Newspaper says "Managers hate staff"

I recently read an article in the Telegraph titled “Managers ‘hate staff’”. The article stated that a new study conducted by management consultant James Adonis shows that one in five business managers do not like, respect or enjoy working with their staff, and almost half the managers surveyed believe they are bad at doing their own jobs as well. The research further suggests that bad management and bad staff relationships can lead to poor performance at work, absenteeism and even resignations. So how important is the quality of workplace relationships? I would say extremely important. People can be vastly experienced and expertly qualified to perform at work, but if they are absent or underachieving or even worse, looking for another job, then all of the other stuff doesn’t matter too much to your business. Good workplace relationships are a valuable asset to any business or organisation; they affect profit margins, efficiency and the overall success of a company. Despite popular opinion, workplace relationships are not deepened by doing work. They do not develop by doing filing together or co-operating on projects. Relationships function through work and are sustained by it. There are plenty of instances where people work side by side for years and yet know little of each other. Relationships start growing when people start talking; when they begin to tell their stories to each other and listen; when they begin to communicate; laugh; and know each other on a more significant level. I think laughter and stories are the two key elements of relationship building. I’ve spent the last 20 years building relationships and opening communication channels through laughter and stories. We at Anthill Culture and Knowledge are focussed on this particular aspect of business and organisations. We develop relationship at work through a twofold process involving ‘creative exercises’ designed to get participants moving laughing and communicating and ‘story forums’ designed to get people talking and listening, with the focus on the listening. Sounds crazy I know but I bet that if those managers surveyed in the above study, the ones who believed they were bad at their job, if they had the opportunity to talk to each other and share their experiences of being a manager, I’d wager that they would gain tremendous insight. If they had the opportunity to laugh and be a little creative with their peers, they would gain invaluable confidence and boost their self worth. That would flow on to their staff in a very positive way. In the Anthill way of thinking, stories and laughter equates to a better organisation, higher staff morale, stronger workplace relationships and people performing at their optimum. That sounds like good business to me Want to know more. Find us at www.anthillckd.com.au or send an email to max@anthillckd.com.au or joh@anthillckd.com.au