Dawn of the Indie Manager

According to a new report into modern management styles by totaljobs.com, a new breed of line manager has emerged. Dubbed the ìIndie Managerî, 63 per cent of British bosses fit this new mould. Highly proactive, these leaders prefer to take control of their own teamís destiny rather than slavishly toeing the line with traditional ñ and often outdated ñ corporate processes.

A defining characteristic of the Indie Manager is a strong desire to take full responsibility for everything that goes on within their team, even if it means going beyond the call of duty, rolling their sleeves up and getting on with things themselves. Eighty eight per cent of managers admit to bypassing others and actioning tasks in order to get things done properly and promptly.

In stark contrast to an out-of-touch boss barking orders, the Indie Manager also has a more considered approach to delegation. Striving for perfection, 97 per cent of line managers admit that when assigning a job to another department, they often feel that the whole thing could be done quicker if they did it themselves, easing the burden on busy departments such as marketing, HR and IT.

Leading a close knit, happy and well-performing team is a key motivating factor for the Indie Manager. As such, these bosses like to be highly involved in the recruitment process in order get the right balance within their team. More than two thirds of Indie Managers (67 per cent) would like to have more responsibility when it comes to sourcing, interviewing and selecting new members of staff, and feel that their increased involvement would result in the right people being found more quickly.

And it seems that the hands-on approach of these managers is well received by their staff. Seventy five per cent of new Indie Managers feel they have the full respect of their team and colleagues.

David Moxon, head of psychology at Peterborough University comments: ìThe dawn of this new type of manager is a great thing for business. These managers have come of age in an era where the Internet and technology have made speed and efficiency second nature, and as a result, theyíre happier to take control of more activity within their individual team. Furthermore, with line managers taking on some extra transactional duties, departments such as HR, IT and marketing can focus on strategies to help overall company performance.î

To accommodate this new working style, totaljobs.com has launched its self service recruitment solution, which enables managers from all business sectors and of all sizes to advertise their job vacancies directly. For a limited period, totaljobs.com is offering one job posting free of charge. Managers should go to www.totaljobs.com/freejobposting.

Says Shaun Collins, e-business director at totaljobs: ìAs more power devolves to the line, new business solutions are needed to help these hands on managers who are comfortable of taking control and actioning things themselves.î