I received this email from an Alchemy subscriber…

Have you ever looked at Line Managers (LMs) who simply aren’t interested in being LMs? They neglect their staff; don’t answer calls, don’t reply to emails or just send one liners, don’t accept meeting requests and simply are not available to assist?

I sent these off the cuff thoughts back…

Thanks for your email.

You raise an interesting question, and of course, like many interesting questions it in turn generates many more. I assume you are seeing line managers behaving this way, and wondering what’s going on.

My first few thoughts are
1. Has the role of Line Manager been delegated to them properly?
Do they know what their job is?

2. Do they know how to do what they need to do?
Have they had the needed training/coaching/mentoring/support to do what they need to do?

3. Does the system they operate within encourage or discourage the “right” activity
This could be incentives, culture, regulatory aspects, required procedures etc.

4. What are motivation levels to do things well?
I suspect low, or the question you ask would not arise. So why low?
What are they more motivated to do rather than do a good job?
If someone is motivated to be mediocre… why?

5. What do they think “good” means within the context of their job?
They may think they are doing OK because they have never had any really good role models.

6. Is this wilful obstruction?
This is rare, but I have seen it. If so, the root cause needs to be found.

Just a few thoughts.

I hope they are helpful

My best wishes, Paul
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