More Than One-Quarter of Managers Said They Weren't Ready to Lead When They Began Managing Others, Finds New CareerBuilder Survey

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Mar 28, 2011, 07:00 ET

CHICAGO, March 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Being a leader at an organization is a great step forward in workers' careers, but many admit the title comes with challenges. According to a new CareerBuilder survey, more than one-quarter (26 percent) of managers said they weren't ready to become a leader when they started managing others. Fifty-eight percent said they didn't receive any management training. The nationwide survey was conducted among more than 2,480 U.S. employers and 3,910 U.S. workers between November 15 and December 2, 2010.

When asked what the biggest challenge is as a manager, workers in a management position said the following:

Dealing with issues between co-workers on my team – 25 percent
Motivating team members – 22 percent
Performance reviews – 15 percent
Finding the resources needed to support the team – 15 percent
Creating career paths for my team – 12 percent

"Good management skills can positively impact productivity, performance and overall employee morale," said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder. "We see more companies investing in management training programs to develop today's and tomorrow's leaders."

When it comes to rating their direct supervisor, the majority of workers (59 percent) felt their boss was doing a good or even great job. Twenty percent described their direct supervisor's performance as poor or very poor. The top concerns workers have with their boss include:

Plays favorites – 23 percent
Doesn't follow through on what he/she promises – 21 percent
Doesn't listen to concerns – 21 percent
Doesn't provide regular feedback – 20 percent
Doesn't keep me motivated – 17 percent
Doesn't help me develop – 17 percent
Only provides negative feedback – 14 percent

When it comes to rating the performance of their corporate leaders, 50 percent felt their leadership teams were doing a good or great job while 23 percent described their performance as poor or very poor. Corporate leaders received a poor rating from workers primarily due to insufficient communication, unrealistic workloads, and a lack of training and employee development. When asked what their biggest issues with their company leadership were, workers said the following:

Doesn't make an effort to listen to employees or address employee morale – 40 percent
Not enough transparency, doesn't communicate openly and honestly – 33 percent
Major changes are made without warning – 30 percent
Workloads and productivity demands are unreasonable – 27 percent
Doesn't motivate me – 21 percent
Stopped investing in the development of employees – 20 percent

Survey Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive© on behalf of CareerBuilder.com among 2,482 U.S. employers and 3,910 U.S. employees (employed full-time; not self-employed; non-government) ages 18 and over between November 15 and December 2, 2010 (percentages for some questions are based on a subset, based on their responses to certain questions). With pure probability samples of 2,482 and 3,910 one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- 1.97 and +/- 1.57 percentage points, respectively. Sampling error for data from sub-samples is higher and varies.

About CareerBuilder®

CareerBuilder is the global leader in human capital solutions, helping companies target and attract their most important asset – their people. Its online career site, CareerBuilder.com®, is the largest in the United States with more than 23 million unique visitors, 1 million jobs and 32 million resumes. CareerBuilder works with the world's top employers, providing resources for everything from employment branding and data analysis. More than 9,000 websites, including 140 newspapers and broadband portals such as MSN and AOL, feature CareerBuilder's proprietary job search technology on their career sites. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI), Tribune Company and The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI), CareerBuilder and its subsidiaries operate in the United States, Europe, Canada and Asia. For more information, visit www.careerbuilder.com.