According to a recent HBR piece, "a new Interact survey conducted online by Harris Poll with 2,058 U.S. adults — 1,120 of them were employed, and 616 of the employed people were managers — showed that a stunning majority (69%) of the managers said that they’re often uncomfortable communicating with employees. Over a third (37%) of the managers said that they’re uncomfortable having to give direct feedback about their employees’ performance if they think the employee might respond negatively to the feedback.
The survey results also showed that many managers are uncomfortable with becoming vulnerable, recognizing achievements, delivering the “company line,” giving clear directions, crediting others with having good ideas, speaking face to face, and having difficult feedback conversations in general."
This illuminates why the vast majority of people worldwide feel disengaged in their work. It's interesting that the disengagement rate parallels the rate at which leaders are uncomfortable having conversations.
It presents a very compelling and clear business case why we need to be teaching leaders the art of conversations. I would refer to this as a leadership crisis.