In the US Federal Government, as many studies have also shown for private industry, leadership–especially at the senior level–is the primary factor around how employees view their workplace. This comes from the 2010 report on The Best Places to Work in the Federal Government.
The report distinguishes between leadership at the executive level and at all managerial levels.
Senior Leadership – the level of respect employees have for senior leaders, satisfaction with the amount of information provided by management, and perceptions about senior leaders’ honesty, integrity and ability to motivate employees.
Effective leadership from managers – the extent to which employees believe leadership at all levels of the organization generates motivation and commitment, encourages integrity, and manages people fairly, while also promoting the professional development, creativity, and empowerment of employees.
In both the private and public sectors it is employees’ perceptions of senior leadership, vs. of their immediate managers, that has the greatest influence on the degree of emotional and rational attachment staff feels for the organization. This is also called “employee engagement.”
Nevertheless, as the BPTW study reinforces for this slice of the public sector, your boss has huge impact on the work and career satisfaction you experience. Not only is he/she a conduit to the culture, priorities and values of the larger organization, he/she is in the best position to make tangible things happen for you at the micro level of your own job.
For these reasons, organizations are wise to invest their development dollars at both levels of their management structure.
