Managers at startups aren’t all bad, but there’s plenty they can improve on, according to a Sifted survey of startup employees: be it setting clear objectives, listening more or micromanaging less.
Almost two-thirds (63%) of respondents said that only a minority of the managers they’ve had at startups were equipped to take on the role, with some reporting that their managers didn’t know how to lead, and were poor at communicating.
“Juniors are promoted too early and too fast into management positions,” noted one respondent.
“Some treat career advancement like a checklist of tasks to do instead of honing critical soft skills that can't always be achieved through training but with time and maturity.”
That said, some respondents were positive about the experience they had working under managers at startups and said that trust, emotional support and structured feedback were among the most important things managers can offer to their direct reports.67 people took our survey. The majority (43%) came from the UK, followed by Germany (16%) and the Netherlands (7.5%). 85% work at startups with under 200 employees.
Employee support
Managers didn’t score all that highly when it came to setting out clear goals and offering personal and professional support.
Only 4.5% of respondents feel their managers at startups have set them clear goals; 54% said that only some of their managers have done so.
Some respondents put managers’ lack of goal-setting down to not understanding — or being able to adapt to — the changing needs of a business at different phases of its growth.
One noted that one of the biggest mistakes managers at startups make is being “poor communicators on goals, decisions made and progress”; being unable to empower teams and “to manage the growth and the new challenges that come with a larger team and company.”
15% of respondents said all the managers they’d had supported them on a personal level (ie via emotional support) while 54% said only some of their managers had done that.
Just 9% said their managers at startups had helped them develop their careers.“Naturally the priority is getting the work done with limited resources, but managers at startups should remember that staff will move on at some point and they should leave equipped with new skills and projects under their belt, not just job title changes,” noted one respondent.
1-1s need improvement
The majority of respondents (64%) said they have 1-1s with their bosses weekly or fortnightly.
Yet 56% of total respondents said their 1-1s are not effective. The recurring reasons for this are: lack of agenda for the meeting, managers being unprepared or unfocused — or using the time to talk about themselves — or the 1-1s simply being a tickbox exercise.
“The manager uses it as a sounding board for their own ideas and problems,” said one respondent.
Another said: “They have nothing to offer me in terms of direction, support, growth etc. The one to ones become transactional, mainly me just saying "I completed task X and Y this week". Feedback is rare and low quality.”
On the topic of feedback, many respondents cited the ability to give clear and constructive feedback as a crucial component of effective management.
72% of respondents said some of their managers gave good feedback; 15% said none of them did.
Always on culture
The pressure to be always available, even on holiday or during parental leave, is something that 55% of respondents have experience of — but some noted that this is part and parcel of working at a startup.
One respondent said: “I've worked at startups where there are just not enough people to provide cover for holiday or sick leave. As a result I've definitely had to work during annual leave. For me, if you work at a startup, it's what goes with the territory.”
Others find it intrusive. Some respondents tell stories of having to produce supposedly ‘urgent’ pitch decks over Christmas holidays so that the CEO could have it on their desk the first day back in the New Year, or handle sales calls during holidays to progress deals that could have waited.
“Some managers live to work and expect you to do the same, as if you don't have your own priorities. So setting boundaries with that kind of person can be difficult, but in some cases it can be done,” said one respondent.
Micromanaging
On the topic of setting boundaries, managers being unable to trust employees to do their jobs or unwilling to delegate were flagged as major issues among many respondents.
73% report being micromanaged by their current managers.
One respondent recalls having a manager who wanted to “personally check every piece of work to the point where it delayed projects”.
“There was a lack of trust from the manager that felt impossible to resolve, because there were no real faults with my work. The manager seemed to just prefer their way of doing things,” they added.
Other respondents specifically mentioned the founder or CEO of the company being the most prone to micromanaging — often to the detriment of their business.
One CEO put a standing desk behind me and would read over my shoulder throughout the day and then comment aloud in the open space.
“One CEO put a standing desk behind me and would read over my shoulder throughout the day and then comment aloud in the open space,” said one respondent.
Another noted: “The CEO/founder (who) started the company… took all the decisions. As the organization grows many CEOs have tremendous difficulty in letting that go, in trusting the high level people they hired to do the job and they become the bottleneck, as well as the source of frustration for many people he/she brought in.”
Bullying, harassment and discrimination
52% of respondents said they have felt bullied, harassed or discriminated against by one or more managers in their startup careers.
Some respondents shared stories of receiving threatening Slack messages late at night and sexist comments from male managers. Others noted being denied promotions for being from a minority group.
“Promotions and leadership positions are still very much unattainable for people of colour, women and those who are not in their after-work drinking social clubs,” one respondent noted. Another respondent reported working at a male-dominated fintech where the feedback she received was about “not smiling enough, being too open about my opinions and that I should work on my personal brand”. When she pointed out the fact that none of these things, she says, were holding any of the men back from being promoted, she was told she was being “unreasonable” and “not a team player”.
What makes a good manager?
Empathy, good communication, ability to delegate, willingness to offer emotional and professional support and ability to set clear goals were among the things that respondents cited as being central to being a good manager.
One respondent said: “Good managers create clarity from chaos and spend their time trying to enable you to do your best work. They have your back and are keen to share praise and give you opportunities to learn and shine.”
Reflecting on a former star manager, one respondent said: “They allowed me to be vulnerable and feel safe, they were honest with me and pushed me to be my best, and always believed in me.”
