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360 Degree Appraisal - analysis of results

The biggest failing of management is the inability to coach their staff, according the most comprehensive analysis of 360 degree feedback ever done in the UK.

The study included feedback on 1,500 managers from more than 5,000 staff members over a 12 month period by 360 and employee survey specialists Shine and Executive Coaching organisation Performance Coaching International.

In 83% of respondents complained that their managers were not coaching them to help improve their performance.

This easily outstripped the second biggest problem voiced by employees, failure to set clear goals, which came up in 19% of reviews.

Staff praised managers for their technical excellence, their commitment to delivering business goals and customer focus, but said this came at the expense of people management.

Andy Clare, co-owner of Shine, said the clear message was staff felt more and more disconnected from their managers.

"When we did one-to-one sessions with staff and managers the thing that came out time and time again was that the individuals with people management responsibility are spending less and less time doing it," he said. "This meant less time for one-to-one sessions, performance appraisal, discussing career goals or just shooting the breeze."

Clare said that managers were aware of the problem but inevitably said they were too busy with other things.

But Kevin McAlpin, managing director of Performance Coaching International, said there were other reasons for the increasingly fractured relationship between manager and employee that had nothing to do with time.

"The first is they are scared Sof having the tough performance conversations with their staff that coaching requires." "The second reason simply they can't be bothered - either they want to get on with the technical side of the job, the bit they enjoy or focus on the visionary, strategic thinker and leader role giving this priority over spending quality 1-2-1 time with their staff," he said.

McAlpin said the first step a manager should take if they wanted to be a better coach was to look at their leadership style and what affect that was having on staff.

"Then you can work on understanding your staff better, where they are now and where you need to go to get better productivity and performance," he said.

The top five concerns workers voiced about their managers were:

• Failure to coach
• Failure to set clear goals
• Failure to delegate
• Failure to celebrate success
• Inability to show flexibility in leadership style