Healthcare managers 'disconnected from staff'
Over a quarter of people working within the health sector feel that their managers do not understand their skills and motivation, according to a new survey.
A study by workplace psychologists OPP found that 28 per cent of people working in healthcare were disconnected from their bosses, compared to 17 per cent in the professional services sector, 19 per cent in IT and telecoms and 18 per cent in sales and marketing.
Despite this, the research showed that almost all (98 per cent) of healthcare managers think they know their workers well.
It was also noted that almost 70 per cent of managers within the sector would change past decisions if they had the chance.
"The most worrying aspect is that managers are completely ignorant of the situation," commented Robert McHenry, chief executive officer at OPP.
"There's a massive misconception that they know all there is to know about their employees."
Recent research by Highscores.com highlighted that a fifth of managers rely on email or instant messaging to tackle tricky subjects with their team, prompting the firm to recommend more face-to-face communication.
What should managers do more to better understand their staff?
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As Tom Peters proposed way back when. Management by walking around and talking to people would seem a good place to start.
Very true Dave - a great place to help you get connected.
It may also be true that some managers can know a lot about their staff in that they can see, hear ane read lot about them without physically 'connecting' to them (line management reports, observations without conversations,overhearing discussions etc). The knowing is therefore one way - hence the staff members response. Clearly though this is not satisfactory from the bottom looking up.
The interesting thing is though that the larger the company, often the more disconnected they are from what is really happening. They're protected by layer after layer of middle management so are often the very last to know of any gathering storm in the marketplace.