Line managers fail to meet employee expectations

Line managers are failing to meet the expectations of their employees, research has revealed.

People leaders do not adequately analyse situations, involve their teams in solving problems, admit their mistakes or seek feedback, according to the study.

Coaching firm Krauthammer surveyed more than 360 workers across Europe for its Observatory 2008 report and discovered large gaps between what they wanted from managers and what they got.

Nine in 10 said they would like their manager to analyse their tasks with them, but less than half experienced this. Eight in 10 said they wanted their manager to find a common solution in a conflict, while only 47% of their managers did this. Similar gaps were found when it came to mangers admitting liability.

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Ronald Meijers, head of research at Krauthammer, said: “It is striking that the fundamental management notion of helping people forward is so weak.

“Like parenting, management is very difficult to do well and is both undervalued and undersupported. This is a mistake, management is about people’s lives – it is simply too important to neglect.”