SYLVANIA, OH--(Marketwired - Apr 1, 2015) - Root Inc., the strategy execution consulting company, today announced the results of a new study conducted in cooperation with Kelton Research -- "America's Workforce: A Revealing Study of Corporate America's Most Neglected Employee." The study, which is based on responses from 200 training executives in the U.S., reveals that managers are not properly prepared to lead their teams and their businesses to success because they are not a priority when it comes to training and development.
"In today's Corporate America, the role of manager is often the critical link between leadership, the front line and customers -- unfortunately, most organizations and their leadership teams tend to undervalue this employee. The latest 'America's Workforce' study has uncovered data to support this reality -- organizations often neglect to empower managers with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed," said Tracey Nawrocki, Director, Manager Development. "It is important to remember that outstanding individual contributors aren't always natural leaders, yet they are often promoted to a manager role because of their previous success. They might have potential, but they need the training -- for both technical and people skills -- along with sustained support to become great managers."
Nawrocki continued, "The study shows emphatically that even those organizations with the foresight to conduct manager training are wasting their time and resources if senior leadership doesn't show support, if the training doesn't address both technical and leadership skills and if sustainment tools aren't put into place."
Findings
The America's Workforce study found:
Managers Aren't Valued
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32% of respondents don't feel their company views managers as critical to success.
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Reducing overhead (57%) and making technology upgrades (48%) are more likely to be prioritized than manager training investments (28%).
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67% say that in the next 12 months, it is not a priority to help employees understand how they can contribute to company goals or strategy.
Senior Leaders Aren't Supportive
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69% report that senior leaders don't believe in a strong link between effective manager training and business performance.
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57% say their manager training programs today are not supported by their senior leaders.
Training Is Short Sighted
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89% report that at least some of their budget from the last three years was spent on manager training that did not give them the long-term results they wanted.
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83% report that less than a quarter of their training budget, if any, is currently allocated to manager training sustainment -- which supports the dreary follow-up statistic that only 18% strongly feel their companies have been successful at sustainment so far.