Dr. Bonnie Curtis, PhD in Leadership and Change alumna, published her dissertation entitled, How Should Bosses Lead? New Revelations from Frontline Managers.
The aim of this grounded theory study was to create theory by conducting open-ended interviews with 20 frontline managers (FLMs) to determine how they viewed themselves and their roles, teams, and bosses during corporate change. Results demonstrated that the FLMs viewed themselves as protectors of their teams. The FLMs were competent, resilient leaders who loved the work of managing a team to deliver daily results. Unfortunately, many FLMs were required to navigate bosses that ranged from negligent to abusive. Even the FLMs who described having great bosses asked for something more, declaring a need for help. They called for bosses to provide four elements of leadership: Delivering clarity on the role, expectations, and escalation channels, quickly producing requested resources, hosting regular one-on-one meetings to discuss issues and career, and engaging with empathy and support while giving the FLM autonomy to do the role. When the boss delivers on the four requests, the frontline manager will likely have the autonomy, confidence, and partnership to fully engage in their challenging work.
Bonnie Curtis, PhD, has a long track record of accelerating growth for both a Fortune 50 consumer products company and a privately held distribution and trucking firm. Notably, she lived in Guangzhou, China for eight years where she led the largest Procter and Gamble plant in Asia. As the CEO of Golden Spike LLC., with expertise in leading change for the supply chain, human resources and sales, Bonnie shares her passion in the areas of leadership and process, with focus on frontline and mid-level manager coaching.
Read more about Dr. Curtis and her dissertation How Should Bosses Lead? New Revelations from Frontline Managers here.
