Frontline leaders lacking support 

New research has shown that junior managers and frontline leaders lack support from their organisations.

HR Leader recently spoke to Human Synergistics’ head of consulting, Corinne Canter, about the stress that frontline workers are going through and the lack of support from their organisations.

“Research shows strong links between how we think and our satisfaction with our job, organisation, work relationships and personal wellbeing,” said Canter.

“That’s why we measure learned thinking and behaviour. We know that some styles lead to long-term effectiveness, while others don’t.”

“In the workplace, we found that a person’s ability to manage stress increases with seniority. In view of that, it’s no surprise that frontline managers – people who are on that first rung of the leadership ladder – rated their ability to handle stress poorly. In fact, they rated it lower than people at all other organisational levels, from individual workers to CEOs.”

According to Canter, this suggests that these managers aren’t being afforded the needed resources that would allow them to better handle the stress that arises in these positions.

“This suggests that more tools are being provided as a person climbs the organisational ladder, resulting in no significant increase in stress, but greater satisfaction with ability to manage stress,” she said.

“Tellingly, only 44 per cent of frontline leaders said they felt supported by their organisation to do well. The first step into leadership is often the hardest. People are often promoted into manager roles because of their ability to carry out tasks effectively, but leadership requires a different skill set. Many frontline leaders are left to figure out how to be good leaders on their own.”

In terms of the more senior leaders, the data shows that of the 1,165 CEOs surveyed, 38 per cent don’t rate their ability to manage stress highly, and nearly one-fifth (16 per cent) said they are very tense and under stress. Meanwhile, only 56 per cent report a high level of support from their organisation to do well.

“The picture for senior leaders is mixed. Senior leaders are clearly struggling with their wellbeing,” Canter said.

“On the other hand, job satisfaction is high among CEOs: 83 per cent say they are completely satisfied or close to it. That’s a lot higher than non-management respondents, 55 per cent of whom say they are completely satisfied or close to it.”