Can managers do it all? This is the question we posed at our 22^nd Pandemic Series webinar last week. Managers connect people through teams, to the organisation’s purpose and values, to networks and development opportunities, and are core to ensuring people have a positive experience of work.

Good managers have always balanced managing people and managing work while building this connection, using human-centric skills to coach and support their people, and performance-focussed leadership skills to drive the delivery of work. Too often, though, managers have not developed these skills, leaving a gap in organisations that has become ever more apparent as we start to embed hybrid. To ensure you leverage the power of your managers as you redesign your ways of working, there are three factors to consider.

Be holistic in selecting the skills you want to build
As organisations evolve and new ways of working are being adopted, managers need skills for this new hybrid reality. In addition to human-centric and performance-focussed leadership skills, managers will also need enabling hybrid practical skills.  These include running hybrid meetings, scheduling and coordinating use of the office for cooperation, and crucially, brokering team agreements around ways of working.  To develop these core skills, organisations need to consider both their environment, and their approach to upskilling their managers consistently and at scale.

Create the right environment for learning 
Perceived senior sponsorship and the space to experiment and grow in communities of practice are crucial for the successful upskilling initiatives. We call this, the organisation environment, with how the individual turns up to engage and motivated to learn equally crucial. This means thinking about how networks are formed and utilised, and the flow of knowledge between them; and the unique skill requirements of your sector and industry.

Craft your approach with the needs of your managers in mind
Design principles, focusing on the roles of your people and ensuring optimal delivery is key. This will mean thinking about the specific skills that are required in people’s roles, and the modes and methods of delivery to achieve ‘just enough, just in time, and just for me’.

Upskilling managers prepares them for the future of work
By focussing on performance-focussed leadership, human centric, and enabling hybrid skills, organisations can ensure their managers are well-equipped to manage in a hybrid environment – across the axes of both place and time. Tailoring your upskill programme to the needs of your organisation – considering your environment and approach empowers managers to use their learning in their roles immediately – ensuring that the time invested in upskilling is worthwhile for your organisation and managers.

Upskilling Managers by HSM Advisory
At HSM Advisory, we support organisations through a multi-phased approach: co-creating the skills assessment, identifying the optimal learning interventions, and providing on-going support.  Leveraging our insights, experience, and latest thinking we can equip managers with the knowledge, tools, and skills they need to flourish in the new world of work. Find out more here.