Communication Skills

A friend recently told me about an incident she had with her manager. IT equipment in her department had been either unreliable or out of order for a number of weeks, which was stopping her from doing her job properly and so adding to her stress levels.

She put up with the situation for a number of weeks before finally going to see her line manager, but was taken aback by the response she got. My friend explained how frustrated she was with the situation and how stressed it was making her feel and all her line manager said was, "Are you having a bad day?". So she walked out of the meeting feeling more stressed than when she went in and totally unsupported by her line manager!

This manager, who is new to the post and new to management, is working in a busy department with a heavy workload, and is probably under immense pressure herself. She may be finding it difficult to cope with the stresses of her job which then makes it difficult to take on, and deal with the problems staff in her team are experiencing.

According to Ruth Spellman, chief executive of the Chartered Management Institute, "Britain is suffering because our managers and leaders are simply not up to scratch.......Without investment in effective management and leadership in the UK , we are in danger of lurching from crisis to crisis".

In November 2009, the CMI published research findings that showed that almost 50 per cent of the UK workforce have left a job due to bad management, while a similar amount said they would take a pay cut to work with a better manager.

Isn't it about time that UK companies started investing more in managers, particularly new managers. Provide new managers with training and support when they are starting out and they will be able to take your company forward, build strong teams and become the leaders of tomorrow.