7 lessons for good leaders
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This new ebook is extracted from the whitepaper "Leading by Example. Why Managers are Failing to Create Strong Employment Brands." by Kristin Supancich and Hector Ortiz. It is providing 7 lessons leaders need to learn to become a employer of choice for their employees.TRANSCRIPT
lessons for good leaders 7Kristin supancich
Senior leaders, HR professionals
and management consultants are
always trying to answer the perennial
question, “what makes a good
leader?” For all the testing and
performance coaching on earth,
nothing tells us more than employees’
actual experiences of being led.
Consistently, employees say a
positive leadership style that responds
to their individual needs, and the
ability to provide a clear vision and
direction are what they want most
from their leaders.
Across all generations and regions,
these two factors (leadership style
and vision) consistently rate above
issues of communication, personality
and experience. In fact, less than 5%
of employees feel that experience
is the key factor in determining
leadership ability. When we consider
that ‘experience’ is perhaps the most
prevalent way employers assess
people’s suitability for promotion,
there is a significant disconnect here
between employer expectations and
employee experience.
To improve leaders’ performance,
employers will need to reconsider
the way they seek and promote
talent in their organization. Many
employees indicate willingness to
accept inexperienced leaders if they
demonstrate the right leadership
style, and organizations must adapt
to pinpoint and build leadership skills,
rather than assuming they will simply
develop over time.
01forget experience, focus on vision
2 | seven lessons for good leaders
A leadership style they can relate to, and the ability to deliver a clear ‘vision’ is what employees want most from their leaders.
01 forget experience, focus on vision
02 educate about differences
03 dissatisfaction is high
04 recognize and reward what’s worKing
05 prepare your people for the future
06 rethinK your leadership culture
07 understand what you’re doing right
conclusion get the full report
home
Generation X consistently rates as
the generation most favored for
their leadership ability, with most of
that support coming from peers and
Generation Y. While Baby Boomers are
yet to provide their seal of approval
to Gen X leaders specifically, they are
just as likely as younger workers to
believe that age has no bearing on
leadership ability.
Generation X and Baby Boomers
are the most confident of their own
leadership abilities and around half
rate their peers as having the best
leadership qualities. These two older
generations also consistently display
a lack of confidence in Generation
Y’s leadership abilities, and it seems
Generation Y’s themselves agree
with this assessment. Although
Generation Y’s rate themselves
higher than their older counterparts,
fewer than one in ten feel their own
generation has displayed good
leadership qualities thus far.
Rather than taking these assessments
purely on face value, we should think
seriously about what this is saying
about human relationships. We relate
to our own generation best, and
particularly when we’re just starting
out in our careers, we prefer to be
managed by someone not too distant
in age from ourselves. Large age gaps
have the tendency to invoke feelings
of being misunderstood, but it’s true
that there are significant differences
in attitude and work style across the
generations. So, to create strong
leaders, you need to give them a solid
grounding in what makes the different
generations tick.
02educate about generational differences, looK for natural connections
3 | seven lessons for good leaders
01 forget experience, focus on vision
02 educate about differences
03 dissatisfaction is high
04 recognize and reward what’s worKing
05 prepare your people for the future
06 rethinK your leadership culture
07 understand what you’re doing right
conclusion get the full report
home
Generation X is singled out as the group with the strongest leadership ability, but what is this really telling us?
Employees worldwide give their
managers only a marginal ‘pass’
mark for overall performance in the
way they lead their teams. Across
all regions, managers score just 6.4
out of a possible 10 points—well
below the high-performance level
that many companies would hope
to be achieving.
It’s tempting to dismiss this as
employees simply asking ‘too much’
of managers, yet the widespread
nature of this assessment suggests that
people’s experiences of leadership
are generally average at best. If this is
the case, the prospects of employees
learning strong leadership skills from
their managers are low and companies
need to consider how to teach and
promote the concept of leadership
more directly. To put it simply, we need
to stop thinking strong leaders are
going to come out of environments
with consistently poor leadership
examples to learn from.
Generation Y employees consistently
rate the performance of their
managers above those in older
generations, but even here the
difference is only small. There is only a
single point’s difference between the
lowest rating and the highest—Gen Y’s
in the America’s are most satisfied
with their manager’s performance
(6.9 points), while Baby Boomers
and Gen X’ers in EMEA are the least
satisfied, awarding their managers just
5.9 points on average.
03dissatisfaction is high—it’s time to do something about it
4 | seven lessons for good leaders
01 forget experience, focus on vision
02 educate about differences
03 dissatisfaction is high
04 recognize and reward what’s worKing
05 prepare your people for the future
06 rethinK your leadership culture
07 understand what you’re doing right
conclusion get the full report
home
Employees are largely dissatisfied with the leadership they experience—and older workers are more so.
5 | seven lessons for good leaders
Less than half of employees (44%)
feel that their efforts at work are
recognized and rewarded. This means
that they do not receive feedback,
incentives or bonuses of any kind for
high performance.
Across all generations, employees in
EMEA are less satisfied than those in
other regions and the average positive
response was just 38% compared with
APAC’s 50% and 49% in the Americas.
The most common form of
recognition is simply that employees’
skills are noticed by management.
Across the regions, the ways that
employees reported being recognized
and rewarded was consistent,
although slightly more people in
EMEA are being rewarded for their
efforts with bonuses and incentives
than elsewhere.
Recognition for achievement is
paramount to an engaged workforce.
People do not necessarily look for
financial reward, but they do expect
exceptional efforts to be noticed. With
half of employees not receiving even
the most basic recognition for a job
well done, leaders need to rethink their
role in motivating their teams.
04recognize and reward what’s worKing
01 forget experience, focus on vision
02 educate about differences
03 dissatisfaction is high
04 recognize and reward what’s worKing
05 prepare your people for the future
06 rethinK your leadership culture
07 understand what you’re doing right
conclusion get the full report
home
When things are working well, it’s easy to become complacent, but employees notice when they’re not being ‘noticed’.
6 | seven lessons for good leaders
One of the most telling results from
the survey is the way employees feel
about their boss’ ability to prepare
employees for the future. In every
region and across all generations,
employees feel that this is a task their
leaders are not living up to.
Older workers are far more likely to
believe that their manager has failed to
prepare them for future success, and
employees in the EMEA region are
far less satisfied with the preparation
they’ve been given by their leaders
than those in other regions.
Generation Y’s in the Americas feel
the most positive about their ability
to achieve future success. Half of
employees in this group (49%) say
their manager has prepared them
well. The least positive group is Baby
Boomers in EMEA—just 29% feel they
are adequately prepared for the future
and put this down to the efforts of their
employer.
For younger workers, change is
often easier because it is expected,
and managers are focused on their
development and training needs
because they are seen as having the
most to learn. In practice, this may be
ignoring the specific needs of older
workers. Ensuring adequate training
and support is in place for older
workers to keep pace with all kinds of
change, not just technological change,
is critical to keeping them engaged
in the workplace—as critical talent
shortages begin to really tighten,
you’re going to need to hold on to
older workers longer, so this will be a
key challenge for leaders in the short
to medium term.
05prepare your people for the future
01 forget experience, focus on vision
02 educate about differences
03 dissatisfaction is high
04 recognize and reward what’s worKing
05 prepare your people for the future
06 rethinK your leadership culture
07 understand what you’re doing right
conclusion get the full report
home
If employees are not well-prepared for future success, how will your organization execute its strategy?
7 | seven lessons for good leaders
Many employees are unhappy
with the leadership culture of their
organization, and this is a key factor in
not recommending their workplace to
others—if you want to build a strong
employment brand, this is clearly
something that must be addressed.
Less than half of employees describe
the leadership culture of their
organization positively. While 48% of
employees feel that their leadership
culture is empowering or inclusive, the
rest feel it is authoritative, oppressive
or are unsure how to describe it.
Generation Y appears to feel slightly
more positive about the leadership
culture of their organization than
older generations, but the results
are remarkably consistent across all
generations. Employees in EMEA
are more inclined to describe their
organization’s leadership culture as
inclusive than elsewhere, but very
similar proportions of people in all
regions described their leadership
culture negatively. With less than
half of employees feeling positive
about the leadership culture in their
organization, it seems the way leaders
engage with staff is failing to resonate.
Leadership and management issues
topped the list of reasons why
employees would not recommend
their employer to others. The
more general response of a ‘poor
work environment’ also accounted
for almost one in five negative
assessments of a workplace to others.
It’s important to consistently remind
managers that poor leadership is
still the number one complaint of
employees. If leadership scores
are low and feedback for particular
individuals or areas is poor, this will
likely be the main reason for attrition.
Trying to avoid the obvious or hope
that dissatisfied employees will leave
and be replaced by satisfied ones is
burying one’s head in the sand. Good
leadership must occur all the way
up the line—and that means making
tough decisions when the evidence is
there to do so.
06rethinK your leadership culture
01 forget experience, focus on vision
02 educate about differences
03 dissatisfaction is high
04 recognize and reward what’s worKing
05 prepare your people for the future
06 rethinK your leadership culture
07 understand what you’re doing right
conclusion get the full report
home
A poor leadership culture is a key reason employees will fail to recommend their employer to others.
8 | seven lessons for good leaders
Despite the criticisms people have
of their leaders, more than half are
‘highly likely’ to recommend their
current employer to friends and
acquaintances. There is a slight
decrease in this sentiment as workers
age, yet overall the difference is
relatively small. The biggest
difference is seen in EMEA, where
55% of Generation Y’s are highly
likely to recommend their employer,
yet just 46% of Gen Xers and 44%
of Baby Boomers say they would
do the same.
When asked what drives employees
to recommend their employer,
most say it is because of a positive
work environment, however, work
environment becomes less important
as workers age, yet the nature and
challenge of the work becomes
significantly more important. For
Generation Y’s, just 16% felt the nature
or challenge of the work they did was
the main reason for recommending
their employer to others, yet almost
one-quarter of Baby Boomers (23%)
said this was the main driver of
recommendations.
Compensation was the lowest rated
issue for employees of all age groups,
with just 5% saying this was the main
reason they would highly recommend
their employer to others.
Keeping Gen Y’s challenged and
interested is a given. Achieving this
may not directly contribute to their
overall satisfaction, but NOT doing it
will certainly lead to dissatisfaction—
it’s an expectation rather than a
‘nice-to-have’. For older generations
however, this is a differentiating factor
of employers—to keep them in the
workplace for longer, employers will
need to think outside the square
in keeping the nature of the work
that their experienced staff conduct
challenging and interesting.
07understand what you’re doing right
01 forget experience, focus on vision
02 educate about differences
03 dissatisfaction is high
04 recognize and reward what’s worKing
05 prepare your people for the future
06 rethinK your leadership culture
07 understand what you’re doing right
conclusion get the full report
home
It’s not all bad news for leaders, so figure out how to capitalize on your strengths.
9 | seven lessons for good leaders
conclusion If “management is doing things right and leadership is doing the right things”, what exactly are these ‘right things’? How
do we know when we’re doing them and when we’re not? The latest findings from the 2011 Kelly Global Workforce Index
show that leadership culture and practice is failing to fulfill employees’ needs and expectations—and for companies looking
to strengthen their employment brand, this is a clear opportunity. The way we learn to lead seems doomed if organizations
are simply leaving the process up to existing managers. With such consistent poor feedback from employees globally, it’s
time for organizations to take this issue to heart and find solutions.
the seven practices that employees themselves are asking leaders to change are:
1. Forget experience, focus on vision: find and develop people who can convey a strong sense of vision and direction
rather than promoting people based on age or experience.
2. Understand the generational differences & promote natural connections: the way the generations lead and respond are
different—no matter who’s leading who, this needs to be top of mind to avoid conflict.
3. When dissatisfaction is high, act: don’t sweep negative feedback under the carpet and wait for it to go away. If
leadership is contributing to attrition, it won’t change unless you address the leadership behaviors.
4. Recognize and reward what’s working: employees who are excelling don’t necessarily need large bonuses, but they do
need you to notice.
5. Prepare your people for the future: ensure ongoing training and development is appropriate right across people’s
career, regardless of age.
6. Rethink your leadership culture: lead by example and show you mean what you say.
7. Understand what you’re doing right: capitalize on your strengths and share these good practices broadly.
Strategic execution is dependent on your people, and without the right leadership, change will continue to be a burden
rather than an opportunity. Employees themselves offer the best insights into what’s working and what’s not, so ask them
and then be ready to act.
01 forget experience, focus on vision
02 educate about differences
03 dissatisfaction is high
04 recognize and reward what’s worKing
05 prepare your people for the future
06 rethinK your leadership culture
07 understand what you’re doing right
conclusion get the full report
home
About Kelly
Kelly Services, Inc. (NASDAQ: KelyA, Kelyb) is a leader in providing workforce solutions.
Kelly® offers a comprehensive array of outsourcing and consulting services as well as world-class
staffing on a temporary, temporary-to-hire and direct-hire basis. Serving clients around the globe,
Kelly provides employment to more than 530,000 employees annually. Revenue in 2010 was
$5 billion. Visit www.kellyservices.com and connect with us on Facebook, linkedIn, & twitter.
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About the Kelly GlobAl WoRKFoRce INDex™
the Kelly Global Workforce Index is an annual survey revealing opinions about work and the
workplace from a generational viewpoint. Approximately 97,000 people from the Americas, APAc
and eMeA responded to the 2011 survey with results published on a quarterly basis. Kelly Services
was the recipient of a Marcom Platinum Award in 2010 and a Gold Award in 2009 for the Kelly
Global Workforce Index in the Research/Study category.
About the AuthoR
KRIStIN SuPANcIch is vice president and general manager of canadian
operations for Kelly Services. Kristin holds a bachelor’s degree in communications
from the university of california-San Diego.
This ebook is extracted from Leading by Example. Why
Managers are Failing to Create Strong Employment Brands.
DoWNloAD youR free coPy toDAy.