Our research shows most employees want to get three basic things "out of" their jobs: #1. Success/achievement. #2. Financial and non-financial rewards. And #3. Some flexibility in schedule and work conditions.

When managers support employees on these three fronts, employees tend overwhelmingly to be more committed to the team and the organization, achieve greater productivity, produce higher quality work, and turn over at exceptionally low rates. This level of success usually leads to even greater rewards and greater flexibility for the employee, generating in the employee even greater commitment, productivity, quality and retention. It's an upward spiral of win-win: Get more out of people and do more for them in return.

Here's the problem: The direct reports of under-managers do lower quality work and less of it, while wasting more resources and making more mistakes. As a result, these employees tend to be less successful, receive fewer rewards, and have less flexibility in their working conditions. Thus, they often get caught in a downward spiral of diminishing commitment, productivity, quality and retention. The more disengaged the manager is, the worse the downward spiral is likely to be: Get less and less out of people and do less and less for them in return.

Under-managers limit the SUCCESS/ACHIEVEMENT of employees because they fail to...
(a) get the best projects for their teams; (b) staff the right person for the role/place/time at hand; (c) train employees up-to-speed for each new task/project; (d) provide standard operating procedures and other basic tools and define the parameters of individual assignments; and (e) help employees anticipate/avoid problems, identify/meet resource needs, or provide guidance and coaching.

Under-managers limit the REWARDS of employees because they fail to...
(a) achieve the results necessary (or go to bat) for extra resources for their teams---so they have fewer rewards to distribute; (b) delegate clear ownership to individuals of measurable goals and, therefore, make it harder for individuals to get the credit for their efforts; (c) monitor and measure individual performance and so don't know the quality/quantity of work being done by each person every day; (d) make distinctions between employees based on performance; and (e) keep the documentation to justify differential rewards.

Under-managers limit the FLEXIBILITY of employees because they fail to...
(a) monitor performance/results closely and so they must monitor place/time (making sure employees are "at work" during certain hours); and (b) do the extra work necessary to make "special arrangements" for employees (they find it easier to keep track of "one-size-fits-all" schedules and conditions).

Do you really want to do more for your employees? Our research shows that THE ONLY MANAGERS who consistently deliver MORE SUCCESS, MORE REWARDS, AND MORE FLEXIBILITY for their direct reports are hands-on managers who do the hard work of leading/supervising every person every day.