The management skills that we all take for granted are disappearing from our businesses—leaving us with an execution gap and poorly trained people.

In this podcast, we talk to Belden and Fiona about how the prioritisation of leadership has squeezed crucial management capability out of organisations.

They share their insight into the following issues and more:

• The loss of management skills can be seen on the ground in a reduced ability to spot problems and opportunities, to analyse situations, and to choose a route forwards. This is causing an execution gap.
• As hierarchies have become flatter, managers can be less willing to give feedback or step in and challenge.
• Managers and senior leaders now frequently give away the valuable opportunity to upskill their junior staff to consultants. This could be seen as a misuse of consulting.
• It would help if people could see the roles of leadership and management as ones that overlap. Good business executives do both.
• CEOs should be asking their HRDs searching questions about where the training budget for managers is being directed.
• Fiona and Belden also share advice on how to get great management back into our businesses.

If you enjoyed this conversation, don’t miss our sister podcast, The Future of the Firm. In our latest episode, we discuss how firms should be rethinking digital talent in an AI-ambitious world.