The Managers at the top love to talk, they religiously enjoy listening to their own wisecracks and insights. They grow to believe their own doctored press releases. Now as they gain more power, they have lesser and lesser of a reason to listen to people serving under them. It is common in many organizations to date; the ratio of Horizontal to Vertical communication is very one sided; leaning towards the former.
The people on the floor are always talking about something, but these goblets of information never reach the ears of the dwellers of Leader-land. Often leader-subordinate conversations tend to be more formal.
An effective leader must search for means to channel that sublime and suppressed bits and pieces of streams back to the main river so that there will be enough water to float a raft on.
The more people you are assigned to lead; the more you are to listen. Effective leaders have to keep it in their minds that:
Listen and Silent are spelt with the same alphabets.[/b]
Right from the ancient times ; Indian leaders have shied away from the frontlines(Except a few daredevils , Prithviraj,Maharana Pratap etc) ; It is not advisable but if there is no other way , the least they can do is lend a patient ear to the troubles faced by the ones who have to go out there and fight it out.
Some of the common reasons for a gap in communication between the employees and the managers are :
· Lack of sufficient time[/b] : The more people come under your span as a manager ; the less time you have per person.
· Too many Managers[/b] : This problem arises when there are many managers who could be contacted but the employees are in a fix whom to eventually go to….
· Ego issues[/b] : Some people from engineering schools have qualms about the managers earning more than them.
· Distance :[/b] this can be due to any of the above factors or du to some others like multi-ethnicity , culture etc.