Media release
We Have the Worst Managers in the World……
Recent research from the Ministry of Economic Development found that we have some of the worst managers in the world and
this is the main reason we are losing so many good people to Australia.
Poor leadership and management skills are also the reason for our high employee disengagement and low productivity
according to Chris Bell Managing Director of Customer Experiences a company that specialises in the development of high
quality customer experiences.
Chris Bell said that this also reflects on our poor customer service levels. Poor management skills have a direct impact
on the overall culture of a business. Good people can’t perform to their best in these situations; they get frustrated
and leave resulting in a lower performance across the organisation.
Associate professor Dr Rhema Vaithianathan concluded that better training is required to halt the monthly exodus of
thousands of workers.
Chris Bell agrees that more up to date skill development in the area of leadership and management is required however he
is concerned that there is a “head in the sand” attitude currently in business that management skills and the resulting
impact on culture is not the issue.
“I find the lack of leadership skills to be the area where I end up spending most of my time when working with clients
to develop their customer experience. High quality customer experiences are totally dependant on leadership, culture and
the right people in the right positions if the outcome is to be a sustainable competitive advantage.
In May 2009 a New Zealand survey on leadership and workplace culture found that poor work culture and a lack of
workplace leadership was costing NZ business more than 2.6 billion a year
The survey went on to say that less than 45 percent of those surveyed had trust and confidence in their work leadership
and less than 47 percent felt their leader’s management style improved their productivity.
Bell said it’s clear that we are not listening and asks the question “how many more good people to we need to lose
before we get serious about addressing this vital issue.
ends