First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

by Gallup Press

First, we saw that employees who responded more positively to the 12 items also worked in business units with higher levels of productivity, profit, retention and customer satisfaction. This demonstrated, for the first time, the link between employee opinion and business unit performance across many different companies. Second, the meta-analysis revealed that employees rated the items differently depending on which business unit they worked for rather than which company. This meant that, for the most part, these 12 opinions were being formed by the employees’ immediate manager rather than by the policies or procedures of the overall company. We had discovered that the manager — not pay, benefits, perks or a charismatic corporate leader — was the critical player in building a strong workplace. The manager was the key.