Leadership mindsets have changed greatly over the last few decades—gone are the days of control and privilege. Employees no longer accept controlling environments or stern practices. But there remains a hidden problem with management teams: past accomplishments, seniority and technical skills strongly influence management candidacy.
According to Gallup’s State of the American Manager Report, last updated in 2017, there is a strong correlation between company prosperity and middle management abilities. Managers are 70% responsible for employees’ attitudes about their jobs, affecting their attendance, quality of work, willingness, loyalty and customer feedback. Unfortunately, surveys indicate only 10% of people have a high talent to manage effectively, and about 82% of the management segment is chosen from outside this small window.
“To do the right thing, a leader needs to understand what it takes to do things right, and to make sure they actually get done.”
~ Robert I. Sutton, Stanford University Management Professor
The Power of People Skills
Effective management is dependent on people skills. Employees respond much more favorably to managers who know how to relate with them than those who have technical savvy. Technical skills can be honed to lead technically, but people desire managers who can lead personally.
People skills are heavily influenced by personality, which is much harder to adapt. Many technically capable managers have poor people skills, and thus have poor followings with the associated fallout.
When top leaders prioritize the quality of their management teams, their organizations thrive. When they don’t, they struggle, sometimes marginally, sometimes catastrophically. Leaders enjoy the highest levels of success when they put the right people in the right roles, and train them to develop and engage their employees. Each of these steps require a thoughtful approach with diligent upkeep.
I’ll dive into this in my next blog post. In the meantime, what do you think? How much of your management team excels in technical skills, versus people skills? I’d love to hear from you. You can call me at 561-582-6060, let’s talk. And as always, I can be reached here, or on LinkedIn.
