Support from managers: when the score is low

What the law says

Arbeidstilsynet writes that support can be emotional, such as care, understanding and recognition, or instrumental, such as professional advice, practical help and feedback. It can also be built into systems, routines and clear lines of responsibility – so it should not rest on the individual manager's personality alone.

What Orgpuls asks

The factor «Support from manager» is measured with three statements, answered on a five-point scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree:

• «I get support from my manager when the job becomes demanding»
• «My manager knows enough about what my job actually involves»
• «I can raise difficult matters with my manager»

Read the number right

• Availability or insight? A low score on the manager knowing what the job involves needs something different from a low score on getting support when it is demanding.
• One department? Support from the manager is about one particular manager. Look at each department before drawing conclusions for the whole organisation.
• The manager's own conditions – a manager with too many reports or too much other work cannot be available, however willing.

Common causes

Typical causes:

• too many employees per manager, or managers with a full workload of their own
• managers far removed from the work they lead
• no regular conversations, so contact only happens when something has gone wrong
• new managers without training in management

When the result is about the manager, it can be wise for the safety representative or another manager to lead that part of the review with employees, so the conversation stays open.

Three measures that work

The research behind it: studies of leadership development show effect when the training is practical and followed up over time. Regular conversations between leader and employee are one of the simplest moves.

Measure whether it helped

Run a short pulse on the factor a couple of months after the measure is in place. If the number does not move, the measure missed the cause, and you need to go back to the group and ask again. Read more about getting from results to measures and going through the results with your employees.