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Consultant’s blog: Does your manager support your organisation’s long term direction?

Opinion piece by one of Insync’s Research Project Managers

Insync has conducted a review of nearly 70,000 employee survey responses from across industries, specifically looking at “team leadership” and how it relates to an organisation’s long term direction.

Whilst half claim they can’t easily refer to their organisation’s goals; and a similar proportion say their organisation head doesn’t regularly refer to the company’s overall strategies; it begs the question: where do employees get information about what their employer is trying to achieve? And does it relate to their own role?

The good news is that at grass roots level, team leaders are strongly supporting their organisation’s long term goals.

Over 70% of employee survey respondents agreed that the person they report to supports their organisation’s long term aims. For employers this is great news, as articulated by a 2010 anonymous article in Business Line: “…An executive may be aligned to the mission and values of an organisation, but he may not agree with every decision that the organisation may make. When an executive is aligned he will act in good faith and harmony. He will roll up his sleeves and dedicate himself to the cause of the organisation. Alignment is an essential element in an organisation and without it, the executives will pull in different directions and lead to a management mismatch.”

Managers who show investment and commitment to goals are more likely to motivate employees to also invest and commit to the same vision which leads to alignment (Beehr at al 2009).

It is often middle management who lacks the opportunity to discuss strategy with senior leaders. So if you are an executive, help your managers to help you by providing truly two-way communication regarding long term strategies and changes. The more they understand and are aligned, the greater the alignment in your organisation as a whole.

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