“Hmmm” sighed another leader when asked: “Who is the best leader you’ve ever worked for?”

I always hope the prolonged contemplation is because there are so many examples of great leaders to chose from and its tough to pick the best. But the distant stare in the eyes and agonising expression on the face indicates my optimism is groundless.

In reality, the response ends up being a choice between the lesser of evils. I’ve asked over 700 leaders this same question and inevitably get the same hesitant response, “Well, I guess it would be my first manager...” It is clear they are not really comfortable with the response knowing their choice is better than the others, but not great.

Choosing between two candidates for an election — when you know neither would be a great president — makes him the best choice. It doesn’t make him the best, or even moderately good. It’s the same for leaders — being better than others doesn’t mean you are any good. Wait, we are talking about other leaders not you, aren’t we?

I always want to pause and ask, but never have, “If you had such a hard time answering who is the best leader you’ve ever worked for, would your employees struggle as well?” Probing, do they think you are any good? It would be indicting to find out if you would make the cut.

Gallup found that companies fail to choose good managers 82 per cent of the time. Ouch!

Bad managers cost companies billions of dirhams a year, having too many of them hurts your competitive advantage and might even bring the company down. On average, across the region, 80 per cent of employees report to frontline managers, making it the most critical level for day-to-day employee performance. They really are the quality indicator of the workforce.

First-line corporate managers are hugely impactful and memorable, so why would companies neglect this level and make selections so whimsically as though plugging a hole? One of the most important decisions you make is who will manage and lead in your organisation, and evidence says you usually get it wrong.

Additionally, Gallup reports that only one in ten possess the necessary traits to be a good manager. There is an obvious connection between this and the huge error margin. Now, it makes sense why it is so hard to answer, “Who is the best leader you’ve ever worked for?”

Most companies promote employees into managerial positions because they “deserve” it, know the right person and have served the years, rather than because they will be “good” at it and succeed as leaders. Success in the technical roles is important, but should not be considered as the sole decision-making criteria. Nor should be the years served. Remember only one in ten employees have the traits to be a good manager.

The way companies select managers is a big contributor to inefficiency — 82 per cent make the wrong decision. Since there are not a lot of “good managers” or employees with the traits to become great managers, being selective is mandatory.

These gloomy statistics made me wonder: “Are companies doomed?” No, they are not, but you have to be very focused in how you select your future company leaders, either from outside or through a promotion.

Knowing that very few people are able to pull off being a good manager, it may be time to take a new look at the selection. One of the bigger contributors is removing the pressure of time to hire and replacing it with quality of hire, that is managerial quality.

Remember once a person becomes a manager, their technical area takes a secondary seat and the role is now about managing. For instance an “Operations Manager” is to manage the operations. That means the core of the role is managing. Exploring a potential manager’s managerial ability needs the rigor that was used to understand technical strength. Probably even more given that this level manages 80 per cent of your workforce.

As difficult as this is, you must focus on the quality of manager hired, from a managerial point of view. Businesses that get it right — of having good managers — gain a significant advantage.

— The writer is a leadership advisor and author of ‘10 Tips for Leading in the Middle East’ and other writings. Follow him on Twitter: @tommyweir.