Over the years, our team of consultants at OrgVitality has seen recurring patterns and themes in employee survey data and focus group discussions. Some are readily apparent; others are more nuanced and emerge only through careful analysis. All are useful to anyone working in the field of talent management. In the spirit of cooperation, we are sharing some of the most consistent themes we've seen over decades of survey work, with a new series, "People at Work." In this series, CEO Jeffrey Saltzman aims to organize these observations, although many insights cut across multiple categories.
For the fourth part of this series, we focus on leadership:
1. When rating senior leadership, frontline workers rarely have in mind the most senior managers in the organization. Rather, they are typically rating just 1--2 levels above their immediate supervisor. It's helpful if you're specific regarding who they are being asked to rate; at OrgVitality, we dynamically insert text into surveys for this very reason.
2. “People join organizations but leave bosses” is simply not a true statement. Are there horrible bosses out there? Certainly. But in general, people feel pretty good about those they directly work for, and ratings of supervisors are often very positive. If you ask a group of people why they left their last job, they will typically speak about opportunity, income, or frustration; very rarely will they mention their boss.
3. People can smell hypocrisy from a mile away. If leadership says one thing but operates in a “do as I say, not as I do” manner, it won’t be long before they fail as a leader, as employees will lose confidence in them.
4. People don’t respond well to threats by the organization or by leadership. Management or persuasion by threat is a sure sign of poor leadership. Management or persuasion by fear is similar.
5. People want recognition and feedback on their performance, regardless of their level. In addition to the rank and file, many senior managers complain about the lack of feedback on their job performance.
If you have any questions or additional thoughts on any of these observations, you can reach out to Jeffrey Saltzman directly.