Half of managers misjudge their workplace performance

Generation of ‘accidental’ managers harming UK businesses

New research from CMI (Chartered Management Institute) reveals that over half of managers misjudge their strengths in the workplace – a situation which is hindering the performance of the UK’s already struggling businesses and public sector organisations.

CMI recently questioned UK managers to find out which aspects of management they thought they were best at. Of the 2,158 managers polled, almost half (44 per cent) said they excelled at managing people. Twenty-one per cent were target-busters, 19 per cent believed they were strongest at managing themselves and just 14 per cent felt they were born to lead.

CMI has since put those perceptions to the test by inviting UK workers to use a specially-developed self-diagnostic tool to work out where their strengths and weaknesses lie. The results strongly contradict managers’ perceptions, revealing that, in practice, UK managers are best at getting results (41 per cent) and strong leadership (37 per cent). Just 14 per cent of the 6,056 people who used the tool excelled at people management and a paltry eight per cent proved to be best at managing themselves.

CMI, the expert body for UK management and leadership, is blaming this strength-perception gap on a perilous combination of years of inadequate training and development for those in management roles and the increasing number of people who reluctantly fall into management positions. Sixty-eight per cent of UK managers categorise themselves as ‘accidental’ managers meaning they had no desire to become a manager when they embarked on their careers. Almost as many (63 per cent) had no management training before taking up a senior post and just one in five managers hold any type of formal management qualification. CMI is also deeply concerned about the number of individuals who, despite showing great leadership potential, go unrecognised and, therefore, miss out on development.

Commenting on the findings, Ruth Spellman, chief executive of CMI, said: “We’re desperately short of good leaders in this country – just look at how many FTSE 100 companies have sourced CEOs from abroad and how many Premier League clubs have foreign managers. We’re crying out for much-needed home-grown leadership talent and it’s frustrating that employers are failing to capitalise on the dormant leadership skills that their employees don’t yet realise they have.

“Management and leadership skill development has been neglected by employers, government and managers themselves for far too long. We need a renewed focus on investment in training and development in this field, both for the current generation and future generations of managers. The first step is for individuals to get serious about their personal development by working out where their strengths and weaknesses lie – you can use our comparethemanager.com application to do this. Then we’d like to see employers, supported by the new coalition Government, embracing and facilitating this desire to develop – it costs much less to up-skill current employees than bring in new ones.”

More than 6,000 people have analysed their management strengths, and worked out which weaker areas they need to work on, by using CMI’s free Compare the Manager tool to date. The 12 quick-fire questions can be accessed at www.comparethemanager.com or www.facebook.com/bettermanagers. 

- ends -

Further information:

Donna White/Faith Riding
Telephone: 020 7 612 8847/020 7 612 8865
Email: donna.white@kindredagency.com / faith.riding@kindredagency.com

NOTES TO EDITORS

• The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) is the only chartered professional body in the UK dedicated to promoting the highest standards of management and leadership excellence.  CMI is the founder of the National Occupational Standards for Management and Leadership and sets the standards that others follow
• As a membership organisation, CMI has been providing forward-thinking advice and support to individuals and businesses, for more than 50 years, and continues to give managers and leaders, and the organisations they work in, the tools they need to improve their performance and make an impact
• As the only organisation to offer qualifications from Level 2 (GCSE) to Level 8 (PhD), CMI is committed to equipping individuals with the skills and knowledge to be exceptional managers and leaders.  Qualifications and accreditations such as Chartered Manager, combined with products such as CMI’s Continuous Professional Development scheme and the online support resource, ManagementDirect, support the development of management and leadership excellence across the UK
• Through in-depth research and policy surveys of its 90,000 individual and 450 corporate members, CMI maintains its position as the premier authority on key management and leadership issues