Can I Offer You Some Feedback? - Episode #78

Show Notes:

This week Sara provides some recent leadership research provided by O.C. Tanner to understand if managers actually knew what employees were interested in. 79% of leaders reported they had a good sense of understanding of what their employees want, while less than half of employees identified with that. What does this mean for people that sit in a leadership position in an organization? How does one best support their team while still getting essential tasks done? Subscribe today so you never miss an episode!

Below we are offering a transcript of the podcast for accessibility and reference.

Episode #78: research Revealed: What employees Want?

Do you know what you don't know? Well, unless you're like me, you're probably not steeped in the latest research on team effectiveness, leadership development, and organizational behavior. In this Research Revealed, I'd like to share with you a recent piece of research and reveal what it means for you.

O.C. Tanner recently did some leadership research to understand whether or not managers actually knew what employees were interested in. Now, 79% of leaders reported that they felt like they had a pretty good sense of what their employees wanted. However, only 48% of employees agreed.

In addition to that, a notable percentage of employees, about one-third, identified that there was a conflict typically between what the manager wants, what their co-workers want, and what the employees want. And this starts to create a little bit of an imbalance between my side and their side, whether the manager actually cares about me as a person, or whether they're motivated by organizational goals.

Now, if you sit in a leadership position, you understand the dynamics here. I have obligations, expectations, and interests which are to the organizational level. I myself even have my own list of things that I need to accomplish. But I also need to understand what my team needs as a team intact but also the individuals on my team. How do I meet their needs? How do I understand what their concerns are? How do I tell them and try to support them in the best way that works for them and still enables me to get the things that I need done for the team?

This imbalance, though, I think is pretty interesting. Again, the difference between almost 80% of managers thinking they know what folks want, and less than half of employees agree. How could we be so off where we're thinking as managers that we really understand what folks want, but really employees have a different set of needs? So it begs the question, are employees not sharing it with us, or are we not hearing it?

Now, sometimes when it's a need that we can't meet as management, we don't even lodge it in our brains as something that we can do something about. "Yeah, sure, I know you want to get paid more." Or, "Yeah, I understand that our team size is not as big as it needs to be." Or "Yeah, I know. I wish we could have a different customer base." And because it's not something that we feel power over changing, it's not something that we can do anything about. And so it doesn't launch into our brain as a concern that we can address for those employees.

But just because we can't do something about it doesn't mean it's not still a concern that that employee has and that they're looking for the organization to solve. This is an opportunity then for folks who sit in a senior leadership position. What do your middle managers wish they could tell you about things that they'd like to have changed? Are you asking for feedback from them on what they're seeing, what they're hearing from employees, and again, things that may be very hard to change in a short term, but thinking about the long-term strategy here?

We have an opportunity here to get folks on the same page, to have alignment between what employees are looking for, regardless of whether they are individual contributors or managers or in senior leadership. Again, thinking about how we share what it is that we want and how we can have our needs met so that it doesn't feel like there are sites in an organization. And that we're all moving in this direction together.

This has been Sara with Research Revealed. You can reach me at podcast@mod.network. We would love to hear from you on what other research you'd like to explore and as always, give us a quick rating on your platform of choice and share this podcast with a friend. We'll see you next time.