The Idea is Spreading

I’ve written before on the idea of letting people choose their manager, as they are going to be best placed to know who could really motivate and challenge them. I’m delighted to see the idea spreading. Several organisations we’ve worked with at Happy People now let their staff choose their manager. And all report that its created a better and more effective workplace.

After a recent talk I gave at London Business School, in which I called on the audience to let people pick their manager, somebody came up to me and explained that at Accenture (one of the world’s largest consultancy firms), where she worked, you could choose. Apparently they do have a manager on each project they work on but long-term support comes from a mentor that they decide on.

If it works for Bradley….

Reading Bradley Wiggin’s autobiography, My Time, one thing that struck me was that a key turning point was when he decided to drop his coach and choose another one. If he hadn’t been able to do that, he might never have won the Tour de France.

Do you want your people to get the coaching and support – and challenge – that they need to become a champion? Of course you do. I always come back to a shocking survey CMI finding, that 49% of the UK workforce would take a pay cut to have a different manager and that 47% left their last job because they were badly managed.

There is a very simple solution, one that more companies are trying and finding that it works:

• Let your people choose their manager

Try it in your organisation, and let me know the result.