Leadership Survey Shows Management May Be Leading with the Wrong Foot Forward

Today NETtime Solutions released the results of their recent survey titled, “Leadership Styles: The good, the bad, and the not-so-effective.” After collecting responses from people across the United States and in all lines of work, the findings spoke loud and clear as to how managers are leading and what employees actually prefer.

In all, 39 respondents shared their workplace experiences with various leadership styles. Approximately 24% experienced management that leads by example and sets the stage to be followed, 40% experienced management that drives productivity from a position of superiority, and the remaining 37% had previously experienced both types. With 77% total working under a manager that lead from a position of superiority at some point in their career, NETtime concludes that this is the most prevalent type of leadership style.

Contrary to the type of leadership being modeled in the workplace, the survey revealed that employees (79% of respondents) actually perform better under management that leads by example. Only 3% worked well under management that drives productivity from a position of superiority, while about 18% felt that leadership style had no bearing on their job performance.

In an open response portion of the leadership style survey, real-life examples of management inspiring their teams were shared. While the overall survey findings showed that the majority of managers are leading in an inefficient manner, many employees had positive interactions with workplace leaders such as:

A manager who put on their work clothes and helped, getting their hands dirty, when needed and then knew when to back off at an appropriate time. This manager led from the front and had trust in this team to complete a job right.

Another worked under a VP who was previously a teacher. Since this VP was fond of learning, each year he would pick a book on leadership/management (such as Studer), then send out a copy with a personalized note to each manager explaining why he choose the book. The book and how it could be applied to the business would then become a topic of discussion at managers’ meetings.

Other findings from the workplace leadership study have been posted on NETtime’s Facebook page. For helpful insight into other human resource issues, please visit NETtime’s blog at http://blog.nettimesolutions.com.

About NETtime Solutions?
NETtime Solutions is a pioneer in SaaS time and attendance. They are the nimble and responsive providers of available anywhere, anytime cloud-based time and attendance. NETtime helps companies make informed workforce decisions with real-time time and labor management data while helping them protect their employees and maintain compliance with local, state and federal labor laws.