They always maintain high levels of integrity and ethics while dealing with others. They believe in building transparent and trustworthy culture and encourage their team members to do the same.

Build culture of continuous learning and mentorship

Every employee aspires to grow and flourish in one’s career. Talented individuals seek such managers who take interest in employee development and growth and create ample opportunities for their team members to learn new skills and grow in their career.

Offer competitive compensation and benefits

Competitive salaries and benefits packages are crucial in attracting and retaining top talent. Therefore, managers need to research industry standards and offer packages which meet the benchmark. Additionally, managers may offer flexi work arrangements, remote work options and additional perks which might be attractive to the team members.

Maintain a Strong Online Presence

Managers need to keep their online presence active and engaging by sharing their views and insights and participating in relevant discussions. They should also use social media, blogs and professional networks to stay connected with potential talent and make their presence felt.

By implementing these guidelines, one can become a talent magnet, making it more likely for skilled individuals to be attracted to your organization or work with you. Remember that attracting and retaining top talent is an ongoing process, so it’s essential to continually nurture your relationships and adapt to the changing needs and expectations of your target talent pool.

How Organizations can nurture Talent Magnets?

Organizations can play a big role in nurturing talent magnets by recognizing and supporting talent magnets and their unique qualities and behaviours and removing any barrier which may hinder their growth. Here are some strategies for encouraging talent magnets within your organization:

Identifying Talent magnets

Recognize individuals within your organization who naturally attract and retain talent. These individuals may be leaders, managers, or team members who consistently build high-performing teams.

Provide Leadership Development

Invest in leadership development programs and trainings to enhance the skills of talent magnets, such as communication, collaboration, coaching, mentorship, and team-building skills. Encourage them to act as role models and mentors for other employees.

Support Networking

Provide ample opportunities for talent magnets to network with other professionals, both inside and outside the organization. And encourage participation in industry events, conferences, and forums to expand their reach and connections.

Gathering 360 degrees Feedback

How other stakeholders think about these talent magnets is important. To ensure transparency and diversity of opinion, gather feedback from other sources and look for the areas that need attention.

Measure and Assess Impact

Establish metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) to assess the effectiveness of talent magnets in attracting and retaining talent. Regularly review and evaluate their impact and make adjustments as needed.

By implementing these strategies, organizations can create an environment that supports and nurtures talent magnets, empowering them to continue attracting and retaining top talent, which can ultimately contribute to the organization’s success and growth.

Your employees’ engagement is in your managers’ hands

Posted on by Mandar

(And, here, Indian managers may have much to offer to the world)

The captain of a ship or the pilot of an aircraft disembarks only when the passengers have left

Leaders must be known by the way they conduct themselves.

Notwithstanding the passionate – also polarising — debate triggered by the 70-hour-a-week work-schedule remark made by N R Narayana Murthy recently, the Infosys founder has often led by example. When he says in his interviews that leaders should walk the talk, he has often shown the way. Reporting for work on time, always — for instance.

Another of his favourite examples — that the captain of a ship or the pilot of an aircraft disembarks only when the passengers have left, is also a profound leadership lesson. Leaders must be known by the way they conduct themselves. Managers – founders or non-founders — are “leaders”, and many great managers script leadership lessons that often find their way into B School case studies. N R N Murthy’s, for instance.

A manager who drives team members to achieve organizational goals in a stipulated time-frame is said to be successful. A competent, successful manager, over a period of time, comes to be identified with the organization, its brand philosophy and long-term organizational objectives.

Employee engagement with managers is probably a better yardstick than employee engagement with the organization for practitioners of organizational behaviour and management consultants.

When a high-profile company promoter greets and motivates colleagues with an impromptu jig on the office floor, many see it as an example to create a “happy culture” in the organization. But, then, some could argue, not every promoter is a “hands-on people’s manager”.

A manager, or a reporting manager, can mean many things to the employees or team members. A 2008 survey by Google, named Project Oxygen, came up with “eight characteristics of a good manager”. The findings were updated in 2018, by adding two more features. Of the total ten characteristics, as many as nine were soft skills.

The difference between a “good manager” and a “great manager” is that the latter, while displaying all characteristics of a good manager, is also empathetic, and forward-looking. He/she lends an ear to the team member whenever needed, gives regular and sound feedback, and pitches in, with the requisite set of skills at the time of a crisis. While being committed to the long-term organizational vision, he/she also ensures that team members remain satisfied and curious at the same time, and always look forward to their next day at the workplace.

Competence, of course, is the basic trait to be a good manager. He/she always gets the job at hand done. Former Director of the Centre of Economic Performance at the London Business School, John Van Reenen, after a study, concluded that “half the productivity gap between the US and the UK was down to mediocre managers.”

A successful, competent manager, who is also “emotionally intelligent” and, thus empathetic, often comes to be regarded as a “great manager”, over a period of time.  A 2019-20 Yale Centre for Emotional Intelligence study by Zorana Ivcevic and colleagues spoke to as many as 15,000 people across the US, and found that “emotionally intelligent supervisors” had “employees who were happier and more creative” and they also perceived more opportunities for growth.

But what defines an emotionally intelligent supervisor? “Someone who understands the employee’s emotions, keeps them motivated and inspired, and all this while, keeps his or her own emotions under a check”.

While the employee’s experience in the organization is key, his interface with the reporting manager is even more crucial. An employee’s working relationship with the reporting manager forms the bedrock of his overall employee experience. The reporting manager and his work ethic also has a direct bearing on the employee’s physical and mental well-being. A Stress Institute in Stockholm research found that people with “incompetent, inconsiderate, secretive or uncommunicative” managers were “60 per cent more likely to have a heart attack”.

It’s not easy, however, to come up with a ready reckoner on “what makes a great manager”, or “what differentiates a great manager from a good manager”, or “a great manager makes employee engagement and experience totally outstanding”. A recent Harvard Business Review article noted that in 2020 alone, more than 1500 papers on the topic of employee engagement were published. Of course, employee engagement and organizational culture has been a favourite subject for management practitioners and researchers for over half-a-century now. Clearly, literature on organizational behaviour and the ever-evolving role of the manager is only growing.

An IIM B study of 220 middle managers of IT / ITES companies from across India, by Binita Tiwari and Usha Lenka, concluded that “knowledge sharing, continuous learning, intrapreneurship, perceived communication satisfaction are positively associated with employee engagement”.

While it’s true that a two-way communication process, skills-learnt-at-the-job, flexibility at the workplace, appreciation for employees, collaboration, overall job satisfaction, among others, help drive employee engagement, it’s equally true that managers have started to have much more influence over all other drivers. And, it’s here that “great managers” score over peers and prove to be assets for organizations and team members alike.

There is a growing realization now that great managers often lend their Midas touch to the organization and team members.

The team members then cherish the employee experience. Organisational culture gets more sheen and is further strengthened.

IIM Tiruchirappali’s Abhishek Totawar and management consultant J Raghuram, in a 2018 paper “Beyond Constraints”, observed: “Contrary to a popular belief that employee engagement is in the domain of HR, we believe the onus rests on the immediate reporting manager to create an engaged culture… (However) not all managers are able to do it…”

They further added: “They are able to do their task to perfection, and when it comes to dealing with people, they are humble to the core… In dealing with such a manager we refer to Level 5 theory of leadership which describes level-5 leaders as a powerful mix of personal humility and indomitable professional will”.

Not every innovator or promoter can be regarded as a “great people’s manager”, though.

Elon Musk was recently quoted in a newspaper article as having said: “There is just a lot of super talented hardworking people in China… They won’t just be burning the midnight oil; they will be burning the 3 am oil”.

Some could well argue, rather passionately, that there is a difference between “being highly-engaged” and “engaged in stressful, burnout-inducing jobs”. A Yale Centre for Emotional Intelligence study corroborates this and in a study, found that “one-fifth of employees were both highly engaged and were also suffering from burnout, battling acute stress”.

A “great manager” would probably handle this rather differently.

The 2018 Totawar and Raghuram paper, cited above, talked about an interesting case study: “Once a CEO was asked by an employee as to why the company is not having a gym like others do? The answer was: ‘We respect your family and personal time like no one else, and hence do not want to block that with these temptations within the premises’.”

A “great manager,” then, apart from being super-efficient, skilful, empathetic, considerate, is ever mindful of the team member’s overall well-being.

It has been argued that given India’s unique place in the world, the Indian manager probably has a lot to offer to the world. In their recent book, “The Made-in-India Manager,” R Gopalakrishnan and Ranjan Banerjee argued that “the unique set of experiences that India provides, can be leveraged to succeed in a global environment”. They argued that “modest upbringing”, “humility”, “adaptability” were some of the key soft skills that gave a Made-in-India Manager a huge advantage over global counterparts.

A “great manager” is not just an asset; he is often the reason why employees stay on for years in an organization or quit.

When M S Dhoni was not even 30, the IFIM Business School in Bangalore made case study on Dhoni’s leadership skills a compulsory paper in the curriculum. Dhoni, a larger-than-life sporting legend, is also widely regarded as a great leader and manager. Indian cricketing star K L Rahul was recently quoted as having said that Dhoni’s team members would give their lives for their captain – such was the loyalty he commanded. A great manager, similarly, helps shape a cohesive — and deeply committed workforce — absolutely aligned with the long-term objectives of the organization.

So, next time you take a close, hard look at the organizational structure, and the overall employee engagement and employee experience, you may like to focus more on the manager. The manager today is a key resource who helps shape employee engagement, employee experience, and a great manager helps colleagues work towards fulfilling career objectives, while meeting organizational goals and targets. The great manager, then, is what distinguishes a great organisation from mediocre organisations.

Managers are not the demons we are looking for in India’s BFSI sector

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BFSI Industry -
The Scenario Today in India

That leaders are known by the number of leaders they produce is a truism.

In businesses, great managers – and hence true leaders — are the drivers of growth, stability, and prosperity. They make the workforce future-ready. Over a period of time, many of them are remembered as iconic managers and leaders.

Talking about the BFSI space in India, if one were to go by a few viral videos or a few ongoing high-profile legal cases about alleged irregularities/malpractices, one may be tempted to paint a rather depressing picture of the sector.

Traditionally, in India, the famed Indian “entrepreneurial genius” has been somewhat missing in the BFSI space, as some would argue. The sector has not really been known for “super efficiency” either, as some others would argue.

What does our research say?

Unlike the picture that some of the recent sting operations style viral videos paint, 91.2% of the managers were rated as respectful managers in our recent research. The research asked 8783 workers from the BFSI sector in India to rate their people managers on 21 questions representing a total of 1579 unique people managers.

We plotted these 1579 managers on a care-competence matrix and arrived at four types of managers.

4 types of managers

Consider this: Of the 8783 workers from the BFSI sector in India surveyed, a whopping 91.2% rated their respective managers as “respectful managers.” The said workers were managed by 1579 unique people managers. The workers were asked 21 questions in the survey.

As seen in the distribution, these managers are scattered across the matrix and only 12% of them are yelling their way to accomplishments.

4 types of managers with graph

Does this key finding reflect, in part, the optimism, excitement, and energy that the Indian BFSI sector has exuded lately?

The BFSI space is buzzing and a number of positives today are cited – “stressed balance sheets of the banks are a problem of the past”, and “India is among the fastest growing fintech markets in the world today,” to name two.

The sector is not without its share of challenges, though. They are, however, more in the nature of long-term challenges. The banks reported a staff turnover in excess of 30%, last year. At a larger level, it’s often argued that the BFSI sector is probably guided more by short-term imperatives.

Like individuals, organisations may too begin by focusing on strengths rather than weaknesses. What are the current collective leadership strengths of India’s BFSI sector as represented by these 1579 managers?

We have highlighted 4 areas in which 90% or more managers were found to be generating positive experiences.

What are most managers good at

The research findings help one gain a nuanced perspective on the BFSI sector in this backdrop. What cannot be measured, cannot be assessed or improved. In this study, reassuringly, only 12.98% of the Managers were assessed to be “inconsistent” in 10 or more than 10 of the total 21 behavioural traits studied. On average a manager got all 5s on 4.26 areas

Manager Ratings

56% of the Managers were perceived to be “competent”.

For a sector that promises to deliver a lot more in the months and years ahead, this research offers valuable insights.

What can organisations in the BFSI Industry do to create robust leadership pipelines for the future?

If India boasts of the world’s fourth-largest bank today, it’s courtesy of the energy that the ecosystem has come to be identified with, lately.

To cite another example, it’s only recently that India’s second-largest NBFC was formed. Surely, in this era of promise and optimism, consolidation and delivery, staff attrition shouldn’t be allowed to become a major problem. In fact, a talent pool of leaders and great managers should be developed to carry forward the good work.

This research, then, helps one identify good people leaders and makes a case for retaining them long-term. The survey also argues for grooming and developing high-potential managers in the now-buzzing sector.

Granular data, as arrived at through the research, can be used for leadership development and personalisation. This can also be used to weed out toxic managers from the workforce.

If India’s BFSI sector is to be guided by long-term objectives instead of just short-term imperatives, if the fintech industry is to touch the projected output of $ 1 trillion by 2030, sectoral people managers and leaders must lead by example, and they must lead from the front. To make that happen, the Survey findings provide a roadmap of sorts. It also calls for action – guided by a long-term plan.

How can Great Manager Institute® help organisations in BFSI industry to create a robust people leadership pipeline for the future?

Great Manager Institute® can help business leaders concerned with building a leadership pipeline for their organisations with such nuanced analysis using our Leadership Analytics and Development Platform. This approach allows you to take a more surgical approach to build leadership capability and secure the future of leadership across the organisation.

How GMI helps in leadership development and succession planning

Leadership blindspots – leaders don’t know what they don’t know

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Executive Summary

This study was conducted to recognize and understand some of the major blindspots carried by the people managers in India. For this purpose, GMI launched an AI powered self-assessment and team feedback survey and gathered responses from around 4296 people managers and their team members. The data was collected over a period of 6 months. The study reveals that most managers display ‘blindspots’ on critical people management competencies like communicating candidly, involvement in decision making, caring for others, being reliable and setting right expectations.

A staggering gap was found between how people managers see themselves and how their team members perceive them. Recognizing these blind spots is a first and a crucial step towards bridging this gap. Basis this, HR leaders can tailor relevant interventions to build more self-awareness among people managers. Read more to delve deeper.

A leadership blindspot refers to a hidden or unrecognized area of weakness that a leader possesses, which can hamper their ability to make effective decisions or lead their team successfully. Most of the times, leaders are unaware that they are making a mistake, and it is often because of a blind spot. This ‘lack of awareness’ can arise from various factors, including personality traits, biases, or simply lack of experience.

Robert Bruce Shaw has done a comprehensive work on ‘Leadership Blindspots’ and he defines it as an “unrecognized weakness or a threat with the potential to harm a leader and his or her organization”. Weaknesses that we are aware of aren’t likely to derail us from our goals. However, the weaknesses that we have turned blind to are the dangerous ones and need to be recognized and fixed. These blindspots can manifest in many ways such as:

Lack of self-awareness

Some leaders may not recognize their own strengths and weaknesses, leading them to overestimate their abilities or underestimate the impact of their actions on others. It is said that “leadership without self-awareness is like a ship without a compass- destined to drift aimlessly in turbulent waters”.

Tunnel vision

Leaders may focus too narrowly on certain aspects of a problem or situation, ignoring other important factors that could impact their decisions.

Overconfidence or arrogance

A leader’s excessive confidence can prevent them from seeking input from others or considering alternative viewpoints. Other experts of this subject Shaw and Karen Blakeley also found out in their research that one of the most common causes of leadership blind spots is pride bordering arrogance.

Inadequate understanding of the team

Leaders may fail to understand the individual strengths and potential of their team members, which can result in assigning tasks that are not suited to their abilities, resulting in failure.

Identifying Blindspots: Uncovering the unknowns

Identification of blindspots is challenging yet necessary and the good part is, it is possible to do that. It is not a one-time process rather it is an ongoing process which requires leaders to be open-minded and show commitment towards continuous self-improvement. Here are some strategies that can help leaders become more aware of their blindspots

Self- reflection

Encourage your leaders to reflect on their leadership style, behaviour and decision-making process and ask them to create their own Johari window. Johari window is a technique designed to help people better understand their relationship with themselves and others.

Seeking feedback from others

Actively seek feedback from your team members, peers, and superiors. Create an environment where people feel comfortable providing honest and constructive feedback. Anonymous surveys or one-on-one conversations can be effective in gaining insights into areas where your leaders may have blindspots. Once this is done, the responses can be compared against leader’s self-reflection to determine if there’s any misalignment.

Use reliable and valid assessments and tools

Some leadership assessments and tools are designed to identify blindspots. These tools can help you gain insights into your leadership strengths and weaknesses, making it easier to spot areas where your leaders might have blindspots.

Have a diverse network

Being surrounded with people of diverse background will provide a fresh and diverse perspective to the leaders and will help uncover some of their blindspots.

Conduct leadership development interventions

Organize leadership training and development programs that focus on self-awareness and emotional intelligence. These programs can help you uncover blindspots and develop strategies to address them.

Let’s move on to read more about the study participants and methodology of this study.

Study Participants and Methodology

The study saw the participation of 4296 people managers and their team members from various organizations in India. Participants used GMI’s AI-powered people leadership assessment and development platform and completed a self-assessment questionnaire which was then followed by an anonymous team feedback survey (appendix 1). Our approach is inspired by the heuristic exercise created by psychologists Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham – Johari Window, to help participants (people managers in this case) uncover and understand their leadership blindspots.

Both the self-assessment and the team feedback is based on a psychometrically reliable and valid people leadership assessment instrument that measures managers on 17 dimensions pertaining to people management competencies. These dimensions fall under three broad categories – Connect, Develop & Inspire in a framework. The framework helps in understanding how well do you connect with your team, develop their skills and inspire them to bring out the best in them (figure 1 ).

CDI Framework
Figure 1: Connect-Develop-Inspire Framework

Findings and Observations

The data (Table 1) reveals that people managers display an optimism bias1 on people management competencies like communicating candidly, involvement in decision making, caring for others, being reliable and setting right expectations. This indicates the presence of some unrecognized weakness which managers aren’t aware of- ‘people managers think they are doing a great job whereas their team members think otherwise. This is certainly an area of concern which need to be addressed.

Table 1 - Blindspots Heatmap
1 Optimism Bias is a tendency to overestimate the likelihood of positive outcomes and downplay the possibility of negative ones. While an optimistic viewpoint can be helpful in motivating people to take chances and pursue their goals, unrealistic expectations and lack of awareness may cast some uncertainties

The heatmap below presents a clear picture of how the team feedback analytics dashboard looks like. The shades of red point to a higher disparity between managers’ self-perception and their team members’ perceptions of various dimensions indicating the presence of leadership blindspots.

Blindspots Heatmap
Figure 3 - Leadership Blindspots HeatMap

As per the data, five major leadership blindspots were identified for the dimensions mentioned below.

  1. Candid Communication
  2. Involvement in Decisions
  3. Reliability
  4. Care for Individual
  5. Expectation Setting

Each of these dimensions were found to be significant blindspots for 70% or more than 70% managers. For rest of the dimensions, the trends were reversed where most of the team members rated their managers more favourably. Let’s delve deeper into each of these 5 dimensions and look at some of the ways to fix the gap.

Candid communication

Candid communication is perhaps the most powerful tool used by the leaders as well as team members to exchange views and important information. It plays a pivotal role in fostering a healthy and transparent work environment. It is particularly important for the leaders to communicate regularly, clearly and effectively with their team members – mainly because leaders are seen as the main figure who set standards and expectations, give instructions and guidance to carry out important tasks and take important decisions, impacting the entire team as well as business. A large part of communication is also listening to their team members’ feedback, ideas and concerns.

Present study revealed a substantial difference between the scores of managers and their team members indicating that leaders believe their communication to be very open, inclusive and fair whereas the team members feel otherwise. Absence of candid communication has its own downside and may lead to:

Conflicts

Candid communication helps ironing out differences between leaders and team members. However, absence of open communication would result in misunderstandings and unresolved issues leading to conflicts.

Lack of problem-solving

While open communication enables employees to discuss challenges, bottlenecks, and obstacles without fear of retribution. Absence of it will result in lack of discussions around any challenge or issue amounting to the big problems. Openness in communication allows for collaborative problem-solving, where multiple perspectives and solutions can be considered, leading to better decisions.

Lack of innovation and creativity

When employees feel safe to share their thoughts and ideas openly, it fosters the culture of innovation and creativity. However, when team members do not feel comfortable expressing their thoughts and viewpoints openly, the free flow of ideas get hindered compromising innovation and creativity.

More room for grapevines

In an environment of open communication, there is less room for rumours and gossip to spread. Employees are more likely to rely on accurate information rather than hearsay. However, when communication channels are restricted, team members rely on half-baked information leading to gossips.

To make managers aware of this blindspot, various interventions can be developed such as some programs on improving candid communication which will leave leaders with some food for thought. Managers need to be encouraged to have open dialogues with their team members. Furthermore, creating channels for feedback, such as timely surveys, suggestion boxes, or regular meetings, can also facilitate candid communication among people managers.

Involvement in decisions

When managers involve others in decision-making, it leads to more robust, well-rounded, and inclusive choices, improving the overall effectiveness of an organization. However, not involving others in decision making process is a major blindspot; managers believe that they ‘know all’ and don’t need diverse perspectives to decide upon something. This exclusion of others has its own repercussions like, reduced buy-in and engagement from the team members, higher risk of errors and oversights, missed innovation opportunities and lack of diverse perspectives.

Managers may consciously include others in decision making process; a regular, timely session with team members having varied roles, expertise, and experiences can provide valuable and well-rounded information that those directly involved might miss. This practice will also facilitate a culture of collaboration, transparency, and shared responsibility, essential ingredients of growth and progress.

Reliability

Becoming a more reliable leader is crucial for building trust and credibility among team members and stakeholders.  Being reliable means consistently following through the commitments and remain ethical and predictable in actions and decisions. Unfortunately, in the present study, a gap has been found between managers’ and team members’ perceptions which isn’t a good sign. Team members look up to their leaders and want to follow their path, however, in case, team members find their leaders to be inconsistent, their morale and confidence plummet, leading to doubts and uncertainties. Organizations may help leaders by conducting personalized sessions on self-reflection, integrity and trust. This can be followed by a personalized coaching by an expert.  By gaining insights and by practising to be consistent, leaders may become more dependable and trustworthy.

Caring for others

Caring for others is a fundamental aspect of leadership that leads to positive outcomes at both individual and organizational levels. A caring leader creates a supportive and empowering environment, where team members can thrive successfully, leading to increased performance and job satisfaction. Caring for others is also closely related to emotional intelligence, another critical leadership skill. It is usually said that leaders with high emotional intelligence can understand and empathize with their team members’ emotions, helping them address challenges and conflicts more effectively.

The data here highlights the gap between managers and team members indicating that team members expect more care and support from their managers while managers believe that they are already providing a good support! Managers are oblivious of the needs of their team members and thus not able to establish that bond!

To address this, managers need to prioritize the well-being of their team members, need to provide guidance, support, and opportunities for learning and advancement. Casual team catch-ups would help managers create that bond with their team members leading to more open and candid conversations. Further, managers may personally chat with a member having issues. Organization may also arrange for some emotional intelligence sessions to encourage managers to be more aware and cater to others’ emotional needs.

Setting expectations

Setting expectations is a foundational, interactive process through which leaders give directions to the team members about the goals to be achieved, Key Result Areas to be met and clarity around what is expected from the team members. Not setting expectations can be a significant leadership blind spot! The present study highlights the fact that leaders think that they have set the expectations right however team members have different opinion regarding the same which may have adverse repercussions. When expectations are not clearly communicated by the leaders, team members may not properly understand what is expected of them. This lack of clarity can lead to confusion and uncertainty about their roles and responsibilities, which can result in suboptimal performance and productivity. It is important that leaders define roles, responsibilities, goals, and performance standards very clearly and keep checking the progress. Communicating these expectations transparently will foster a positive work environment, empower team members, and will have positive impact on the productivity and growth.

Why does measuring leadership capabilities matter?

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The term ‘leader’ is believed to have originated from the old English word ‘læden’, which means to guide. Leadership and leading are ongoing processes. Becoming a leader doesn’t mean one won’t be evaluated, checked or held accountable anymore. If anything, leaders come under a microscopic lens and to some extent have to prove themselves worthy of the position they have been promoted to. Leaders must hold themselves to a higher standard and organisations/companies should also create ways through which leadership capabilities are measured.

Measuring leadership capabilities matters in every area of our life, be it in school when students are given specific positions of responsibility. For example- prefects, house captains, sports captains, debate team captains etcetera. They have to prove themselves worthy and then are granted the leadership role. They’re evaluated by teachers, students, and team members throughout their tenure and if they aren’t up to the mark, they’re replaced.

In the corporate world, however, it is slightly difficult for organisations/companies to simply replace or remove a leader. It not only shows an increase in staff turnover, but it also reduces morale and weighs heavily on a particular business. Therefore, companies no matter how big or small cannot afford to lose out on leaders. Instead, it must keep certain measures in place.

To succeed and grow in the competitive business world, there is a clear-cut need for the assessment of leaders and leadership qualities.

What is Leadership Measurement?

It is a comprehensive procedure to identify and evaluate a leader’s abilities as they are involved in influencing, leading, directing and motivating their teammates. It is required as leadership skills ‘oil the wheels of a company’s growth and success. The better a company knows its leaders, strengths and weaknesses, the more time and money can be invested in helping it perform better and thus helping everyone perform well.

It matters as it helps in

Identifying and Creating Effective Leaders

To find leaders companies must already have a list of what they’re looking for a leader. Making a list of basic skills like- the ability to work under pressure, conflict resolution skills, unbiased attitude/behaviour and other specialisations can help companies find and create an effective leader. The program will also help in working on the weaknesses of potential leaders and once leaders have been equipped with the important tools, they can take up specific projects and see them through.

Planning for the Future

We continue to live in uncertain times and we make plans for the future in every area of our lives. Companies must do the same. Under fortunate circumstances, a leadership position opens up when they reach the age of retirement.

In such cases, companies have time to prepare for the future, invest in a junior employee, and equip them to succeed someone else. But with all that is happening around us, companies must not wait for a leader’s retirement age to come close. It not only wastes time but also shows the company’s casual and laid-back attitude. Keeping a leadership measure in place matters here as it will ensure smooth easy transitioning and smooth sailing of the company.

Setting a Standard

Ensuring that a leader’s or all leaders’ capabilities are regularly measured sends a message. Everyone loves positive feedback, we love to hear praises for the work that we do. It primarily makes us feel good and encourages us to do better.

Keeping certain measures in place leads to the creation of a cycle, employees know that they are being assessed and measured which urges them to do better and when they perform well they are rewarded in different ways. It could be in the form of positive feedback, a trophy, a raise or a promotion. Therefore, leadership measurement helps ensure that all employees perform well.

Implementing a Positive Work Environment

I would like to start this point with an example. Companies like Great Manager Institute ® and Great Place to Work ® give importance to their work environment. Having a healthy, positive work culture is at the core of their being.  They keep up this environment by assessing their leader’s capabilities to follow the company’s principles. A leader’s ability to implement positivity is a part of their Leadership Measurement Program. It allows them to check whether or not their leaders are adhering to the same.

Anticipating and Eliminating Risks

It makes an organisation’s priorities crystal clear. If you’re trying to create a culture of accountability, adding it to the company roster is a great way to start. Showcasing it as something that your organisation values are the best way to show employees that you’re serious about it. If you consider accountability a core value, it’s easier to hold your employees to it. Your expectations from them will be clear from their first day and vice versa. For example, when it comes time to conduct a performance review with a direct report, you can discuss if they’re living out the company’s core values. If they’re not acting accountable, you’ll have the perfect opportunity to encourage change.

Leading By Example

If you’re trying to create a culture of accountability, adding it to the company roster is a great way to start. Showcasing it as something that your organisation values is the best way to show employees that you’re serious about it. If you consider accountability a core value, it’s easier to hold your employees to it. Your expectations from them will be clear from their first day and vice versa. For example, when it comes time to conduct a performance review with a direct report, you can discuss if they’re living out the company’s core values. If they’re not acting accountable, you’ll have the perfect opportunity to encourage change.

Let Accountability Trickle Down

Everyone isn’t equipped to be a project manager or leader. However, every employee should have a sense of accountability and responsibility towards their roles. To be responsible and accountable, employees need to have their own individual goals and performance metrics. For example, you and your team have begun a new project and one of the team members isn’t ready to lead a whole campaign, but they can be responsible for certain tasks related to the bigger project.

You can help them by setting goals like, “write four emails with a 20% open rate.” This goal contributes to the overall campaign, but they can have total ownership over the results. They can write the emails, build them in the email software, and hit send. If the emails don’t perform, the marketing coordinator can then take full responsibility for the problem or error and try again.

Encourage and Celebrate Employees.

The measurement of leadership capabilities matters in this area the most. Finding potential leaders is not and should not be the sole concern of a company. Assessing and eliminating risks if need be should also be a priority. Ineffective leaders, or leaders who don’t suit your brand can cause major damage. Not identifying them or not measuring leaders can lead to poor decision-making, poor performances, losses, negativity and decreased productivity to name a few consequences.

The above-mentioned points are a few reasons why measuring leaders and their performance matters and are important. There are various other reasons for capabilities to be measured. It is important for all of us as we cannot stay in one place, in one stage in one step of our lives. Individually, we all must assess and measure our capabilities. We must not be disappointed by our negative results (if any) but must see them as an opportunity to work on ourselves and move forward. Companies must encourage assessments and measurement of the capabilities and performances of all employees as it is the only way to move forward and succeed.

Creating a Culture of Accountability in the Workplace

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In simple words, accountability means the willingness to accept responsibility for your actions. Taking responsibility for your actions or following up on what you said you would do is considered a positive characteristic and is needed, especially in the workplace. A culture of accountability is one in which employees are held accountable for the completion of tasks and for working together to achieve goals and solve problems. Accountability means showing up and doing the things you committed to. It’s about taking personal responsibility for your work, trusting your teammates and knowing that you can count on each other for the completion of tasks. Such a  culture involves clear expectations and goals, open lines of communication and strong leadership.

Why must we create a culture of accountability and what does it look like?

It is a characteristic trait that cannot be ignored and inculcation of the same must be encouraged at all levels. Everyone working for an organisation, right from say an intern or a fresh out of college employee to the founder, director or anyone who holds a powerful position. Being an accountable employee breeds positive results. As a manager or a boss, your employees trust you they know that they can rely on you. In terms of work, accountability breeds productivity and completion of tasks/projects on time. It develops better relationships and eliminates surprises and at times hostility as well.

If accountability isn’t part of workplace culture, the organisation will face issues in employee performance and engagement. Plus, if employees can always escape criticism by making excuses, they won’t grow. They won’t feel compelled to do better for their teams. Accountability in the workplace is a necessity as both businesses and individuals — need to be outcome-focused. Whatever your goal may be, no matter how big or small you won’t be able to accomplish it without accountability. 

In addition, employees require clear communication to thrive. They need to know what is expected of them and without those expectations, employee engagement will drop — and if employees aren’t engaged, studies suggest that they may quit.. A lack of accountability will make that problem worse. If you want to boost engagement, performance, and job satisfaction, employee accountability must be your top priority. Accountability doesn’t mean you pick someone to place the blame on. Instead, you put in efforts to create a culture of accountability that rewards employees for taking personal responsibility. If you do that, you’ll experience the endless benefits of accountability in the workplace.

It isn’t just about owning up to mistakes and learning from them, it’s more than laying out your contributions to the team or organisation. It also includes being transparent, that you have no problems in say for example:- giving updates on a particular task being performed, you don’t feel that ‘oh! Why should I answer to them’, It shows that you’re not egotistical and makes it easier for others to work with you. Your response or commitment makes everyone else follow in terms of giving updates or answering questions when asked.

What does accountability or being accountable look like?

Punctuality

You and your employees/teammates show up on time. Show up in time for a regular work day at the office, for meetings and deliver results on time. Besides being punctual you and your employees don’t make excuses for being tardy. Unless and until there’s a serious reason (like public transportation breakdown or delay, health emergency or a family emergency). If the above-mentioned ethic is prevalent in your workplace you have nothing to worry about.

Honesty

As a manager or a boss, you create an environment in which your employees can be honest with you. It makes employees feel safe enough to tell you what tasks they can complete or what they can accomplish and what they might not be able to do. It helps in avoiding confusion and anxiety and helps in the completion of tasks on time.

Vulnerability

An example of your workplace and employees being accountable is when you see vulnerabilities. Employees admit their mistakes instead of trying to cover them up and they ask for help when needed.

Communication

You and your teammates don’t hesitate to communicate. Even if the team is in a messy situation, everyone has the courage to sit down and have difficult conversations. Teams do this only when they know their responsibilities towards their teams and their workplace.

How can an accountable culture be created?

By making accountability a core value of your organisation

It makes an organisation’s priorities crystal clear. If you’re trying to create a culture of accountability, adding it to the company roster is a great way to start. Showcasing it as something that your organisation values are the best way to show employees that you’re serious about it. If you consider accountability a core value, it’s easier to hold your employees to it. Your expectations from them will be clear from their first day and vice versa. For example, when it comes time to conduct a performance review with a direct report, you can discuss if they’re living out the company’s core values. If they’re not acting accountable, you’ll have the perfect opportunity to encourage change.

Leading By Example

If you’re trying to create a culture of accountability, adding it to the company roster is a great way to start. Showcasing it as something that your organisation values is the best way to show employees that you’re serious about it. If you consider accountability a core value, it’s easier to hold your employees to it. Your expectations from them will be clear from their first day and vice versa. For example, when it comes time to conduct a performance review with a direct report, you can discuss if they’re living out the company’s core values. If they’re not acting accountable, you’ll have the perfect opportunity to encourage change.

Let Accountability Trickle Down

Everyone isn’t equipped to be a project manager or leader. However, every employee should have a sense of accountability and responsibility towards their roles. To be responsible and accountable, employees need to have their own individual goals and performance metrics. For example, you and your team have begun a new project and one of the team members isn’t ready to lead a whole campaign, but they can be responsible for certain tasks related to the bigger project.

You can help them by setting goals like, “write four emails with a 20% open rate.” This goal contributes to the overall campaign, but they can have total ownership over the results. They can write the emails, build them in the email software, and hit send. If the emails don’t perform, the marketing coordinator can then take full responsibility for the problem or error and try again.

Encourage and Celebrate Employees.

A crucial step to building accountability in the workplace is celebrating and rewarding employees who demonstrate it. Positive reinforcement is the best way to encourage change, and the workplace is no different.

Employees can be encouraged in the following ways:- make positive examples out of those who practice accountability, include accountability as a criterion for promotions, publicly thank them or feature employees on social media with a story about their show of accountability, sponsor professional development opportunities for employees who take responsibility for things they still need to learn and, have regular check-ins with employees so that you can provide feedback and help them grow.

Your team’s approach to accountability can have an impact on every aspect of work. Accountability encourages healthy work relationships, improves job satisfaction, and helps teams work effectively together. Mastering team accountability can help teams have better performance discussions and hold each other accountable in a more supportive way, too. It inspires individuals to exceed their goals and improve their performance, and it’s intrinsically linked to results and revenue.

Managing Conflict in the Workplace: Strategies for Resolving Disputes

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Conflict or strife, as much as we try to avoid it somehow manages to make its way into our personal and professional lives. Trying to avoid the same may worsen a situation. Conflicts in general are disruptive and the prolonged ones tend to have a severe impact on the team or the company altogether, depending on the nature and intensity of the same. The world is evolving and the workplace is striving to be inclusive, We see people from different backgrounds, cities, ethnicities, languages etcetera become a part of a single organisation. Based on several intersectionalities, the chances of conflicts occurring are relatively low.  It may cause frustration and discomfort, impact performances, and may lead to attrition and loss. It has an impact on the morale of the organisation as well. We can’t make sure that no dispute or issue ever occurs but we can equip ourselves with tools to manage the same.

One thing we must keep in mind is that individuals deal with or face conflicts in different ways. Some people are confrontational and like to address issues in the moment while others prefer not speaking up or addressing their issues at all. Some people also find it difficult to let go of certain things while some don’t say or do anything at all despite feeling that they have been wronged. Therefore, instead of trying to prevent conflicts managers must be trained and equipped with the knowledge or methods that help resolve conflict efficiently.

When leaders use the appropriate means to solve issues they reduce the chances of the issues resurfacing. Creating a program or a segment that addresses conflict resolution is fundamental, it shows that a company prioritises a stress-free positive environment and that they are serious about dealing with such situations. Managing and solving conflict is integral to a business or a workplace as it distinguishes good businesses from bad ones.

The first step to resolving and/or managing  conflicts is 

Clarity

Making yourself aware of the reason or reasons for a conflict is the first and most important step to solving the same. Once you become aware of the problem that both sides may have, it is imperative to dive deeper and know the root cause of a conflict. Defining the cause helps in understanding how it all started. Ensure you obtain as much information as possible on each side’s outlook. Continue asking questions until you are confident that all the conflicting parties understand the issue. Once you know both sides or multiple sides it becomes easier to solve an issue. All the parties involved can then be brought together, the manager serves as the mediator and makes their way to a solution.

Confidentiality and Safety

Conflicts involve two or more sides. While trying to resolve conflicts a manager or a leader has to be neutral and unbiased. One must ensure that they ‘don’t carry tails’. Once one party confides in you, whatever they have confided should not be spread among other employees, it should only be relayed to seniors if required. Such discussions should also take place in private spaces, both parties involved must be taken aside, into a manager’s office or a place where the party concerned is comfortable. The mental well-being of the parties involved must be taken into account. It helps in building trust thus, making it a little easier to reach a solution.

Be an active listener

Once you’ve heard all the sides or perspectives of those involved, bring the parties involved together. Before you proceed with conflict resolution establish a few ground rules first. For example, you as a manager will not be taking sides in cases where it isn’t required, all sides will be heard first, and no one will interrupt anyone while they speak so on and so forth. ​​Give each party equal time to express their thoughts and concerns without favouring the other. Embrace a positive and assertive approach while in the meeting. This approach will allow all parties to articulate their thoughts openly and honestly as well as comprehend the causes of the conflict and identify solutions.

Once this discussion ends, don’t be in a hurry to reach a decision, take some time to completely understand the gravity of the situation and involve higher-ups if required. Avoid saying anything in anyone’s favour or making specific statements until and unless it is required.

Investigate on your own

Being an active listener helps in understanding how the parties involved feel, especially when the discussions take place in person. After which you must dig deeper and find out more about the happenings, involved parties, the issues, and how people feel about this particular situation. Have individual and confidential conversations with those involved and make sure you listen and understand completely. To make sure you are aware of what’s going on you can summarize their statements and replicate them back to them. Also, try finding any underlying conflict sources that may not be evident or noticeable at first.

Common Goal

After you’ve heard all the parties involved and have found things out on your own, you must start the conversation about meeting a common goal, about reaching an end to a particular conflict. So after your investigation, with all the parties involved, try to determine ways through which the problem can be solved.

Run ideas through each party and try to find common ground, try to find solutions everyone can agree upon. After which you can assign certain responsibilities to everyone, responsibilities if followed would ensure that a particular conflict is over for good. 

As a manager, a few things must be kept in mind while facing/dealing with conflicts. The first and most important one is being objective and unbiased. Managers must strive to possess such qualities. It makes one reliable and trustworthy, both your superiors and team members can rely on you to make beneficial decisions, decisions that may go on to benefit the team initially and the organisation as a whole.

Another factor you must be aware of is your mindset as a manager, When you see a conflict or a dispute emerging between 2 employees or more, try and have a positive outlook. A mindset like that of knowing you and your employees can overcome this issue. Once your employees or team members see this attitude in you, they too will be encouraged to try and solve problems. The last factor is to encourage active and healthy communication.

Irrespective of the condition or attitude of your team, each and every one must have an open line of communication and understanding. It helps in the smooth sailing of a team and avoiding conflicts as well.

Attract & Retain Employees with a Leadership Development Program

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“To sustain success in today’s rapidly shifting global economy, you need to be a confident decision-maker, skilled strategist, global thinker, and effective change agent”.- Howard Bussiness School

Attracting and Retaining employees in today’s competitive world has become a difficult task. Every organisation irrespective of its scale/size suffers from the consequences of rapid changes in all areas of our lives. Such circumstances require all organisations/companies to have a leadership development program that will allow everyone to face any challenge that comes their way.

The common challenge companies face today is that of attracting and retaining employees. Attracting employees is easy compared to retaining them. They can be attracted by maintaining an open healthy work culture/environment, being transparent with how their career can progress in your company, and offering reasonable working hours and pay. Employee retention is a critical issue for organizations primarily because employee turnover can be costly and can negatively impact productivity and morale. However, retaining them through a leadership development programme is what we wish to share with you.

First things first, a leadership development programme must be strategic and one that suits your employees and your company, it must suit the aim and employees of the same. Leadership development programs help organisations cultivate and use the talent they already have. Companies must invest in internal growth and train employees for the better, training them to take on tasks they were hesitant to take on earlier. Your program will determine whether employees wish to stay or leave at the first opportunity because such programs have a significant impact on employee engagement and retention. Programs must include-

Improved Job Satisfaction

Leadership programs can improve employee satisfaction and engagement by providing them with a sense of purpose and by guiding them in the right direction. Programs must be designed in such a way that the goals, aims, and aspirations of a particular company are crystal clear. Making it a little less difficult and also helps in utilising time efficiently. Employees in this way are aware of what they have to do and are aware of their purpose in a particular workplace.

Loyalty

Loyalty is a two-way street, leadership programs can help in building a stronger sense of loyalty among employees by appreciating and motivating them. It’s like you appreciate employees who perform well through rewards and recognition and these rewards further encourage them to do better to take their work to the next level. Thus, keeping them engaged and loyal to the company.

Boosting Morale

Strategic leadership programs can improve employee morale. This positivity can translate into increased productivity and decreased turnover. Develop plans in such a way that they help in developing people. Training is important but developing and working on employees’ strengths is what makes them feel valued. It lets them know that the company is investing in them which makes them confident and they are more likely to not only perform better but stay in the company as well. They also end up setting an example for other employees, thus, motivating them to do better as well.

Developing plans that cater to specific needs

Programs must also look into tackling certain specific issues like gender, caste, creed, race, sexuality and religion-based discrimination in the workplace. It must be progressive and make space for all folks. It is imperative for programs and companies to rid themselves of any sort of biases in order to attract, retain and engage employees in the 21st-century workplace.

Creating strategic leadership development programs will have a profound impact on your company. Initiatives like conducting leadership training programs, conducting meetings and events that promote equality and diversity, and encouraging women, differently-abled people and others who face discrimination based on various factors will go a long way. It will show that a company values all and reflects a positive work environment and prioritises the development, growth and success of all.

Best Ways to Collect Employee Feedback

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The Oxford English Dictionary defines feedback as advice, criticism or information about how good or valuable something or someone’s work is. It is helpful information that can improve someone’s performance in the workplace or anywhere else. As employees, we anxiously wait for feedback from our managers or bosses. We learn to take it in our stride and as information that will help us move and perform better in the future. We must remember that feedback is a two-way street, collecting employee feedback is as essential as employers giving feedback. 

Eric Robinson, the blog author, ‘Why Employee Feedback is Important, How to Give and Receive it’ (https://www.hotjar.com/blog/employee-feedback/#5-strategies-for-giving-effective-actionable-employee-feedback)

defines Employee feedback as- ‘any information exchanged by employees regarding their performance, skills or ability to work within a team’. He considers giving and receiving feedback an essential part of an organisation’s long-term success. He says that ‘companies are built on professional relationships and the strongest relationships are built on effective communication’. Despite the nature of the feedback i.e. positive, constructive, and negative feedback, it is necessary as it facilitates effective communication and helps understand the challenges a team may face. It offers support and realigns priorities and overall allows a manager to do better. Collecting and accepting feedback, and being open and adaptable to the needs of one’s team makes a manager a leader.

Employee feedback can be collected only when you have created a comfortable environment– safe and inclusive workplaces where employees can freely express their issues and opinions is the first step to take if one wants candid feedback. Employees must know that their opinion matters, they must know that their ideas, perspectives and questions are valuable and that they contribute to the overall success of the company. (https://officevibe.com/blog/how-get-employee-feedback)

As stated above, feedback is a two-way street, and for a team to thrive, management must also learn to take feedback in the right spirit. Nora St-Aubin an SEO Technical writer talks about building an enabling loop. A loop in which feedback is continuous, concerns and comments are analysed and then an informed decision is made. This supports the team and encourages innovation, productivity and creativity.

Giving timely and live feedback is also important. Mental health experts often advise against bottling up one’s feelings or emotions. Similarly, feedback, especially negative ones should not be bottled up or given annually. The negative feedback tends to grow into a major issue and when it is shared after weeks or months it makes the person on the receiving end defensive. It also deprives the receiver of time and the opportunity to work on their weaknesses and thus, wastes time. 

In the workplace, we have been able to narrow down, the ways or methods through which employee feedback can be collected. Some of them are:-

New Employee Surveys

The first three months of an employee at a new job are crucial for their engagement and satisfaction. Sending them a new employee survey helps in knowing their initial experience in the organisation. The survey can comprise questions related to how the work environment is, are their goals reasonable, how they’re settling in etcetera. Keep updating such surveys and gather feedback through other means as well. For instance, if your exit survey data indicates that poor manager relationships are responsible for a high 90-day turnover rate, ask new employees about manager relationships. (https://www.kallidus.com/resources/blog/8-ways-to-collect-employee-feedback/)

Employee Engagement Surveys

These should be distributed and collected quarterly and can be collected annually. This helps in gathering a large amount of employee feedback at once. They are easy to understand and can be used to collect specific information. They can be used to collect anything or everything that impacts employee satisfaction, engagement and, retention.

Stay Interviews

This can be used for high-performing individuals. They are an effective way of collecting feedback and the same can be used to retain such high-performing employees. This method requires managers to sit down with such employees and learn what they like most and least about their job, why they continue to work for you and what might make them leave.

The results of this interview can help in creating ‘stay plans’ for the top performers in your organization. They should outline opportunities for training and advancement, and address any other feedback discussed.

Pulse Surveys

This particular method is the best way to get and maintain a high-level view of what one’s team needs and feels in real time. Such surveys help in spotting fluctuations and help in keeping distributed teams in touch with each other and managers too.

Keeping a pulse on employee satisfaction with a weekly employee feedback survey helps in understanding how your employees feel and staying connected with your team members by discovering sore spots before they lead to larger challenges.

The above-mentioned methods are a few of the several methods one can use. However, it is important to know which method suits your team best. While some employees may be comfortable with offering candid feedback, some might prefer doing the same face-to-face and some might go for an anonymous, more private conversation/survey. Keeping in mind what your employees are comfortable with also goes to show that you respect their decisions and you will accept and reflect on the feedback they provide as well.

The Loneliness of the Good Manager

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The struggles of the manager lie neglected in the workplace mental health conversation. This must change.

The good manager is a lonely and vulnerable creature.

I repeatedly had this thought as I interviewed people last year for a story on how organisations treated employees living with grief. It hadn’t yet been a year since the brutal second wave of Covid. Even as the world limped towards recovery, many still struggled to pick up the pieces after seeing their loved ones die lonely deaths in isolation wards. For every Covid death, an estimated nine close family members had been left in grief. It was collective trauma at a catastrophic scale.

For workplaces, this posed a profound challenge. Neuroscientists talk about the ‘grief brain’ — an overwhelming state of loneliness, sadness, and confusion. Grief makes it difficult for the brain to concentrate, remember things, and process others’ perspectives. While you can’t put a price tag on human suffering, the World Economic Forum estimated that in the US alone, $942 billion of productivity and business growth had been directly affected by Covid-related grief.

I wanted to find out what employers were doing to help their people tide over this unprecedented crisis. Again and again, I heard stories that revealed that far too many of them had failed to create humane policies, systems, and structures. Instead, they pushed the responsibility of supporting distressed employees onto a few compassionate, but ultimately powerless, managers.

Fighting a battle against insensitive organisational cultures, these managers risked burnout and moral injury — the wound caused by the betrayal of one’s deeply held moral beliefs and values. Some of them even risked their own careers.

Consider what happened with Suman* and her boss. Suman had lost her mother to Covid, and her ageing father, who had several comorbidities, was also battling the infection. She had developed painful post-Covid complications herself. Still, she reported back at work — a human rights and social development nonprofit — within two weeks of her loss.

“But I found zero empathy from the organisation,” she told me. Instead, they asked her to travel for work, risking reinfection. “The stress triggered the worst anxiety attack of my life. I thought I was getting a heart attack.”

Suman’s reporting manager stepped up to protest the travesty. “She fought with the management to give me more time off so I could deal with my mother’s passing. But they told her, ‘No one needs so much time to grieve’.”

Suman decided she couldn’t continue in such a toxic workplace. And her manager had to leave as well.

Or take the story of Aditi, a journalist from Delhi who was bedridden with depression during the second wave of the pandemic. She felt that she was failing at work and wanted to resign — but her caring boss helped her get back on her feet.

“Not only did he grant me leave without any questions, he also took an interest in my treatment and encouraged me to do whatever I needed to feel better,” she told me. “It was such a huge relief.”

Aditi’s manager helped at least one other teammate survive a difficult phase. But he had to undertake all this emotional labour as a solitary Good Samaritan, with zero backing from the organisation.

“Even in the worst days of the pandemic, when journalists put their own lives at risk every day, we didn’t get a single email from the management,” Aditi said. 

Being a kind boss may be injurious to you

Stories like these blow the cover off a hushed-up corporate truth that long predates the pandemic: if you are a manager, being a decent human being may be bad for you. At the heart of it is the outdated, feudal idea that a ‘good’ manager must be unemotional and impersonal, and that putting humanity over productivity is somehow a sign of weakness.

Pop culture is saturated with the ‘evil boss’ stereotype, but what we don’t ask enough is, how do companies treat managers who want to break this mould?

In a LinkedIn poll for this piece, I asked managers: Have you ever felt that being a “nice and kind” boss works against you because your employer’s culture doesn’t appreciate those traits? Of the 27 people who chose to publicly share their view, 22 said yes.

One of them is Shaifila Ladhani, an independent psychotherapist who refuses to work in corporate setups after being let down as a manager by her bosses in earlier jobs. “One of the CEOs (pretty young) would constantly be rude to me, to ensure I knew how to treat people ‘under me’,” she commented. “I would have lunch with my colleagues, technically juniors, and it would warrant a meeting that I shouldn’t be so casual with ‘these people’ because they don’t respect me enough to maintain deadlines. And this is a ‘mental health’ organisation. But I used to work in advertising too, and it was a divide of ‘us vs them’ even there.”

Shaifila’s story reminded me of the time when a boss had taken me aside to complain that I was “too nice”, and that “lazy employees” were using my niceness as a cover. There was no objective measure to back up the allegation. My decision to eventually quit the job was largely down to this mismatch in fundamental values.

Where are the managers in the workplace mental health conversation?

Manager Mental Health Bad

To be sure, this is just one facet of a bigger problem that lies neglected in the increasingly loud conversation on ‘workplace mental health’: While it’s fantastic that we are talking more and more about the mental health struggles of employees, we lack sympathy for the travails of the manager.

Managers have a critical influence in shaping culture and performance — and data shows they urgently need help. For instance, in Microsoft’s Work Trend Index report from September 2022, which surveyed 20,000 people across 11 countries, 53% of managers reported feeling burnt out, compared with 48% of individual contributors.

In the Harvard Business Review, Microsoft’s Dawn Klinghoffer and Katie Kirkpatrick-Husk write that managers today are exhausted from a combination of high workload and limited resources. “While all employees can relate to this challenge, managers have the added responsibility of ensuring their team members get what they need to succeed, on top of doing their own work,” they explain. “Some of these demands may have shifted and expanded since the pandemic, as employees are looking for more meaning in their work and to better understand their purpose.”

Managers need feedback and support more than ever to adjust to this complex new world. “Yet based on our research they report receiving less coaching and development for their people management skills, and less recognition from their own managers,” they add.

In a world that venerates ‘strong’ leaders, managers are more likely to struggle quietly with their burden than be seen as complaining, AKA seeking help. In fact they could easily fall prey to the distorted belief that their internal struggle is inherent to performing their role well, says Sally Maitlis, professor of organisational behaviour and leadership at University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School.

Many leaders Maitlis spoke with believed that their job was to “put their game face on” despite their personal difficulties. They would try to find an escape by working harder and harder, becoming numb to their anxiety, sadness, fear, and exhaustion with time. Often, it would take them a devastating panic attack or a personal crisis — such as marital difficulties — to acknowledge that they have a problem.

Insecure and Disempowered

Perhaps the pandemic’s greatest psychological blow for managers was how it disrupted the ‘command and control’ style of leadership that they’d been conditioned to derive their power and self-worth from. (Which is one explanation why companies are wielding the whip to get their teams back to the office.)

The move away from physical offices towards a decentralised, digitalised, remote-work environment meant “you were just another brick on the Zoom screen,” said Indrajit Gupta, who was the founding editor of Forbes India and is now co-founder and director of Founding Fuel, a platform focused on entrepreneurship. “In the office you had your own cabin, you had a reserved spot in the car park. I have known bosses who decreed that employees were not to sit on their chairs in the conference room. Suddenly, they were forced to give up their privileges and become one of many. Also, they could no longer just pop into someone’s cubicle and make a decision.” And then there was the unfamiliar anxiety of whether their team members were being ‘productive’ away from their gaze.

One manager called Gupta to ask, “How do I know if they are working?” “I told him to keep in mind that they could ask the same question about him as well,” Gupta said. “So he should learn to trust them.”

But trust is a bridge too far when free-thinking managers who want to build an airier culture are made to suffocate their teams with micromanagement instead.

“We interacted with many leaders who had a gig mindset and wanted to promote a culture of entrepreneurial thinking within their firms,” said Gupta. “But they were made to spend 80% of their time on operational stuff. Every other day they’d have to conduct employee reviews [to make sure they were being productive]. They were trapped in a pressure-cooker situation.”

So yes, the good manager is a lonely and vulnerable creature. Can employers change that before the next humanitarian disaster forces them to?

Recommended Reading

Dying for a Paycheck – How Modern Management Harms Employee Health and Company Performance ―and What We Can Do About It by Jeffrey Pfeffer

‘The Privatisation of Stress’ by Mark Fisher

‘Opening up about his anxiety and depression helped this former Google executive be a better leader’ by Morra Aarons-Mele