Is it just a fad or reality that employees leave Managers not organisations?

In any employment set up, the relationship between a Manager and employee plays a critical role to even surpass the contribution of other factors of the Employee Value Proposition (EVP). The EVP is basically a unique set of benefits which an employee receives in return for a set of skills, capabilities and experience. But when one looks at the relationship between a Manager and an employee, EVP factors come second.

The person an employee calls the “Manager” has a lot to do with the employee working in an organization. This Manager determines the employee’s level of engagement and serve as the employees’ strongest connection to company leadership day in day out.

In most cases the real reasons why, employees leave organizations’ usually points to their Managers. Managers generally have a significant control over their teams and its performance. They are like the micro Chief Executive Officers who run the unit and are responsible for their team performance and productivity. It is the same Managers who can damage the morale, motivation and productivity of their teams based on their actions or inactions.

It   is therefore very important for organizational Chief Executives to understand and know the nature of people they call their Managers as well as understanding themselves as the apex in the organization. There is usually what is called the Cascade Effect in organizations’, when you as a leader you are disengaged, you do not communicate, you do not respect employees, all Managers in the hierarchy tend to follow suit. Communication is one very vital tool yet mostly neglected in organizations. Managerial communication used keeps the employee feeling connected to the purpose of their work. When this communication breaks down somewhere in the leadership hierarchy, everyone suffers. Employees usually feel out of the loop, they get frustrated by putting their efforts into work that does not matter.

We recommend that Chief Executive Officers need  to design and implement appropriate communications architecture for their companies. Its absence usually leads to information and ideas stagnating generating organizations into a bad place to work. Research has shown that two things people want more than money and sexual relationships is praise and recognition both of which hinge on effective communication.

Our experience suggests that bad Managers usually take good employees and destroy them, causing the best employees to flee and the remainder to lose all motivation.

What type of Managers are there in organizations’ that employees meet on the ground who may not be the Managers known by the CEOs? Research has come up with four categories of managers mostly found in any organization.

The Taskmasters: These are Managers who solely focus on the bottom-line always drilling employees and micromanaging and suffocating them. They are always killing creativity in employees and even if they have open lines of communication, these are for the wrong things to constantly remind you that they have done your job before and often insult you in front of others. These tend to exude bullying and harassment tendencies and bad mouthing. Such Managers are usually found in situations where someone has been in a job for   a long time and have worked up their way. When the young people come they feel threatened and always want to defend their turf.

The King Kongos: These are Managers who have reached the top and forget where they came from. They have a superiority complex and want to draw a distinction between staff and themselves. Their main concern is pushing their weight and not build relationships. They only respect those they want to impress and not everyone else.

The Superman: These Managers see the organization revolving around them. They are more like the owners of the company forgetting their own signed contract of employment. Their decisions are solo, ignore feedback and always want to take credit. Their departure from the organization is always a cause for great celebration.

The Marionettes: These Managers want to play it safe to preserve their positions and privileges and never standing up for their teams and are mere puppets.

This article has sought to demonstrate that Managers in organizations play a critical role in determining whether or not employees stay in the company. In view of the critical role played by people in determining the success or failure of an organization it goes without saying that the leadership in organizations must invest heavily in growing the appropriate knowledge and skills in Managerial staff so that they develop the capacity to manage and motivate their subordinates in a positive way. The payback for this investment is realized through reduced staff turnover rates and a high level of staff engagement which leads to high levels of productivity.

Emmanuel Jinda is the Managing Consultant of PROSERVE Consulting Group, a leading supplier of Professional Human Resources and Management services locally, regionally and internationally. He can be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.tel: 263 773004143 or 263 4 772778