THE QUESTION
Senior leaders vs. middle managers: Who matters most?
One of the key findings the 2010 Best Places to Work in the Federal Government survey is that worker satisfaction is more profoundly affected by perceptions of top management than by their immediate supervisor. What lessons can top leaders in the public and private sector glean from this?
Posted by Steve Pearlstein and Raju Narisetti on August 30, 2010 12:46 PM
FROM THE PANEL
Top leaders must 'cultivate a unity of purpose'
The findings of the 2010 Best Places to Work survey are quite encouraging. They demonstrate that workers are, in fact, eager to support the top leaders in their organizations if given sufficient reason to do so. What that means from a management standpoint is that...
Posted by Robert Goodwin, on September 3, 2010 10:07 AM
Direct managers are still key to productivity
The first question any leader should ask is "what am I trying to get done?" Generally with regard to human capital, there are three basic objectives: recruiting terrific people to the organization, getting the highest contribution out of the people I have, and engaging and retaining the high performers.
Posted by Tom Monahan, on September 1, 2010 2:27 PM
Don't underestimate the employee-supervisor bond
No one would question the importance of top management. But a recent study of the financial industry, undertaken by Harvard undergraduate Evelyn Chow, underscores the important role played by immediate supervisors...
Posted by Howard Gardner, on September 1, 2010 1:32 PM
Character really does count
A combination of competence and character provides meaning and inspires hope to those whose dreams may be dimmed by middle management's tendency to divide the work force into leaders and losers.
Posted by Katherine Tyler Scott, on September 1, 2010 11:21 AM
Becoming a leader your team is proud of
If you're a top leader, you need to understand that your words and your behavior set the tone, the culture, and the values within your organization. If you seem distant and detached, the organization will take on...
Posted by Yash Gupta, on August 31, 2010 1:47 PM
Middle managers just as critical as senior leaders
This year's Best Places to Work in federal government survey finds that top leadership has a stronger impact on worker satisfaction than immediate supervisors. At the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), however, various research projects over the years confirm that immediate supervisors also have a major influence on employee satisfaction and engagement...
Posted by John R. Ryan, on August 31, 2010 10:59 AM
Understanding the stakeholders
The key lesson for both public and private leaders is the significance of an in-depth understanding of their clogged cartography of stakeholders. For federal leaders especially, the media have to be among the top 5% of stakeholder salience. Why? Because their employees...
Posted by Warren Bennis, on August 31, 2010 10:16 AM
Provide a narrative for your organization
A primary job of leaders in these organizations is to provide a sense of purpose, a narrative for what that organization stands for and how it contributes to making the world a better place. Their job is to...
Posted by Sally Blount, on August 31, 2010 8:47 AM
Leaders engage top to bottom
Managers at every level are often asked to do more and more with shrinking resources and escalating time frames. And it is for precisely those reasons that leaders at the top need to leverage the talents and skills of their people to allow them to think and do more to help the organization achieve its mission.
Posted by John Baldoni, on August 31, 2010 8:39 AM
Connecting everyone to the mission
The two key elements of all leadership are simply: 1) to connect everyone to the mission, and 2) to each other. Other aspects of leadership may be critical, but not as indispensable as these two. Connecting everyone to the mission takes identifying that mission. Only top leaders can do that. Only they can set the whole organization's direction, and give it meaning.
Posted by Ken Adelman, on August 31, 2010 8:35 AM
