Many managers lack the basic skills needed to get the best out of their staff, according to new research from people development consultancy Fairplace Cedar.

The study, which questioned employees from UK organisations across the private, public and voluntary sectors, found that many managers are adopting a just-get-the-job-done mentality where delegating and directing around tasks is their main team interaction.

Research also found a strong link between good coaching skills in managers and staff retention levels. Employees who plan on leaving their company within the next 12 months are more than twice as likely to rate their manager as a weak coach than employees who plan on staying at their organisation. Those planning on leaving their company are also twice as likely to say that their manager has failed to engage or motivate them over the past year.

Overall, only 55 per cent of employees feel that their manager helps them to develop and improve continuously, while just 34 per of employees feel that their manager has contributed significantly to their engagement and motivation over the past year.

Worryingly, a third of respondents say their manager provides little or no constructive feedback to help them identify ways to improve performance. In contrast, task-orientated skills such as rationalising and analysing were most often rated as managers' strong areas of ability. With this skill set in mind, it is unsurprising that two fifths of respondents said their manager often relied on delegation while less than a quarter said their manager regularly adopted a coaching style.

Penny de Valk, chief executive of Fairplace Cedar, said: "In the current climate, where everyone is under pressure to do more with less, managers may feel that they don't have the time to adopt a coaching approach and are too often resorting to the extremes of either handing everything over, or micro-managing their team.

"In reality, offering constructive feedback, setting expectations, listening and thinking about individuals' development should be seen as vital to a modern manager's core role if they are to get the best out of their team.
"If businesses fail to turn their managers into better coaches, they miss an important opportunity to boost engagement, retention and results throughout their organisations. In this tough economic climate, it is critically important for businesses to get the most from their people and developing managers as coaches is one of the most cost-effective, powerful and sustainable ways for a business to drive increased performance and unlock the full potential of its people."

Article By:

Seun Robert-Edomi