A “competence-confidence gap” is underwining workplaces, according to reseacrh carried out by the the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) in the UK.The survey found that 55 percent of employees don’t think their managers are competent or confident enough in their roles. According to the CMI, “perhaps more worryingly, 38 percent of employees report that their boss thinks he or she is good at what they do”.The survey results imply management and leadership failure is undermining employees’ workplace attitudes and experiences. Further, almost four in ten employees (39 percent) feel their boss’s behaviour increases stress levels, just over a third (34 percent) complain that their boss negatively affects enjoyment of their job and one in ten blame their boss for declining health.The results are in line with the CMI’s latest Economic Outlook survey, which revealed that 70 percent of managers reported a drop in morale over the past six months.The CMI’ s results echo recent findings from SHL about the motivation levels within the UK workforce. For example, we found 44 percent of employees felt unmotivated in their job, yet the importance of having a good manager for staff motivation was also highlighted.The research indicates that providing more robust support for line managers themselves may be the key to unlocking their motivational capabilities within the organisation. Managers are often expected to bear the responsibility of providing their employees with support during difficult times, yet over a third (37 percent) of managers who went through a redundancy or restructuring process did not feel equipped to deal with it. When asked what advice would have helped the process, over two thirds said they were concerned about motivating their remaining staff (67 percent) while more than half (52 percent) would have appreciated more peer group support from their colleagues.According to the SHL study, the issue of motivation is being overlooked by many organisations as only half of those interviewed (53 percent) said they felt valued in their job. This coupled with the CMI’s findings should raise the red flag for employers.Organisations need to provide managers and employees with the skills, training and tools to ensure everyone is motivated and engaged.