Do Away with Managers from Hell

Jim Clefton who is CEO of Gallup, organizational consulting and public opinion research firm.

 

In the following article he discusses the results they got through surveys that they conducted worldwide.

Here’s something they’ll probably never teach you in business school: The most consequential decision you make in your job—more important than all the rest—is who you name manager. When you name the right people to manage your company’s workplace, everything goes well. People love their jobs, your customers are engaged, and life is great.

 

When you name the wrong person manager, nothing fixes that bad decision. Not compensation, not benefits—nothing.

 

Gallup just updated its global database of employee surveys, which includes a sample of 1,390,941 employees in 192 organizations covering 49 industries in 34 countries. This is Gallup’s Q12 database, and it is the biggest of its kind. What we found out about managers and employees has serious implications for the future of the U.S. economy.

 

Of the approximately 100 million people in United States who hold full-time jobs, 30 million (30%) are engaged and inspired at work, so we can assume they have a great boss. At the other end of the spectrum are roughly 20 million (20%) employees who are actively disengaged. These employees, who have bosses from hell that make them miserable, roam the halls spreading discontent. The other 50 million (50%) U.S. workers are not engaged. They’re just kind of present, but not inspired by their work or their managers.

 

Here is my big conclusion: A workforce of 100 million employees in the United States requires a 10–1 ratio of managers to teams. So, for the United States to be perfectly managed, it requires 10 million great supervisors and then 1 million great managers of those supervisors. Pick the right people for these roles, the ones who know best how to engage their people, and the country will rise up economically like never before.

 

Given my 10–1 ratio, I estimate there are about 3 million great managers inspiring and motivating those 30 million engaged employees. That’s just not enough great leadership.

 

Here’s why: Gallup research has found that the top 25 percent of employees—the best-managed—have nearly 50-percent fewer accidents and 41-percent fewer quality defects than the bottom 25 percent—the worst-managed—in any workplace. What’s more, people in the top 25 percent incur far less in healthcare costs than the bottom 25 percent. Having too few engaged employees means our workplaces are less safe; employees have more quality defects; and disengagement, which results from managers from hell, is driving up the country’s health costs.

 

On the positive side, Gallup research concludes that the 30 million engaged employees come up with most of the innovative ideas, create most of a company’s new customers, and have the most entrepreneurial energy. Now, given all of this, imagine if the United States doubled the number of great managers and engaged employees. Is it asking too much for 60 million employees in the United States be engaged at work?

 

This isn’t impossible. It’s doable. Let me tell you why.

 

I recently had a conversation with Jim Harter, Ph.D., Gallup’s lead analyst for workplaces, and one of the top psychologists in the world. He probably knows more than anyone about the behavioural economics of the world’s workplaces. I asked him, “Of the 12 items in Gallup’s Q12 employee engagement survey, which are the three that matter most in terms of building workplace engagement?”

 

Harter rank-ordered the top three items this way:

1. At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day. This is the single-best survey item you can ask an employee. If employees score high on this, it means they have been assigned jobs in which they have the talent to excel. Mastering this begins with companies identifying employees’ strengths and putting those employees in the right roles.

2. There is someone at work who encourages my development. 

3. At work, my opinions seem to count.

When the United States of America—or any country for that matter—wakes up one morning and says collectively, “Let’s get rid of managers from hell, double the number of great managers and engaged employees, and have those managers lead based on these three employee demands,” everything will change. The country’s employees will be twice as effective; they’ll create far more customers; they’ll drive down spiralling healthcare costs; and the desperately needed GDP will boom.