The following post is based on an article written by the London Business School and is not owned by Engage for Success.
A recent London Business School article states how most books written on management and leadership are written from the perspective of the manager. These books are typically based on interviews with managers, in which they talk about the supervisory things they do and the managerial approach they use. Typically, the authors of such books offer advice aimed at helping today’s and tomorrow’s managers do their jobs better.
In their recent research (which involved interviews with more than 50 employees across a dozen companies as well as questionnaire data from more than 200 employees), we took an employee-centred approach to management — starting with the view that management should be about ‘seeing the world through the eyes of the employee’. According to this perspective, the job of the manager is essentially to enable employees to do their best work, to help them reach their own personal goals while also delivering on the organisation’s goals.
What employees want
Although there was plenty of variation in the specific answers to the questions about what makes work motivating and fulfilling, it quickly became clear that there were five characteristics that employees seemed to recognise as important and valuable.
- Having responsibility for doing something worthwhile
- Being given a high level of freedom for how results are achieved
- Having an opportunity to extend oneself and to develop expertise
- Being given an opportunity to work with good colleagues
- Achieving recognition for doing a good job
What frustrates workers
- Lack of opportunities for personal development
- Fear of failing to deliver on (high) expectations
- Concern with the stress of the work
- Frustration with ineffective processes
- Concern about not fitting in
- Concern with uncertainty and change
- Fear of redundancy
The article also goes on to state 3 methods to improve management. The 3 methods can be found on the Engage for Success website here.
