• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
QuestionPro

QuestionPro

questionpro logo
  • Products
    survey software iconSurvey softwareEasy to use and accessible for everyone. Design, send and analyze online surveys.research edition iconResearch SuiteA suite of enterprise-grade research tools for market research professionals.CX iconCustomer ExperienceExperiences change the world. Deliver the best with our CX management software.WF iconEmployee ExperienceCreate the best employee experience and act on real-time data from end to end.
  • Solutions
    IndustriesGamingAutomotiveSports and eventsEducationGovernment
    Travel & HospitalityFinancial ServicesHealthcareCannabisTechnology
    Use CaseAskWhyCommunitiesAudienceContactless surveysMobile
    LivePollsMember ExperienceGDPRPositive People Science360 Feedback Surveys
  • Resources
    BlogeBooksSurvey TemplatesCase StudiesTrainingHelp center
  • Features
  • Pricing
Language
  • English
  • Español (Spanish)
  • Português (Portuguese (Brazil))
  • Nederlands (Dutch)
  • العربية (Arabic)
  • Français (French)
  • Italiano (Italian)
  • 日本語 (Japanese)
  • Türkçe (Turkish)
  • Svenska (Swedish)
  • Hebrew IL (Hebrew)
  • ไทย (Thai)
  • Deutsch (German)
  • Portuguese de Portugal (Portuguese (Portugal))
Call Us
+1 800 531 0228 +1 (647) 956-1242 +52 999 402 4079 +49 301 663 5782 +44 20 3650 3166 +81-3-6869-1954 +61 2 8074 5080 +971 529 852 540
Log In Log In
SIGN UP FREE

Home Workforce

What Do Managers Need Most? More Time and a Space to Be Vulnerable

vulnerability in the workplace.

Organizations expect a lot from their managers. After all, they have a significant impact on the company culture, are often champions and executors of change, and bear outsized responsibility for their teams’ success and failure. And on top of that, the manager’s role is significantly evolving. Let’s talk about vulnerability in the workplace.

When we are asking a lot of this particular group, how do we know that we are providing them with the right tools and resources to succeed? As organizations are increasingly implementing and improving their continuous listening programs, it’s essential to ask managers for input on how the organization can better support them and help them thrive for their unique needs.   

To help, QuestionPro Workforce created a survey measure with the specific purpose of better understanding Manager Experience, intended to help organizations identify their strengths as well as avenues for improvement in order to help managers be more effective and feel more fulfilled.

The survey includes questions about the growth and development of teams and how well organizations enable leaders in that area; leaders’ own growth and development; vision, their teams’ goals and resources to achieve them; autonomy and trust; and, of course, wellbeing. These questions are designed not as a self-evaluation of leaders that may be part of a 360 feedback process, but as continuous feedback from managers to the organizations – a very important piece of the puzzle for companies looking to elevate their culture to one where all employees thrive – those in a leadership position and those on their way to one. 

Transform your organization with our Employee Experience Survey and Analytics Platform. Request Demo

What are we seeing in the market?

If you are one of the many organizations we hope will leverage this survey, we wanted to provide you with an idea of what is going on in the market. In July 2022, we surveyed 100 managers across the United States, and found that the vast majority of, or 87% of managers believe their team’s goals are achievable.

On the other hand, the greatest area of opportunity for organizations was to create a culture where managers felt like they can display vulnerability in the workplace, with only 50% saying that they feel comfortable being vulnerable in front of others in the workplace.

  • Growth & Development Of Teams

We first asked managers about the growth and development of their teams. While the growth and development of teams are often not line items in job descriptions, many successful leaders would say that this is one of the most important parts of their job. 

growth and development of teams

Although it was encouraging to see that an overwhelming majority of managers (83%) agreed that the growth and development of their teams is one of their main responsibilities, fewer said they have access to the right resources to help their team members grow and develop (70%), and even fewer said that they have the necessary time to develop their team on an ongoing basis (61%). 

  • Leader’s Own Growth & Development

Organizations seem to have an even bigger opportunity to improve their managers’ own experience with growth and development. Only 69% of managers said that the organization provides them with the right opportunities to develop as a leader and only 65% agreed that there are professional challenges inside their organization they find exciting. 

leaders dont have enough time for development

What seemed to be lacking the most, again, was time. Just over half (55%) of managers said they have enough time during working hours that they use for their professional growth and development. While as we previously mentioned, the majority of managers said their team’s objectives are achievable, it’s becoming clear that they are not accounting for having the time or capacity to include necessary growth and development activities while achieving their business objectives. 

  • Goals, Capacity & Resources

Again it was reassuring that the vast majority (87%) of managers said they believed their teams goals and objectives were achievable, only 80% said they were involved in setting those goals and only 75% said they were involved in setting the vision for themselves and their teams. 

growth and resources of leaders - Vulnerability in the Workplace for Managers

However, what again emerged as the largest challenge in our sample of managers was time: only 61% of managers agreed that they have enough time to do the work being asked of them, and 60% saying that their team was large enough to do the work being asked of it. 

  • Autonomy & Trust

Despite a crunch for time and resources, 77% of managers reported that they trust their teams to get their jobs done. Yet, only 69% said that their company culture makes it easy for them to provide their team members with autonomy. A larger gap, perhaps related, was in the degree to which managers feel supported by their own manager, something many organizational psychologists would argue is key to thriving in one’s role, on par with having achievable goals. Only 66% of managers in our sample said they feel supported by their own manager.

autonomy and trust of leaders - Vulnerability in the Workplace
  • Wellbeing & The Whole Person Experience

One of the key aspects organizations are promoting today is wellbeing and the whole person experience, and with that we found it critical to include this as well in the manager experience survey. Only 50% of managers said they are comfortable being showing vulnerability in the workplace, and only 64% agreed that their team members seem comfortable being vulnerable in front of them. 

Vulnerability in the Workplace for Managers and person experience managers

It seems that while work/life blend is being increasingly advocated for, many organizations still have an opportunity to create a culture where their people, especially managers, really feel like they can show up as their whole selves. 

Transform your organization with our Employee Experience Survey and Analytics Platform. Request Demo

The Path Ahead for Vulnerability in the Workplace

If you ask your manager to take this survey and see some similar responses we saw inside your organization, what should you do? It will be important to take the time and audit the reading and development resources that managers are given to make sure that what is provided is actually aligned with their current needs. Oftentimes, especially during the pandemic, the content and style of delivery of training and development programs have been outdated and could use a refresh. Especially when we’re talking about the concept of vulnerability in the workplace.

Many organizations are also starting to experiment with employee-led training, which has many benefits as it allows employees to choose which trainings to partake in, and when, making both the content and the timing more suitable to their schedule. However, a threat that they will still often lose sight of partaking in them as a result of competing priorities exists. 

Including development as a more formal goal would certainly help managers allocate more time towards it when faced with competing priorities. And having continuous conversations with them as you iterate the strategy will help assure that the changes you are making will have the best impact on creating a culture where managers can thrive. 

Ready to create a workplace culture where everyone can reach their full potential? Learn more about how to get ongoing feedback from your employees and start taking action to make a positive impact in your organization with QuestionPro Workforce.

       

SHARE THIS ARTICLE:

About the author
Ana Bedacarratz

View all posts by Ana Bedacarratz

Primary Sidebar

Take your people experience to the next level!

Try our Employee Experience Survey and Analytics platform

Learn more

RELATED ARTICLES

HubSpot - QuestionPro Integration

Conversion Funnel: A Blueprint for Marketing Success

Oct 25,2023

HubSpot - QuestionPro Integration

15 Best Data Management Tools for Research

Jan 10,2023

HubSpot - QuestionPro Integration

Post-Test Surveys: Definition, Elements & How to Create One

Nov 03,2023

BROWSE BY CATEGORY

  • Academic
  • Academic Research
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Assessments
  • Audience
  • Brand Awareness
  • Business
  • Case Studies
  • Communities
  • Consumer Insights
  • Customer effort score
  • Customer Engagement
  • Customer Experience
  • Customer Loyalty
  • Customer Research
  • Customer Satisfaction
  • CX
  • Employee Benefits
  • Employee Engagement
  • Employee Engagement
  • Employee Retention
  • Enterprise
  • Events
  • Forms
  • Friday Five
  • General Data Protection Regulation
  • Guest Post
  • Insights Hub
  • Life@QuestionPro
  • LivePolls
  • Market Research
  • Marketing
  • Mobile
  • Mobile App
  • Mobile diaries
  • Mobile Surveys
  • New Features
  • non-profit
  • NPS
  • Online Communities
  • Polls
  • Question Types
  • Questionnaire
  • QuestionPro
  • QuestionPro Products
  • Release Notes
  • Research Tools and Apps
  • Revenue at Risk
  • Startups
  • Survey Templates
  • Surveys
  • Tech News
  • Tips
  • Training
  • Training Tips
  • Trending
  • Tuesday CX Thoughts (TCXT)
  • Uncategorized
  • VOC
  • Webinar
  • Webinars
  • What’s Coming Up
  • Workforce
  • Workforce Intelligence

Footer

MORE LIKE THIS

Credit-Unions-NPS-2025

Credit Unions NPS Leading in Loyalty in 2025

May 21, 2025

ken tcxt

Experience – What’s Included? | Tuesday CX Toughts

May 20, 2025

artificial-data

What is Artificial Data & How It’s Shaping Research

May 20, 2025

wells-fargo-nps-2025

Wells Fargo NPS 2025: What Businesses Can Learn

May 19, 2025

Other categories

  • Academic
  • Academic Research
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Assessments
  • Audience
  • Brand Awareness
  • Business
  • Case Studies
  • Communities
  • Consumer Insights
  • Customer effort score
  • Customer Engagement
  • Customer Experience
  • Customer Loyalty
  • Customer Research
  • Customer Satisfaction
  • CX
  • Employee Benefits
  • Employee Engagement
  • Employee Engagement
  • Employee Retention
  • Enterprise
  • Events
  • Forms
  • Friday Five
  • General Data Protection Regulation
  • Guest Post
  • Insights Hub
  • Life@QuestionPro
  • LivePolls
  • Market Research
  • Marketing
  • Mobile
  • Mobile App
  • Mobile diaries
  • Mobile Surveys
  • New Features
  • non-profit
  • NPS
  • Online Communities
  • Polls
  • Question Types
  • Questionnaire
  • QuestionPro
  • QuestionPro Products
  • Release Notes
  • Research Tools and Apps
  • Revenue at Risk
  • Startups
  • Survey Templates
  • Surveys
  • Tech News
  • Tips
  • Training
  • Training Tips
  • Trending
  • Tuesday CX Thoughts (TCXT)
  • Uncategorized
  • VOC
  • Webinar
  • Webinars
  • What’s Coming Up
  • Workforce
  • Workforce Intelligence

questionpro-logo-nw
Help center Live Chat SIGN UP FREE
  • Sample questions
  • Sample reports
  • Survey logic
  • Branding
  • Integrations
  • Professional services
  • Security
  • Survey Software
  • Customer Experience
  • Workforce
  • Communities
  • Audience
  • Polls Explore the QuestionPro Poll Software - The World's leading Online Poll Maker & Creator. Create online polls, distribute them using email and multiple other options and start analyzing poll results.
  • Research Edition
  • LivePolls
  • InsightsHub
  • Blog
  • Articles
  • eBooks
  • Survey Templates
  • Case Studies
  • Training
  • Webinars
  • All Plans
  • Nonprofit
  • Academic
  • Qualtrics Alternative Explore the list of features that QuestionPro has compared to Qualtrics and learn how you can get more, for less.
  • SurveyMonkey Alternative
  • VisionCritical Alternative
  • Medallia Alternative
  • Likert Scale Complete Likert Scale Questions, Examples and Surveys for 5, 7 and 9 point scales. Learn everything about Likert Scale with corresponding example for each question and survey demonstrations.
  • Conjoint Analysis
  • Net Promoter Score (NPS) Learn everything about Net Promoter Score (NPS) and the Net Promoter Question. Get a clear view on the universal Net Promoter Score Formula, how to undertake Net Promoter Score Calculation followed by a simple Net Promoter Score Example.
  • Offline Surveys
  • Customer Satisfaction Surveys
  • Employee Survey Software Employee survey software & tool to create, send and analyze employee surveys. Get real-time analysis for employee satisfaction, engagement, work culture and map your employee experience from onboarding to exit!
  • Market Research Survey Software Real-time, automated and advanced market research survey software & tool to create surveys, collect data and analyze results for actionable market insights.
  • GDPR & EU Compliance
  • Employee Experience
  • Customer Journey
  • Synthetic Data
  • About us
  • Executive Team
  • In the news
  • Testimonials
  • Advisory Board
  • Careers
  • Brand
  • Media Kit
  • Contact Us

QuestionPro in your language

  • English
  • Español (Spanish)
  • Português (Portuguese (Brazil))
  • Nederlands (Dutch)
  • العربية (Arabic)
  • Français (French)
  • Italiano (Italian)
  • 日本語 (Japanese)
  • Türkçe (Turkish)
  • Svenska (Swedish)
  • Hebrew IL (Hebrew)
  • ไทย (Thai)
  • Deutsch (German)
  • Portuguese de Portugal (Portuguese (Portugal))

Awards & certificates

  • survey-leader-asia-leader-2023
  • survey-leader-asiapacific-leader-2023
  • survey-leader-enterprise-leader-2023
  • survey-leader-europe-leader-2023
  • survey-leader-latinamerica-leader-2023
  • survey-leader-leader-2023
  • survey-leader-middleeast-leader-2023
  • survey-leader-mid-market-leader-2023
  • survey-leader-small-business-leader-2023
  • survey-leader-unitedkingdom-leader-2023
  • survey-momentumleader-leader-2023
  • bbb-acredited
The Experience Journal

Find innovative ideas about Experience Management from the experts

  • © 2022 QuestionPro Survey Software | +1 (800) 531 0228
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Use