Today I had a discussion with a manager, and it enlightened me to the necessity of Top/Senior level Managers meeting with the non-manager employees. It also seems, after some analysis, at how unfathomable the current numbers of Manager-to-Direct conversation numbers taking place are in the business world. Even more astounding is the low number of companies which encourage these conversations to take place regularly between Senior Managers and employees.
Although employees can go to their manager or their direct supervisor at any time and ask to speak, most employees really don't feel as if their direct supervisor is in a position to change anything of substantial value. Perhaps the employee has a soft problem they need to resolve, and they've already spoken to their direct manager. In many cases, if a direct manager is unable to help or resolve the issue, the next option would be to speak with a Senior Manager to get advice or just even get it off their chest. They're probably going to have already addressed it with their manager in small talks, or tried to see if their manager would be able to help, but it might be due to the manager not helping already. Whatever the reason, if an employee has a problem that they're keeping and because the manager is not able to fix, it shouldn't remain as a consistent issue for the employee(s).
Direct Managers have certain responsiblities, and combined with their managerial qualities, are sometimes effective with resolving employees' problems. In the scenarios where a Direct Manager is unable to work out a resolution, it's in the best interest of everyone that the employee speak with a Top/Senior level Manager. And here's WHY: Senior Managers are in a position (with power, opportunity, and qualities) which make the employee believe that somebody that can actually make a change in their work lives, and it allows the employees to share freely without serious repercussions. Because the top level manager is not threatened by the employee, and the employee views them with high regard (hopefully, right!), it can lead to a fruitful conversation which might have gone unspoken due to local-team dynamics between employee and direct Manager.
To put this bluntly, employees often incorrect think that they can go talk to their direct manager and that the problems will be resolved. This is sometimes not the Manager's fault, and even with the best intentions, the direct Manager may not be the best suited for resolving the problem (other team dyanmics and company policies often tie Managers' hands behind their back.) Also, a direct Manager's familiarity with an issue might actually cause a bias in their decision making, as they may have already explored existing options and not found a path forward.
But with a Top/Senior level Manager, the employee not only has a person who has the opportunity and power to make changes, but also presents employees with a sense of belonging and acceptance which a direct Manager cannot.
Employees must BELIEVE that they have somebody who is listening to them directly, cares about what they have to say.. And there could be various mechanisms for this: (1) face to face is the most important (2) a suggestion box (3) an email.
It's essential that the goal of the communication be to focus on Emotional Intelligence during this talk between the employee and the Top/Senior level Manager. Although I know it's not really going to change a lot of stuff right away, having this talk with your employee is essential to building trust. It should focus on speaking freely, thoughts instead of processes, an the function (re-establishment) of the employee within the team. So it's very important to have a top level manager that cares about the team and their function and is willing to talk to the employees in the team.
JUST A THOUGHT: There needs to be a new position within organizations called the Emotional Intelligence Officer. This would be a Senior Manager level position in most orgs, and their sole role within the company would be to resolve soft issues with an organization.
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