The role of the Manager has never been more critical or more complex.
Managers are the connective tissue between individuals and the organisations they work for. In the hybrid world of work, they have more influence than ever over the way in which their company’s culture is experienced. They directly influence both productivity and attrition.
A great manager can get the best out of a team – resulting in an output that’s greater than the potential of each individual combined. A poor manager results in disengagement, mental and physical health issues, and sub-optimal contributions – an output which is significantly less than the potential of each individual combined.
The role of a manager has always been multifaceted, but today’s pace of change and continual mandate to do-more-with-less combined with an increasingly diverse workforce and flexible working patterns, not only creates phenomenal potential, but also creates a lot of pressure for managers to realise that potential.
And it seems that the majority of managers are struggling to live up to expectations:
- Gartner’s research shows that 75% of HR leaders say that managers are overwhelmed with the growth of their job responsibilities.*
- Gallup’s research shows that 42% of the reasons people are quitting are tied to how they feel about their bosses and team culture.**
This is even though the quality of manager development interventions has never been higher.
The problem is three-fold:
- Capacity: the always-on culture which is prevalent in so many businesses these days means we’re working more hours than ever. Still, however, most managers feel that they haven’t got the time for training. The CIPD’s research*** lists, “Lack of learner time,” as the biggest barrier to engagement with available development support. Whether that’s true or just perception, pressure to deliver at pace means that taking time for anything except urgent ‘doing’/operational task completion, can feel unrealistic.
- Retention: only 12% of development programme content makes it into a trainee’s post-programme operations.****
- Repetition: it takes 66 days to form a new habit. So, unless a manager is supported to implement new management practices on an ongoing basis after their training, it is unlikely that the new practices they have learnt about will make their way into their ongoing operations.
Consequently, regardless of the quality of manager development interventions, they are failing to solve the problem of manager capability.
It is time for a new approach.
On-the-job/in-the-workflow/in-situ learning is growing in popularity.
Whichever phrase you prefer, the key to this approach is that the learning happens without a learner needing to stop doing their work to learn.
Given the constant delivery pressure we have already noted, it is not surprising that this approach is gaining traction. The instant application also aids retention and repeated use leads to new habit formation.
It is therefore recommended that more organisations shift their focus away from traditional manager development interventions and instead look at how they can develop the capabilities of their managers ‘in-situ.’
What does ‘in-situ’ manager development look like?
As with all development interventions, in-situ manager development starts with analysis of the key knowledge, skills, and behaviours that need to be developed.
When we break down the role of a manager it is essentially to optimise the output of their resources: their teams, their budgets, and their operating environments.
The ways they need to manage their budgets and their operating environments will, of course be largely organisation specific and usually quite anchored in knowledge and discipline. Organisations can break that knowledge down and look at the ways in which they can provide the information and nudges to managers in-situ and at the point of need.
The skills, and behaviours, necessary to optimise the output of their teams, however, are universal and these days, in the era of Generative-AI, it is possible to find off-the-shelf, easy to implement digital coaches which scalably develop manager best practice, entirely within the workflow.
Great managers get the most out of their teams by:
- creating clarity and alignment
- systematically removing obstacles to effectiveness
- creating a culture of psychological safety and active collaboration
‘In-situ’ manager development provides a framework for managers to continually raise to visibility and then resolve the issues that are holding their team back. It also supports them to create a culture of psychological safety and to give everyone a voice.
Conclusion
Managers are needed more than ever and face an ever more complex and challenging job. Traditional approaches to manager development are failing, but all is not lost. It is possible to effectively develop managers ‘in-situ’ and taking such an approach is not only highly effective, but also highly pragmatic as it builds the capabilities required without putting an extra strain on capacity.
*Gartner (2023)
**Gallup State of the Global Workplace Report (2023)
***CIPD, Learning at work survey report (2023)
**** https://hbr.org/2019/10/where-companies-go-wrong-with-learning-and-development
By Sophie Meaney, CEO at letsclick.io
