Let People Choose Their Managers

If the conflict can’t be resolved the most common outcome is that they will leave.

A study by the Chartered Management Institute UK found that 47% of respondents in the UK left their last role because they were badly managed and that 49% would be prepared to take a pay cut to be able to work with a different manager.

At Happy, we can solve it in about five minutes. We simply ask who they would like instead as their manager.

This may not be common but Happy is not alone in this approach. At WL Gore, the multi-billion company behind Goretex, they also let people choose their managers, arguing that “if you want to be a leader, you’d better find some followers.”

The results are interesting. Some people do change their managers because they don’t get on with them. Others have changed because they’ve become too close, while some feel the need for a new guide for the next stage of their development. If you do find everybody deserts a certain manager it probably tells you something important about their strengths and weaknesses and where they need to develop.

Professor Julian Birkinshaw of London Business School asks, “what would management be like if it was decided by those who are managed?” Probably both different and more effective, I would say. And being able to choose who manages you would make simple sense.

We do have a slightly different structure to the norm, with the person who manages and coaches you often separated from the person who you deliver work to. But that isn’t so unusual nowadays. Many people work on projects where the Project Leader is not their line manager.

So think about it. Would you hold onto more employees? Would they grow new skills? Would you create a happier workplace if you let people choose their managers?

Next Conference: 2025 Happy Workplaces Conference

Our Happy Workplaces Conference is our biggest event of the year, and we'd love for you to join us on Wednesday 25th June!

Our 2024 event was our first ever hybrid event, and so we hope to run next year's in the same way. We will host up to 50 people face-to-face at Happy's HQ in Aldgate, London, and we can host up to 200 people online via Zoom. However you choose to join, there will be interaction, discussion, space for reflection and opportunities to network with others.

Stay tuned for full details of our speakers for next year's event. As always, our speakers share practical, hands-on ideas that you can implement to create happy and engaged workplaces.

Find out more