Paradoxes of Engagement: Most Managers Are Afraid To Communicate

Even though that’s their most important job.

Photo by Nik MacMillan on Unsplash

Communication may seem a natural aspect of work, but the truth is that effective communication is hard work, and is not something that comes easily for most.

Lou Solomon offers up a startling fact that shows communication is in particular not the forte for managers:

A 2016 Interact survey conducted online by Harris Poll with 2,058 U.S. adults — 1,120 of them were employed, and 616 of the employed people were managers — showed that a stunning majority (69%) of the managers said that they’re often uncomfortable communicating with employees.

As a result of this aversion, managers who are uncomfortable communicating create serious problems — and the disengagement of their direct reports — by avoiding opportunities to communicate. In fact, Gallup research cited by Marcel Schwantes | ‘shows employees whose managers hold regular meetings with them are almost three times as likely to be engaged than employees with managers who ignore them’.

And just talking at people isn’t real communication.