Handling teams, other responsibilities toughest job for managers: survey

49 per cent have weekly one-on-one meetings

Handling teams, other responsibilities toughest job for managers: survey
When it comes to the most critical parts of their jobs, 37 per cent said keeping the team on track to achieve goals is most key.

Trying to keep employees on track, while handling other tasks at the same time, is the toughest part of the job for managers, says a new survey.

When asked about their top challenges, 68 per cent cited juggling the management of their team with their other responsibilities. Achieving team goals was cited by 14 per cent, while getting the team to effectively collaborate together was cited by 11 per cent, and retaining employees by four per cent, found the survey of more than 200 managers by SoapBox, a Toronto company that helps supervisors manage their people.

“Managers are the single most important driver of employee performance, engagement and happiness,” says Brennan McEachran, co-founder and CEO of SoapBox. “We’re aiming to understand the state of people leadership through the lens of one-on-ones and hope that, as a result, managers reading this can build on the patterns that have proven successful for others.”

When it comes to the most critical parts of their jobs, 37 per cent said keeping the team on track to achieve goals is most key, while 26 per cent reported providing growth and development opportunities for key employees is important. A further 26 per cent said removing blockers from direct reports is most crucial.

The study also found that when it comes to communicating with their team members:

  • 94 per cent of managers continually hold one-on-one meetings with their team members
  • 54 per cent of managers use Slack as the primary tool for communicating with subordinates
  • 41 per cent of managers employ personal-productivity tools for one-on-one meetings.

The study also found that 49 per cent of managers have weekly one-on-one meetings and in those meetings 75 per cent said growth and development was the most popular topic, while performance was noted in 58 per cent of meetings and 49 per cent of them focused on employee motivation.

During those meetings, 34 per cent said that ensuring they are providing value to their employees was the biggest challenge, getting the direct reports to contribute to the agenda was challenging for 22 per cent of managers and only 17 per cent said having meaningful and productive conversations was toughest to manage, found SoapBox.

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