There's an old saying that "stuff" rolls downhill, and it turns out that a manager's bad attitude has a downward, cascading effect at work! Gallup's new report, entitled "State of the American Manager: Analytics and Advice for Leaders," lays it all out on the conference room table:
Day in and day out, managers are tasked with engaging employees, but 51% of managers have essentially "checked out," meaning they care little, if at all, about their job and company. And that attitude has dire consequences. A manager's engagement -- or lack thereof -- affects his or her employees' engagement, creating what Gallup calls the "cascade effect." Essentially, employees' engagement is directly influenced by their managers' engagement -- whose engagement is directly influenced by their managers' engagement.In other words, the boss doesn't seem to care anymore, so why should we?
Needless to say, U.S. employee "engagement" levels are...low. No wonder there are never any great eats at meetings anymore. Nobody cares!
Someway, somehow you're going to have to get your mojo back, mid-level managers. The report finds -- and I know this probably doesn't surprise you -- that the attitude of the manager you report to impacts your own attitude, which in turn rolls downhill to impact your subordinates' attitudes on the job.
So, we may have to look to the top leadership as the source of our national job "engagement" problem.
Forget personal bucket lists; everyone in the C-suite on down needs to get his or her hands on a copy of How Full Is Your Bucket?, and fast! Read it and keep it on your book shelf, wedged between the employee manual and a copy of last year's annual report. It's the only management book you need.
In all seriousness, however, it's been a tough handful of years for mid-level managers, who have been tasked along the way with the grim work of managing layoffs and relaying the news to employees that there will be no raises again this year. So it's easy in some ways to see how many managers might begin to feel a tad disengaged, and dare I say it: disillusioned.
When we feel disillusioned, however, we need to stop and remember what motivated us to take on a management role in the first place. Think about your first day in management, and how excited you felt. Can you recapture some of that magic, and initial optimism? What excites you about the job now (leaving for the day doesn't count)? How can you "re-engage" yourself, and your workforce? Start small, and build from there. Gallup offers handy tips for managers, as well.
Bottom line: Managers are people too, and employees notice everything. We all have invisible buckets to fill, as well. Will you be a bucket dipper or a bucket filler at work? If preschoolers can learn to carry the water, then so can corporate America.
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