When recognition and support fall short, it’s easy to blame managers. Our experience suggests the bigger obstacles often lie in the organisation around them.
With insight from Brian O’Mahony, Head of Roffey Park Europe
Recognising people’s effort costs little and matters a great deal. So when employees say they don’t feel valued, the natural assumption is that managers aren’t doing enough of it.
Recent research reported by HR Magazine points somewhere else. Managers, it suggests, are largely keen to recognise and back their teams. What holds them back is the organisation they work in. Other studies point in a similar direction: Perkbox’s research on reward and recognition found a marked gap between how valued HR leaders think employees feel and how valued employees say they feel.
A conditions problem, not a knowledge problem
Brian O’Mahony, who heads Roffey Park Europe, sees this pattern in many organisations.
Most managers know what good leadership looks like. The real question is whether they have the freedom, the tools and the backing to act on it.
Seen this way, patchy recognition is a symptom. It’s one visible sign of a wider issue: whether the organisation has set managers up to lead well at all.
Why another scheme rarely fixes it
A common response to low recognition scores is to launch something new: a platform, an awards programme, a campaign. If managers are overloaded, unsure of priorities or lacking the authority to act, that’s unlikely to shift much. It may even add to their load.
The more useful move is to look at what’s stopping managers doing what they already want to do. We’ve written about why development alone isn’t always the answer when the real constraint is the system a leader operates in.
Start with what managers tell you
Brian’s advice to HR is to begin by listening. Find out where managers feel boxed in, then give them clearer direction, more room to use their judgement and the confidence to act. In practice, that can include:
- Asking managers directly where they feel blocked, and being seen to act on what they say.
- Making clear which decisions managers can take themselves, including everyday ways of recognising people.
- Reviewing approvals and processes that slow down or discourage good leadership.
- Creating space for managers to learn from each other, not only through formal courses.
Expectations need the right environment
Telling managers what good leadership looks like isn’t enough on its own. They also need an environment that makes it possible. That’s where leadership development and organisational development meet.
Our Manager as Consultant thought paper explores how managers can take a more enquiring, systemic approach to their role. Our consultancy on organisational health and culture and leadership cohesion helps organisations identify and remove the barriers holding managers back. For managers themselves, Advanced Leadership & Management Practice gives them space to work on real organisational challenges with peers.
