There's ofen a disconnect between employs and there bosses see as effective laedership, and the problem is usually corporate culture, says consultant MarkHomes. | Page 2D Tuesday August 14 2001 ffljc Dallas Horning JCclUS Managers may lack traits staffers value Mark Holmes Bette Price By VICTOR GODINEZ Staff Writer There s often a disconnect between what employees and their bosses see as effective leadership and the problem is usually corporate culture says consultant Mark Holmes. Mr. Holmes president of Consultant Board Inc. in Springfield Mo. said he s conducted more than 1 000 interviews and focus groups with corporations and their em ployees since 1990 to determine what some of the sources of friction and miscommunication are between employees and management. When you ask those managers What do managers do on a daily basis here s what they tell us We supervise we delegate we budget schedule we control costs Mr. Holmes said. Then the sixth one they would generally pitch it in the form of Well we get feedback. What kind of feedback Some would say We communicate or We correct or some would even say Praise. However he said when employees are asked what the most important characteristics are in an effective manager the six attributes most mentioned are appreciation trust respect fairness honesty and communication. So you take a look at that list and what you notice so quickly is that these are primarily head skills that managers think about not the heart skills Mr. Holmes said. Even what managers said was needed in leadership in their company was different than what they felt like they did every day and what employees said We really need. SMART BUSINESS Heart and head skills Bette Price president of consulting and training firm the Price Group in Addison said most of those management employee disparities are guided by the habits of the company s top leaders. If they do things that demonstrate that they do value the people as well as the profits then you seem to have a culture in which people feel valued and are actually more productive said Ms. Price who recently conducted .
