In this episode, we review the ENGAGE 2024: The Company Culture Report and ask the question, “Why are so many managers lacking follow-through?”
We’ll discuss how managers and company leaders can better live up to their word every day. Matt Sunshine, CEO of The Center for Sales Strategy, will join Beth to provide some great thoughts on this issue.
Too Many Can’t Always Count on Their Managers
“ENGAGE 2024 revealed that only half of respondents said that they could always count on their manager to do what they said they would do,” Beth says. “That's a low number, and it's dropped eight points from last year.
“So, what impact do you think that has on team morale or organizational culture in the long haul?”
“I think it has a tremendous impact,” Matt says. “Work is a significant relationship. You spend half of your time at work. You spend half of your time with the leadership or working for the leadership, and if you can't count on them to do what they say they're going to do, how disappointing is that?
“I think that if you're in a situation where you don't feel as though you can count on the person to do what they say they're going to do, well, then you probably feel like you have a job versus doing what you're meant to do. Right?
“You're just working so you can live your life, versus, ‘This is what I do, and I'm so proud of it.’ You miss out on that amazing opportunity.
“So, I think, over time, it's frustrating. You're probably more likely to look for another job or be open to another job that comes along.
“I think it's pretty terrible if you can't trust the people that you work with to do what they say they're going to do.”
What’s Causing a Lack of Follow-Through?
“I am a naturally positive person, as you know,” Matt says. “Sometimes annoyingly so. So, I believe that leadership has good intentions.
“I believe that if leadership does not have good intentions, they will be weeded out of the system, and they will not be there. So, with that belief, I do not believe that they are intentionally not following through on what they said.
“There's a few things [that could be causing this]. One would be the rate of change that things happen, certain things become out of control, and so on.
“Today, the leader says, ‘Hey, this is what we're going to do,’ ‘Yes, we can do this,’ ‘Yes, we can do that.’ But tomorrow afternoon that same leader might be called into a meeting where they learn that everything that they knew to be true is no longer true.
“And before there's even a communication strategy out to everybody on the new way we're doing it, people are feeling as though they're being let down by leadership because they're not doing what they originally said that they were going to do.
“The second thing is that in Talent Focused Management at CSS, we have a section of that workshop where we ring a lot of bells, right? And we make a point of when too many bells are ringing. It's frustrating. You don't feel like you're being heard, you don't know what to do. You feel all of those ‘feels.’
“I think leadership has that going on right now. There's a lot of bells, especially with middle management. Middle management may be the toughest job in any B2B operation. They have so many bells ringing above them and bells ringing below them that it is very difficult.”
Hear Matt’s Full Thoughts in the Episode
Listen to the episode to hear Matt’s full thoughts on the following takeaways:
- How it’s only a matter of time before people consider opportunities elsewhere if they can’t truly count on their leaders
- Why increased transparency with your employees only deepens trust (Hint, hint: employees almost always want to hear the bad news first)
- And, finally, how holding regular townhall meetings can be one of the most powerful ways to ensure that your employees feel valued and included in the future success of your company.
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