Do leaders lack crucial people management skills?

Around 50% of UK HR professionals believe that senior business leaders don’t have the behaviours and skills needed to get the best from their people.  This was one of the findings of a recent CIPD/Workday survey conducted last October. The survey found that technical, financial and operational competence among leaders is high, but many of them are ineffective at people management, particularly performance management.

The report goes on to reveal that, in a significant number of organisations, training and support for line managers when they take on new people management responsibilities just isn’t there. In fact, only 44% of employers provide formal training, and 60% provide tailored support for managers.

The survey also shows that in many organisations, business leaders and managers aren’t being given access to HR data to inform business decisions. HR needs to share its workforce insight to enable managers to make evidence-based people decisions.

The findings from the survey suggest that the capability within the HR function in relation to HR analytics and metrics has scope for significant strengthening.   The two main barriers to adopting HR analytics are technology capability
(36%) and business culture (29%).  Meanwhile, many of those organisations who have adopted HR analytics, have yet to fully engage other business stakeholders, with a third (37%) of finance managers and half (51%) of risk and compliance professionals having no access to HR dashboards and reports to support their decision making.

In summary the CIPD report recommends six key actions for HR Teams:-

• Demonstrate the value of the HR agenda.
• Use HR data to strengthen evidence-based decision-making.
• Harness the benefits of technology.
• Prepare for economic uncertainty (for example globalisation and Brexit).
• Adapt to the changing needs of the workforce.
• Strengthen the capability of people managers.

Why not talk to us about your organisation and how it can improve its people management practice.  We’d love to hear from you.