Effective Managers Survey Now Available

Managers are in a really tough spot. They need to deliver more and more, but organizational systems get in the way more often than they help.

What does the research have to say and what factors influence the effectiveness of a manager? Very little, until now! Interestingly, existing research on manager effectiveness did not exist: the researchers were not able to find any academic studies quantifying manager effectiveness.

Effective Managers^TM and the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa partnered to fill this void in the management sciences literature, and to help CEOs understand how they can improve productivity in their organizations with the Effective Managers^TM Survey.

The research results are astounding: on average managers feel they are operating at just 55% effectiveness!

That is an ineffectiveness ratio of over 2 days a week! Managers identified that they spend just over 20% of their time doing work that is not part of their job. In addition, they spend nearly 25% of their time doing work that could (we would say should) be delegated to an administrative support position.

More importantly, the key measures that correlate with manager ineffectiveness have been identified.  If a CEO can understand the relationships between these measures and effectiveness in their organizations, action can be taken that will improve manager effectiveness.

CEOs will receive a report which details the findings in their organization, together with benchmark results. Each measure is described in detail to ensure an understanding of what the results mean. The report concludes with the high level findings, customized for their organization, together with the areas of greatest strengths and greatest opportunities. The report will provide you with results compared to benchmark on the key measures that correlate with manager effectiveness. If a CEO can understand the relationships between these measures and effectiveness in their organizations, action can be taken that will improve effectiveness.

Participation in the Manager Effectiveness^TM Survey is now available to any organization, in English or French, at a very reasonable price point. A 94-question confidential survey has been developed to gather data directly from managers, who can log on to a secure web site to provide their direct input on these measures. Traditional employee surveys require all employers to participate. With this survey, a CEO can get the results with an investment of 20 – 30 minutes of each manager’s time.

What does this mean to CEOs? Why should they devote precious managers’ time to completing a survey? Here are six reasons:

1. Build an action plan for improvement ground in science-based findings. The results are not some ivory-tower idea that may or may not pay off. The findings are based in science, and show the findings for your organization, for each measure, with comparisons to benchmark. With this knowledge it is possible to build an action plan for change that will pay real dividends. An increase in manager effectiveness of 10% has the same impact as hiring an extra 1 manager for every 10 in the organization. This can have a significant bottom-line impact.
2. Quantify Manager Effectiveness in your organization. Anyone who has ever worked in an organization knows from sad experience that managers are distracted from doing their “real work”. They are attending meetings they shouldn’t attend, reading emails they shouldn’t have to read, fighting jurisdictional battles they shouldn’t have to fight, duplicating work also assigned elsewhere, and so on. By quantifying this in your organization, you can get a sense of the opportunities you have to unleash mangers’ potential to help advance strategy. The test data indicates that on average this is the equivalent of more than 2 days per week per manager!
3. Benchmarking. This is an opportunity to see how manager effectiveness in your organization compares to other organizations. Where sample sizes are large enough, sector by sector comparisons will be provided. This can help you to focus in on areas of greatest opportunity.
4. Understand the key factors in your organization supporting manager effectiveness. Organizations do better in some measures than others. Understanding your strengths in manager effectiveness can provide you with a means to build on them. Some of an organizations highest-payoff initiatives can come from leveraging its strengths.
5. Understand the constraints in your organization that are impeding manager effectiveness. Where are you not doing as well as in your organization? If you can understand the constraints to effectiveness, and how they relate, you can develop change strategies that can remove obstacles to effectiveness.
6. Confidential Report. You will receive an approximately 25 page report which details the findings in your organization, together with benchmark results. Each measure is described in detail to ensure an understanding of what the results mean. The report concludes with the high level findings, customized for your organization, together with the areas of greatest strengths and greatest opportunities.