People tell me we live in a flat-structured, leadership-cultured, life-balanced world – but do we really? Lately I've been wondering about the managers and leaders I meet:

1. why so many are dissatisfied with themselves and their work
2. why so many of them blame the system or other people for their own actions
3. why so many are very clear about what could make their working life easier, but don't do anything about it

You know the symptoms don't you? They turn up late for meetings. They prevaricate but then expect you to be available at a moment's notice. They're never available on the phone and don't answer emails. They drop out of things at the last minute. They seem to be in perpetual motion, ever busy, never ready. And their success often falls far below their apparent level of effort. Yet it's never their fault!

Many managers dig this rut for themselves by deciding to let others dictate what they do at all times. I've done a bit of research recently on reasons people give for dropping out of development programmes they had clearly found interesting and potentially beneficial. The top three are:

1. 'pressure of work',
2. 'three line whips'
3. 'paper needed by Monday'

I've also noted that others from the same organisations or departments, with the same bosses and same demands, did attend.

What's going on then?

Recent research suggests that managers have surprisingly little awareness of what they do at work. They wrongly estimate the time they spend there and how they allocate that time. For example:

• they complain about telephone calls but spend only about 6% of their time on the phone
• they say they have no controllable time but in fact spend up to half their time in their own office
• they say they are constantly called out to meetings – but the big majority of meetings are pre-scheduled
• research says that stand-up meetings are 34% shorter with far greater satisfaction and no loss of quality in the decisions but few use them
• they say "that's the price of moving up" – but senior managers do not work longer hours than junior ones: the junior ones just get more stressed

So, being brave enough to take control of meetings and learn the discipline to plan and say 'no' appropriately are useful and would work.

They're not easy of course, because other research shows that most managers dislike changing their patterns of activity. This results in high attention to immediate, known tasks and low attention to strategic organisational or personal goals (because they might challenge why the tasks are being done and suggest a change of habit).

This suggests that how managers use their time is an organisational problem and any organisation needing to make better use of its management potential can usefully:

• look at how it can better encourage reflective learning
• make it 'OK' for managers to disengage from immediate tasks
• focus energy and attention on organisational priorities

But if managers feel as disempowered as they seem then to challenge the status quo, to take greater ownership for their own actions, they need to develop a stronger sense of self. They need a clarity about 'who I am' at work and a sense that they can legitimately influence their own fate.

To develop this sense, managers can:

• learn how others handle problems - perhaps through learning sets or mentoring
• actively seek out good quality feedback
• reflect on their own management practice, for example through a diary or coaching

In order to challenge the prevailing culture, managers at all levels need to make this 'OK' for each other by:

• acting as highly effective role models within the organisation
• following and encouraging others to follow properly structured training and development
• the relentless provision of skilful, constructive feedback
• developing skills in self-awareness and learning to learn

Some particular research over recent years has shown that many people live in a kind of state of 'waking sleep' – they move through routine patterns of behaviour but without full awareness of what they are doing.

Have you ever got to the end of your day and wondered what you have been doing? Then you've been sleeping wakefully. In some areas of psychology this would be called a trance – this may sound over the top but we all exist like this some of the time.

Unfortunately being in a trance means that I am quite literally 'not all there' because only my body is present. So people don't feel I engage fully with them. I make statements and promises that I don't remember afterwards.

The way to deal with this is to practise 'waking up' – bringing the attention fully into the present and experiencing each action, decision or person fully and decisively.

This a consistent finding in business and psychology research –- a 'present orientation' is associated with greater managerial success and personal well-being. Interestingly, it is also an ancient theme in both Christianity and Buddhism.

I can only conclude that there is something in it!